Blog

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.

Massachusetts AGO Rejects Yet Another Municipal Solar and Battery Storage Moratorium
Blog March 13, 2026
On March 11, 2026, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (“AGO”) disapproved a proposed temporary zoning moratorium on large-scale solar installations and battery energy storage systems (“BESS”) in the Town of Blandford…
Maine PUC Delays Enforcement of Net Energy Billing Statute While U.S. District Court Weighs Preliminary Injunction
Blog December 04, 2025
Projects are still responsible for complying with changes to the NEB program that go into effect on January 1, 2026, though companies can be certain that the MPUC will not seek enforcement actions related to those changes until the court rules on the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, potentially as late as March 2, 2026…
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…
A Fossil-Forward U.S. Energy Policy Begins to Take Shape under Trump
Blog January 23, 2025
President Trump began his second term by issuing a barrage of executive orders, memoranda, and other directives, many of which targeted U.S. energy policy and the federal employees who implement it…
Biden Announces New Initiative on “Game-Changing” Technologies for Achieving Net-Zero Emissions
Blog November 07, 2022
On November 4, 2022, the White House announced a new initiative to support research and development projects on 37 “game-changing” technologies to advance the Biden Administration's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Led by an interagency working group, the “Net-Zero Game Changers Initiative” will direct billions of dollars under the bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act toward five initial priorities: Efficient Building Heating and……
Its Good to Be a Brownfield Site - As Long As It's Not Too Brown
Blog September 01, 2022
Tucked away in the recesses of the Inflation Reduction Act is a provision that reminds everyone why they love Superfund so much.  On its face, it's simply an incentive for renewable energy development, giving an adder to the amount of the investment tax credit (ITC) or production tax credit (PTC) to which certain renewable energy projects would otherwise be entitled, if they are located in an “energy community”…
Have I Mentioned That Its Not Going to Be Easy to Get to Net Zero?
Blog January 25, 2022
Believing in the importance of aggressive action to address climate change is something of a recipe for bipolar disorder.  Trump – depression.  Biden first 90 days – elation.  News today from ClimateWire (subscription required) that power plant GHG emissions increased by more than 3% in both 2020 and 2021 – depression. ISO New England attributes most of the increase to the shutdown of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and replacement of Pilgrim's generation by natural gas generating……
New York Climate Action Council Approves Draft Scoping Plan to Achieve the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions
Blog December 21, 2021
On December 20, 2021, the Climate Action Council (“Council”) approved the release for public comment of its draft Scoping Plan, which describes how New York can achieve the requirements of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“CLCPA” or “Climate Act”): 70% renewable electricity consumption by 2030, 100% zero-emission electricity consumption by 2040, a 40% reduction in statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, an 85% reduction in statewide GHG emissions by 2050…
New York Releases Much Awaited Roadmap for Deploying 10 Gigawatts of Distributed Solar by 2030
Blog December 20, 2021
Can New York State satisfy nearly 30 percent of its electricity needs with solar projects less than five megawatts in size by the year 2030? In September of this year, Governor Hochul announced a framework to do just that, setting 10 gigawatts (GWs) of deployed distributed solar by 2030 as the goal, enough to power 700,000 New York homes – even more than the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act's (CLCPA) six-GW deployment requirement…
1 of 2

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.