Climate Law Blog

Each month, Arnold & Porter and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law collect and summarize developments in climate-related litigation, which we also add to our U.S. and non-U.S. climate litigation charts.  If you know of any cases we have missed, please email us at columbiaclimate at gmail dot com. Here are the additions to the Climate Case Chart since Update […]

On December 24, 2014, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released Revised Draft Guidance on how federal agencies should evaluate GHG emissions and the impacts of climate change when conducting reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).[1] The revised guidance is significantly more detailed than the draft guidance released by CEQ in February 2010, […]

By: Daniel P. Selmi* Visiting Scholar, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Fritz B. Burns Professor of Law, Loyola Law School In an emphatic opinion, a state appellate court has invalidated the environmental impact report for the first “sustainable communities strategy” prepared by a regional council of government in California. In Cleveland National Forest […]

Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) recently directed a company seeking to build a natural gas facility to submit information regarding potential climate change impacts on the facility. FERC’s instructions come after the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (“SCCCL”) submitted letters to the agency regarding its […]

Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow Sea level rise and associated increases in flooding and storm surge should be considered in connection with two planned liquefied natural gas facilities proposed to be built on the coasts of Maine and Louisiana, according to letters submitted today by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law […]

Jennifer M. Klein, Esq. Associate Director & Fellow The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently finalized a rule regarding the storage of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel at individual power plants beyond the duration of each plant’s operating license. The NRC’s Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for the rule addressed potential climate change impacts during the time […]

By Michael B. Gerrard The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law by President Richard Nixon on January 1, 1970, was the first U.S. environmental statute of the modern era. It requires the preparation of environmental impact statements (EISs) for major federal actions that may have a significant impact on the environment. NEPA has […]

By Ellii Cho, Summer Legal Intern The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA) requires federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements (EISs) for all “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”[1] This includes the issuance of federal permits. Even after an EIS is completed and a proposed project has been […]

Ethan I. Strell, Associate Director & Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law In a subtle but meaningful shift, the environmental impact review process in New York City is beginning to more systematically consider the potential effects of a changing climate on proposed projects, not just the effects that a project might have on the […]