Vibrant Environment

Given the doubts raised by recent federal court decisions on the scope of the Council of Environmental Quality’s (CEQ's) authority and the issuance of that agency’s recent “interim final rule” on Removal of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations, it is unsurprising that NEPA’s fate feels uncertain.

Section 401 of the Clean Water Act provides that federal licenses and permits authorizing activities that include a point source discharge to the waters of the United States may only be granted after affected states have had an opportunity to review the activity and to certify that it will not cause a violation of state water quality standards. States (and some tribes with “treatment as a state”) have authority to grant or waive certification, to deny it, or to grant it subject to conditions.

As noted in a previous Vibrant Environment blog post, on January 20, President Trump signed Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy.

On February 3, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled A Plan for Establishing a United States Sovereign Wealth Fund. The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan within 90 days addressing the creation of such a fund, including funding mechanisms, investment strategies, fund structure, and a governance model. 

On January 20, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order entitled Unleashing American Energy. Section 5(a) of the new order revokes President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Executive Order 11991, which directed and empowered the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to adopt regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The upcoming change in the U.S. presidential administration, with its threat of tariffs and mass deportation of immigrant communities, has put more attention on the country’s southern border. Despite these and other tensions concerning the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico and the United States continue to work together to negotiate new approaches and compromises to manage shared water resources sustainably, even as climate change and drought have reduced those supplies.

Ecosystem services research has traditionally emphasized the essential role of healthy ecosystems in supporting human well-being by showcasing the critical benefits they provide, such as clean air and fertile soil. While this research has been important to communicating these benefits and even creating market-based solutions to sustain them, it often neglects a key element: the social dimensions of equity, justice, and resource distribution.

In June of this year, Louisiana enacted a law governing the gathering of air pollution data by community-based organizations.  Similar legislation has been introduced (but not adopted) in West Virginia and may be proposed in other states. While proponents argue they are simply ensuring only the best data is used, the Louisiana law undermines valid community efforts to understand an

Achieving a leaf-free, edged lawn is now achievable using equipment that is much more beneficial to public health, the environment, wildlife, and worker safety than the ubiquitous gas-powered tools that have dominated in prior decades. Use of electric lawn equipment is on the rise in part because states and localities across the country are taking actions to reduce reliance on gas-powered leaf blowers in particular—including seasonal and time-of-use restrictions, decibel limitations, and outright bans.

 The Problem 

On November 12, the U.S. Court of the Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shattered the implementation framework of one of the nation’s foundational environmental laws, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In a 2-1 decision in Marin Audubon v.