Endangered Species Law & Policy

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has finalized revisions to portions of the agency’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations (Phase I Regulations), which had been revised in 2020 under the Trump Administration (2020 Regulations). CEQ received more than 90,000 public comments in response to its proposal to revise the 2020 Regulations. In its final Phase I Regulations, CEQ declined to make substantial changes to the version proposed.

CEQ has indicated that the Phase I Regulations represent a “narrow” set of changes to address the Biden ...

On June 29, 2021, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) will publish an interim final rule (IFR) extending the deadline by which federal agencies are required to adopt updated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations by two years. Under current CEQ regulations, promulgated under the previous administration, federal agencies have until September 14, 2021 to adopt updated agency-specific NEPA rules. Upon publication of the interim final rule in the federal register, that deadline will instead fall on September 14, 2023. There will be no public comment period ...

If you were unable to attend our recent webinar, “The New NEPA Regulations: A Practical Guide to What You Need to Know,” please check out the recording of our on-demand webinar, which can be accessed here. Additionally, we invite you to download the compilation of our eAlert series on the NEPA rewrite here.

Nossaman will continue to monitor litigation and other regulatory developments regarding NEPA in 2021 as we transition into a new Administration. Please stay tuned to our blog and subscribe to our mailing lists here in order to receive the latest updates on NEPA and other issues ...

In September 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) enacted new regulations that set forth procedures federal agencies are to utilize when implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Numerous commentaries published on the subject have either adopted a Chicken Little approach (i.e., sky is falling) to describing the changes, or an overly optimistic assessment of their likely implications for proponents of federal actions subjected to environmental review.

In order to understand these changes, please join our Environment and Land Use Group on ...

We recently recorded a podcast as part of the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) People Places Planet Podcast series “Engage the Experts.” In our recent discussion entitled “The Shifting Landscape of Renewable Energy Development,” we discuss recent changes in environmental regulations and related court decisions that are impacting project development, as well as what this shifting terrain means for the development, expansion and maintenance of renewable energy technologies. Tune in to learn about what recent regulatory and judicial developments mean for ...

On July 16, 2020, the Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) released in final form its eagerly anticipated revisions the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulations (NEPA Rules). Publication of the NEPA Rules comes just six months after CEQ published proposed versions of the same—a move which drew more than one million public comments, many of which were form letters.  

As signaled by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the purpose of the NEPA Rules is to facilitate more efficient review of federal agency actions.  To a considerable extent, the new rules ...

Please join us for a complimentary webinar on July 30, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PT, where we will discuss the path for energy providers to move forward and reduce the risk that projects may be delayed or scrapped down the road. We will examine...

Please join me for Law Seminars International’s virtual event, CEQA and the NEPA Rewrite Seminar, on July 29th. From 2:00 to 2:45 p.m. PT, I will be presenting “Climate Change and Cumulative Impacts Analysis: Energy Infrastructure Projects,” and speaking on the...