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Law and the Environment

Our blog provides perspective on developments in environmental law and policy - which developments may matter to you, and how and why they matter. Whether you are a manufacturer or a power plant developer, a renewable energy developer or hoping to be a renewable energy consumer, this blog offers commentary on current issues that are important to your business.

Wading Into New York’s 2025 NYS Wetlands Permitting Changes
Blog October 30, 2025
Over the last year, the New York State (“NYS”) wetlands permitting and statutory regime has been flooded with activity as the impacts of the 2022 statutory amendments ripple outward…
RGGI Third Program Review Concludes: New Model Rule and Strengthened Emission Caps Unveiled Amid Federal Scrutiny
Blog July 22, 2025
Earlier this month, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced the completion of the RGGI Third Program Review, which resulted in several major changes to the RGGI Model Rule that will shape the program through 2037…
Advancing U.S. Leadership in AI Infrastructure: A Focus on Geothermal Energy
Blog January 16, 2025
On January 14, 2025, President Biden signed an Executive Order to advance the United States’ leadership in artificial intelligence infrastructure…
More on Climate Superfund Laws and Litigation
Blog January 13, 2025
Last week, we posted about New York State’s enactment of the Climate Change Superfund Act. We promised to continue to monitor developments concerning climate superfund legislation and to update readers as necessary. It’s been less than a week, and here we are…
2024 Clean Energy Bill Introduces Embodied Carbon Reduction Plan
Blog January 07, 2025
Embodied carbon, also known as “embedded emissions” or “embodied emissions,” refers to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, extraction, transport, and manufacturing of a product, particularly building and infrastructure materials…
It's Past Time to Replace Lead Pipes!  It's Time to Figure Out What to Replace Them With
Blog October 21, 2024
According to a story in Inside EPA last week, EPA’s promulgation on October 8, 2024, of its “2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements” has already led to disputes among stakeholders regarding what should replace lead pipes…
Department of Energy Releases Final Guidance on Designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors
Blog December 20, 2023
On December 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released long-awaited final guidance on its process to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (commonly referred to as “NIETCs,” pronounced \NIT-sees\). Once designated, these corridors will bolster federal permitting authority over transmission projects in areas most in need of additional capacity. As we've previously noted, DOE has statutory authority to designate NIETCs in transmission-constrained or……
Proposed NEPA Rules Address Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Efficiency of Environmental Reviews
Blog August 02, 2023
On July 28, 2023, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations governing how federal agencies review the environmental effects of major federal projects…
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ABOUT

In today’s fast changing world, almost all of us get our news – including our news about developments in environmental law and policy – electronically. This blog is not intended to be a substitute for the BNA™, or Greenwire™, or Google™, although we do hope that we will be able on occasion to let you know about issues that haven’t yet come to your attention.

What we really want to accomplish is to be able to provide some perspective on those developments. We’ll try to tell you which developments may matter to you. And why they matter. And how they matter. Whether you are a manufacturer or a power plant developer, whether you are a renewable energy developer or hoping to be a renewable energy consumer, whether you are a municipality or public agency or university, we want to comment on current issues in a way that is useful to you in your business.

Frankly, this blog also provides us with the opportunity to introduce you to Foley Hoag’s Environmental Practice Group. Our practice has been New England’s preeminent environmental practice for the past twenty years. We have the depth and capacity to handle the wide array of environmental issues that can arise in the course of your business. We will work with you to resolve any environmental issues that must be addressed in order for you to achieve your business goals – from permitting new projects to cost-effective cleanup of urban Brownfields properties to implementation of cost-effective due diligence in the support of acquisitions to navigating the emerging world of climate change regulations.

We will also assist you in the defense and prosecution of environmental litigation. As a result of our service to our clients, we have attained a national reputation in environmental matters. Our lawyers have built an impressive record resolving environmental disputes at the negotiating table and in the courtroom, and a number of our cases have produced precedents of national importance.

The scope of this blog will be commensurate with the scope of our practice. We’ll cover climate change, renewable energy, hazardous and solid waste, clean air and water, sustainability and green design. You name it, if it’s got an acronym attached to it, we’ll cover it.

As the headline indicates, we want to inform, update, comment, and discuss. In other words, while we’re going to enjoy posting, we’ll enjoy the blog more – and its usefulness will increase – if we hear from you also. Please comment on the blog entries. Let us know about developments we missed or implications of our discussions that we did not consider.

We look forward to the conversation.