Category Archives: Environment

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Center for Resource Solutions Confirms Greenberg Traurig as First Major Law Firm Certified by its Green-e® Energy Program

By Greenberg Traurig, LLP on Posted in Announcements, carbon emissions, Clean energy, Environment, Featured, Green Building, Renewables
The non-profit Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) confirmed that Greenberg Traurig is the first major law firm to be certified through its Green-e® Energy program. In addition, CRS has certified that Greenberg Traurig’s North American offices are powered by 100% renewable energy. The CRS Green-e® Energy program has been called the leading renewable energy certification program in the United … Continue Reading

David G. Mandelbaum Joins Suffolk University Law School Adjunct Faculty

By Greenberg Traurig, LLP on Posted in Announcements, Environment, Featured, Litigation
David G. Mandelbaum, co-chair of Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s Global Environmental Practice, will teach “Environmental Litigation: Superfund” as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston in the spring 2021 semester. The course will cover legal and tactical issues that arise in litigating for or against the government and among private parties, problems of … Continue Reading

John Voorhees and Christopher Bell Co-Author ‘International Environmental Risk Management,’ Featured Among Qualiware’s Top 52 Books of 2020

By Greenberg Traurig, LLP on Posted in Announcements, Environment, Featured, Risk management
International Environmental Risk Management – A Systems Approach (Second Edition), co-authored by Quest Environmental President Robert A. Woellner and Greenberg Traurig Shareholders John Voorhees and Christopher L. Bell, was included in a list of 52 recommended books of 2020 by Qualiware, a consultancy provider and publication focused on enterprise architecture and business management solutions. Continue … Continue Reading

Every New Building in the Netherlands Must Be (Almost) Energy Neutral Starting Jan. 1, 2021

By Marijn Bodelier and Jan Herfkens on Posted in Clean energy, E2 Europe, Environment, Featured, Green Building, GT Alert, Netherlands, Sustainability
As of Jan. 1, 2021, all permit applications for new buildings in the Netherlands are being tested against new criteria which aim to ensure that these new buildings are (almost) energy neutral. This requirement was already in place for new Dutch governmental buildings, but now it has been expanded to cover every new building (residences, … Continue Reading

Greenberg Traurig Represents BayWa r.e. in Installation of the Company’s Largest Onshore Wind Project to Date

By Greenberg Traurig, LLP on Posted in carbon emissions, Clean energy, Environment, Featured, Renewables
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP served as lead counsel for BayWa r.e. in the financing, and sale of the 250 MW Amadeus Wind Project, which completed construction and achieved financial close in December. Situated northwest of Abilene in Rotan, Texas, the wind farm is BayWa r.e.’s largest onshore wind project completed to date and “will generate … Continue Reading

TRANSITION THOUGHTS: The Presidential Transition, NEPA, and Project Review

By David Mandelbaum on Posted in Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Executive Orders, Featured, Federal Regulation, NEPA, Policy
The incoming Biden Administration intends to take many major environmental policy actions aimed at climate change, enforcement, environmental justice, and several other issues, many of which entail reversing actions taken by the Trump Administration. Companies and their environmental managers should monitor and consider participating in this contentious process. GT will be tracking these changes in … Continue Reading

The State of Coal Ash Regulation and Implications for the Commonwealth

By Jillian Kirn on Posted in Coal, Coal Ash, Environment, Featured, Litigation
Two recent developments, the finalization of Part B of the coal combustion residuals, or CCR, rule and the finalization of the 2020 Steam Electric Reconsideration Rule have triggered conversation about, and litigation over, the path forward for long-term management of CCR in the United States. Click here to access the full article, “The State of … Continue Reading

Webinar: Renewable Energy in Latin America – An Industry Update

By Greenberg Traurig, LLP on Posted in Energy, Environment, Events, Featured, Latin America, Renewables
On Nov. 5, 2020, at 11 a.m. CST, join Greenberg Traurig, in collaboration with Rubicon Capital Advisors, for a webinar on the current renewables climate in Latin America, with a focus on Chile and Colombia. Guest speakers include: Invenergy LLC’s Gabriel Monroy, VP of Finance & Capital Markets; Patricia Tatto, ATA Renewables’ VP of America; … Continue Reading

New Lawsuit Challenges DOJ Policy Prohibiting SEPs

By Caleb Holmes and Bernadette M. Rappold on Posted in Compliance, Court Cases, DOJ, Environment, EPA, Featured, Federal, Federal Regulation, Litigation, Politics, Pollution
The ongoing battle over Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) – environmentally-beneficial, beyond-compliance projects that defendants agree to undertake for potential penalty mitigation in settlement of environmental enforcement actions – heated up last week when an environmental group sued the attorney general and others for violating the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in issuing a legal memorandum effectively … Continue Reading

U.S. and Dutch Governments Announce Hydrogen Collaboration

By William Garner, Jan Herfkens and Marijn Bodelier on Posted in carbon emissions, Compliance, E2 Europe, Energy, Environment, EU, Featured, Germany, Greenhouse Gas, Hydrogen, Infrastructure, International, Legislation, Litigation, Policy, Regulatory, Sustainability, Technology
On Oct. 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat) issued a statement of intent. The governments aim to jointly stimulate future hydrogen research & development and demonstration activities. Hydrogen has caught … Continue Reading

Pleasing All the People Some of the Time: New York Simultaneously Proposes Regulations Implementing Its New Siting Law and Community Benefit Program for Renewable Projects

By Zackary D. Knaub, Steven C. Russo and Lynelle Bosworth on Posted in Compliance, Energy, Environment, Executive Order, Featured, Legislation, Litigation, New York, Politics, Renewables, State & Local, Sustainability
Earlier this year New York state, conceding that its previously enacted siting law had not been effective in siting large-scale renewable energy projects, enacted the Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Benefit Act (codified primarily in N.Y. Executive Law § 94-c; hereinafter, the Act). The Act, effectively a new siting law for renewable projects, created, … Continue Reading

EU Commission Limits the Netherlands’ Plans to Subsidize Green Hydrogen Production

By Marijn Bodelier on Posted in Announcements, Compliance, E2 Europe, Energy, Environment, EU, Featured, Greenhouse Gas, Hydrogen, International, Netherlands
On Sept. 14, 2020 the Dutch minister of Economic Affairs and Climate informed the Dutch Parliament that the EU Commission does not consent to the granting of subsidies for the environmentally friendly production of hydrogen through sustainable energy (so-called ‘green hydrogen’) under the Dutch SDE++ scheme in the form requested by the Dutch government. State-aid … Continue Reading

New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Legislation: The Focus on Major Source Permit Applications Might Impact Property Values

By Maribel Nicholson-Choice on Posted in Compliance, Contamination, DEP, Energy, Environment, Environmental Justice, Featured, Federal Regulation, Hazardous Waste, Legislation, Litigation, NEPA, New Jersey, Oil & Gas, Policy, Politics, Pollution, public health, State & Local, Waste
Last month, I wrote about the “Environmental Justice for All Act,” a bill that proposes a finding that vulnerable populations are disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards. New Jersey is following the federal environmental justice debate, passing historical environmental justice legislation in both the House and Senate, where it is currently awaiting Governor Phil Murphy’s approval. … Continue Reading

McGirt v. Oklahoma: Understanding What the Supreme Court’s Native American Treaty Rights Decision Is and Is Not

By Troy A. Eid on Posted in Court Cases, Environment, Featured, GT Alert, Legislation, Litigation, Policy, Politics
Confusion permeates the public arena as to what the U.S. Supreme Court recently did – and didn’t do – by ruling in favor of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe, and against the state in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Not since a grinning incumbent President Harry S. Truman hoisted The Chicago Daily … Continue Reading

New DOJ Guidance Seeks to Limit Federal Enforcement under the Clean Water Act

By Bernadette M. Rappold on Posted in Clean Water Act, DOJ, Environment, EPA, Federal, Water
On July 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a policy memorandum designed to stay the federal government’s hand in enforcing the Clean Water Act where states have initiated a civil judicial penalty proceeding under analogous state laws on the same core of operative facts. The policy, “Civil Enforcement Discretion in Certain Clean … Continue Reading

A Tale of Two Environmental Policies: President Trump Announces NEPA Reform, as Former Vice President Biden Vows to Roll Back Reforms If Elected

By Zackary D. Knaub and Steven C. Russo on Posted in Environment, Federal, Federal Regulation, Legislation, NEPA, NEPA
On July 15, 2020, President Trump’s administration finalized a significant overhaul of the regulations governing the administration of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In January 2020, when the regulatory overhaul was announced, we observed that rolling back 50 years of precedent in an administrative action could trigger judicial challenges to the rule and result … Continue Reading

DOJ’s Attack on ‘Supplemental Environmental Projects’ Extends to Citizen Plaintiffs

By Caleb Holmes on Posted in Coal, Environment, Environmental Justice, Policy, Politics, Pollution, State & Local
The Department of Justice, in the last year, has altered its guidance related to supplemental environmental projects (SEPs), first prohibiting their use in settlements with state and local governments, then extending that prohibition to settlements with private parties. The Department of Justice is now targeting settlements that include similar projects agreed to by two private … Continue Reading

Supreme Court: Pollutants Reaching Navigable Waters Through Groundwater May Require Permit Under Clean Water Act

By Steven Barringer and Bernadette M. Rappold on Posted in Clean Water Act, Court Cases, Environment, Pollution, Water
Rejecting the Trump administration’s novel 2019 interpretation that the Clean Water Act never requires permits for pollutant discharges to groundwater, the United States Supreme Court handed down, on April 23, its eagerly awaited decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. The 6-3 majority held that Section 301 of the Clean … Continue Reading

EPA Commences Public Comment on Recycled-Content Product List – It May be More Relevant Than You Think

By Kaitlyn R Maxwell and Bernadette M. Rappold on Posted in COVID-19, Emergency Preparedness, Environment, EPA, RCRA
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as large and small businesses alike struggle to stay afloat while acting responsibly to protect public health, sustainability may not be top-of-mind. But the development and sale of sustainable products may provide struggling businesses with new sources of revenue and competitive advantage in the days ahead. The federal government promotes recycling … Continue Reading
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