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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.

There's No Such Thing as "Cost" analysis or "Benefit" analysis; There's Only Cost-Benefit Analysis
Blog January 14, 2026
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration plans to stop assigning dollar values to the human health benefits resulting from the imposition of national ambient air quality standards…
EPA Lowers the PM2.5 NAAQS: Goldilocks Can Sleep Soundly
Blog February 08, 2024
Yesterday, EPA finalized a rule lowering the primary annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 to 9.00 ug/m3. This is a significant reduction from the current 12.00 ug/m3 standard and a victory for environmentalists, even though they had advocated for larger reduction…
Another Study Regarding the Health Impacts of PM Emissions From Power Plants:  What Impact Will It Have On Regulation and Litigation?
Blog November 28, 2023
An article in Science published last week indicates that the mortality risk from exposure to PM2.5 from coal-fired electric generating units is roughly twice as high as the risk posed by PM2.5 from other sources.  According to the article, there were roughly 460,000 excess deaths in the United States from 1999-2020 resulting from exposure to PM2.5 from coal-fired EGUs.  Prior models would have indicated roughly half that number…
The EJ Movement Wants to Tighten the NAAQS.  Will It Happen?
Blog August 01, 2023
The White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council recently weighed in on EPA's decision whether to lower the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM2.5 and ozone.  Specifically, with respect to PM2.5, WHEJAC recommended that the annual primary standard be lowered to 8.0 ug/m3 and the annual daily standard be lowered to 25.0 ug/m3.  Both recommendations are lower than what EPA has proposed. With respect to the ozone NAAQS…
EPA Proposes to Lower the PM2.5 NAAQS  Searching For the Goldilocks Level
Blog January 06, 2023
EPA has finally proposed revisions to the national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5.  The Administrator is proposing to lower the standard from 12.0 ug/m3 to a range of 9.0 to 10.0 ug/m3.  Readers of this space will recall that the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee recommended that EPA lower the PM2.5 NAAQS to between 8.0 and 10.0 ug/m3.  Environmentalists aren't going to be happy with any standard above 8.0 ug/m3 and it's likely that conservatives aren't going to be happy with……
Another Day Older and Deeper in (Carbon) Debt
Blog December 19, 2022
The International Energy Agency has released its 2022 Coal analysis and forecast.  It is sobering. By the time 2022 is over, world-wide coal consumption will have exceeded 8 billons tonnes for the first time.  In other words, 2022 was a record year for coal.  It is true that demand was largely flat compared to 2021 and there were some extraordinary reasons – such as a war in Ukraine – for even the moderate increase…
The Broken Record Department:  PM2.5 Is Bad For Your Health (and EVs can help)
Blog November 11, 2022
I've written before about the developing science regarding the impacts of PM2.5 emissions.  Short version – they're bad for you.  They're even worse than we thought, and there's increasing evidence that they cause a lot of harm at concentrations below the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 12 ug/m3.  The most recent report comes from Canada, which is particularly useful in measuring the impact of low concentrations of PM2.5 precisely because PM2.5 concentrations are relatively low……
Will Evidence of a Coming Apocalypse Change Human Behavior?
Blog June 09, 2022
I'm not much for apocalyptic thinking.  I don't think it's productive.  I have to confess, though, that this story about the Great Salt Lake got me thinking about whether human nature is such that the apocalypse is not that far away.  It makes compelling reading.  And viewing – do check out the video of what used to be Owens Lake, which could be described as a cautionary tale for Salt Lake City…
Microplastics in the Lungs:  The Next Asbestos or Are We Just Catastrophizing?
Blog April 12, 2022
Two developments this week got me thinking about how our government deals – or fails to deal – with risk.  First, EPA proposed to ban the manufacture (including import) of chrysotile asbestos.  EPA's authority for doing so is the Toxic Substances Control Act which provides that:   if EPA determines through a TSCA section 6(b) risk evaluation that a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment…
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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.