Endangered Species Law & Policy

On August 25, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a notable Endangered Species Act (ESA) decision in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, No. 25-1005. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) had filed a petition for review challenging a final rule published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which retained the existing national ambient air quality standard for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter and revised the standard for sulfur oxides. CBD argued that EPA violated the ESA by concluding that the challenged air quality rule ...

On January 10, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed amendments to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations.  The Proposed Rule would represent the first significant overhaul of CEQ’s NEPA regulations in more than 40 years.

The changes in the Proposed Rule are substantial and numerous. 

While the stated purpose of the changes is to facilitate more effective and timely environmental review of federal agency actions, the practical impact of the proposed changes is far from clear.  Below, we focus on some of the more significant ...