EPA moves to limit scope of clean water law to reduce amount of wetlands it covers
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it is redefining the scope of the nation’s bedrock clean water law to significantly limit the wetlands it covers.
Energy & Environmental Law
-
New laws aim to help Indiana make mark in development of small nuclear reactors
New Indiana laws passed this year and in recent legislative sessions are designed to jumpstart nuclear power as a key component of the state’s energy portfolio.
Read More -
Swimming upstream? SCOTUS decision, Indiana legislation reignite wetlands debate
A ruling that was 15 years in the making has now sparked passionate discourse in the Indiana Statehouse as changes to wetlands occur.
Read More -
Government, environmental groups net win in forest fight
The Hoosier National Forest has been the focus of two lawsuits since 2020 aimed at stopping a controversial federal vegetation management plan that involves the logging and burning of several thousand acres within the forest.
Read More -
Rates ruling: Solar power takes center stage in legal dispute over southern Indiana utilities
A utility lawsuit dealing with rates for solar customers traveled all the way up to the Indiana Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of a major Indiana utility.
Read More
Articles
Indiana energy secretary blasts local moratoriums, calls energy development ‘patriotic’ task
Local bans on wind, solar and other energy projects are giving Indiana a bad reputation, Energy and Natural Resources Secretary Suzanne Jaworowski said Tuesday. She plans to reward those open for business.
Guest column: The carbon capture and sequestration legal landscape in Indiana
Indiana is well suited for carbon sequestration because it holds large areas of subsurface strata.
Environmental Protection Agency moves to repeal finding that allows climate regulation
President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.
NAACP files intent to sue Elon Musk’s xAI company over supercomputer air pollution
The NAACP filed an intent to sue Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI on Tuesday over concerns about air pollution generated by a supercomputer located near predominantly Black communities.
Planet-warming emissions dropped when companies had to report them. EPA wants to end that
A rule requiring large polluters to report emissions is now on the chopping block, one of many that President Donald Trump’s EPA argues is costly and burdensome for industry.
County resistance plagues Indiana renewable push
Seventy-two of 92 counties have moratoriums or bans on renewable energy installations, according to legislative energy head Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso. Several attempts this year to intervene against blockages died, but lawmakers are starting to recognize the need for diversification.
Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to halt climate change lawsuits in Democratic-led states
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit from Republican attorneys general in 19 states aimed at blocking climate change suits against the oil and gas industry from Democratic-led states.
Harris and Trump offer starkly different visions on climate change and energy
As the Earth sizzled through a summer with four of the hottest days ever measured, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have starkly different visions on how to address a changing climate while ensuring a reliable energy supply. But neither has provided many details on how they would get there.
House backs bills to roll back energy efficiency standards for refrigerators, dishwashers
House Republicans on Tuesday approved two bills rolling back Energy Department efficiency standards on refrigerators and dishwashers.
A potential Trump VP pick backs a controversial CO2 pipeline favored by the Biden White House
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is one of Donald Trump’s most visible and vocal backers, sprinting around the country to drum up support for the former president’s comeback bid while auditioning to be his running mate. Far from the glare of the campaign trail, however, Burgum is wrestling with a mammoth carbon dioxide pipeline project in his home state.
In suit co-led by Indiana, red states challenge Biden’s coal-plant pollution curbs
More than two dozen states, including Indiana, are challenging a new Biden administration rule that forces U.S. power plants to stifle greenhouse gas pollution, calling it an unlawful bid to remake the nation’s electricity system.
New EPA rule says 200 US chemical plants must reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer
More than 200 chemical plants nationwide will be required to reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer under a new rule issued Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
As feds stand down, states choose between wetlands protections or rollbacks
In Indiana, Illinois and many other states, local homebuilders’ groups have been among the leading voices to curtail wetlands regulation. But many environmental advocates in Indiana say a new law’s supporters are understating its effects.
Supreme Court seems skeptical of EPA’s ‘good neighbor’ rule on power plant pollution
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed skeptical Wednesday as the Environmental Protection Agency sought to continue enforcing an anti-air-pollution rule in 11 states while separate legal challenges proceed around the country.
Hamer: Commercial property environmental due diligence
Many new property owners and lessors also aren’t aware of — and don’t budget for — the duty to perform ongoing obligations in order to keep whatever legal defenses they may have from their environmental site assessment.
Alson and Pashos: Judicial deference to administrative agencies in 2024
In the four decades since Chevron was decided, it has been cited in more than 18,000 cases. Today, however, the future of the “Chevron deference” is uncertain.
Sugarman: Change coming to judicial review of agency action in Indiana?
Two cases currently pending before the United States Supreme Court have the potential to change the face of administrative law at the federal and, perhaps, state level by eliminating or significantly curtailing Chevron deference.
Holcomb signs first bill of 2024, rolls back wetlands protections
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the first bill to hit his desk in the 2024 legislative session: one further eroding wetlands protections by redefining certain, protected wetlands to a less regulated class.
Engine maker Cummins must repair 600,000 Ram trucks in $2B emissions cheating settlement
Cummins Inc. must complete a recall of 600,000 Ram trucks as part of a settlement with federal and California authorities that also requires the company to remedy environmental damage caused by illegal software that let it skirt diesel emissions tests.