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
Shareholder Jillian C. Kirn is quoted in a Law360 article titled “Biggest Environmental Rules of 2020.” Click here to access the Law360 article (subscription required). … Continue Reading
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
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
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
Shareholders Bernadette Rappold and Steven Barringer are quoted in a Law360 article titled “Environmental Regulations To Watch In 2021.” Click here to access the Law360 article (subscription required).… Continue Reading
Shareholder Libretta Stennes is quoted in a Law360 article titled “The Biggest Environmental Law Decisions Of 2020.” Click here to access the Law360 article (subscription required).… Continue Reading
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) refers to the three central factors in measuring sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business. An update of one of the main frameworks used in ESG, the Equator Principles (the EPs), is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1, 2020. This latest iteration, “EP4,” … Continue Reading
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
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
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
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
Read in English. A continuación se detallan las actualizaciones más recientes y de mayor relevancia respecto de las Subastas en materia de energías renovables llevadas a cabo en Latinoamérica.… Continue Reading
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
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