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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.

BOEM Slated to Act on Two Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Activities in 2023
Blog December 05, 2022
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for the development of offshore renewable energy in federal waters. While the first Gulf of Maine offshore wind lease sale is not expected until 2024, this post explores recent actions BOEM has taken to advance offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine and the agency activity we're likely to see in the year ahead…
Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap Expected in Early 2023; Here's Why the OSW Industry Should Take Note
Blog November 28, 2022
The State of Maine is expected to release the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap in early 2023, and the global offshore wind industry should be watching. Preliminary details from the states roadmap—the focus of this post—clearly indicate that Maine is preparing to seize the significant opportunity presented by the Gulf of Maine offshore wind resource. Maine's offshore wind energy potential is ranked seventh in the nation, with more than 411 TWh/yr of offshore resource-generating potential…
EPA Region 1 Really Does March to the Beat of Its Own Drummer
Blog January 19, 2022
Jerry Anderson of Drake University Law School recently did an interesting post regarding environmental enforcement.  I recommend the full post, but I particularly wanted to bring my readers' attention to a figure Jerry included in the post. For those who have worked in EPA Region 1, this may not be a total surprise – and yet it's still shocking.  This picture is worth more than a thousand words…
The Transportation Climate Initiative Marches Forward; It's Not Going to Be Easy.
Blog March 02, 2021
On March 1, the Transportation Climate Initiative jurisdictions released a draft “model rule” that would provide a template for individual state rules governing the operation of the TCI Program.  Although only three states and the District of Columbia committed in December 2020 to implement TCI-P, the announcement on Monday indicated that the model rule “was developed by twelve” TCI jurisdictions.”  I guess that eight states like the model rule – just not enough at this point to commit to……
Massachusetts Releases Its 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap - It's Going to Be Quite a Trip
Blog December 31, 2020
Yesterday, Massachusetts released its “2050 Decarbonization Roadmap.”  I'm tempted to call it a tour de force.  At the very least, it's jam-packed with important issues.  One of the most valuable aspects of the Roadmap is its discussion of the potential tradeoffs among the different paths towards a decarbonized economy.  Acknowledging that the Roadmap contains much more good stuff than can be summarized in a single post…
A Carbon Fee on Transportation Fuels Is Not Coming Your Way Any Time Soon If You Live In New Hampshire
Blog December 18, 2019
Yesterday, I noted with enthusiasm the announcement that the states participating in the Transportation and Climate Initiative had released a new draft Memorandum of Understanding outlining the framework of what “RGGI for cars” might look like.  I also provided a cautionary note that the politics of TCI would be tricky and that imposing a carbon fee sufficient to attain the goal of funding an effective, low-carbon, transportation system for New England in the 21st Century might prove……
Governor Baker Shows Support for Offshore Wind Industry
Blog March 08, 2019
Governor Baker addressed a room full of offshore wind stakeholders at The Future of Offshore Wind Forum hosted by the Environmental League of Massachusetts on Wednesday morning.  He applauded the developers, environmental groups, legislators and local students for the progress made in recent years which has led to a dramatic decrease in the price of offshore wind energy to ratepayers in recent years. Thanks to a bill Governor Baker signed into law in 2016…
We'll Always Have RGGI: Paris or no Paris, New England and Mid-Atlantic States Continue to Lead on Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Blog August 24, 2017
Yesterday, Massachusetts and the eight other New England and Mid-Atlantic states that participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative announced a proposed plan for the continued implementation of RGGI (the region's cap-and-trade program) between the years 2020 and 2030.   The plan calls for an additional reduction of GHGs by 30% by 2030, beyond the RGGI 2020 levels. Emissions would be capped at about 75 million tons in 2021…
DOER's Solar Incentive Straw Proposal: Optimism, Anxiety, Uncertainty.
Blog September 29, 2016
On September 23, DOER presented a straw proposal for the next phase of Massachusetts solar incentives. DOER's ambitious proposal for a tariff-based program reflects a thoughtful development process and a laudable goal of crafting a program that is more efficient at promoting sustained solar deployment. There is plenty to like. But, DOER has bitten off quite a mouthful by proposing a structure that departs so dramatically from the SREC approach…
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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.