Over the last five years, at least 25 states have expressly preempted local governments from enacting requirements, or even incentives, to construct new buildings that do not rely on natural gas as a fuel source. On December 6, 2024, two local governments finally fought back in court. Seattle and King […]
State Law
9 posts
The Republican-led “anti-ESG” (environmental, social, governance) movement over the last two years has largely been a legislative effort, comprised primarily of state-level bills that attempt to halt the consideration of climate risk and other commonplace factors in investment decisions connected with government funds, contracts, and pensions. Hundreds of these proposals […]
In the first months of 2024, legislators in four states—Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont—have pushed for legislation that would collectively require large fossil fuel producers and refiners to pay for hundreds of billions of dollars of state-level climate adaptation infrastructure. E&E News reports that similar legislation may soon be […]
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 directed the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the development of four regional “direct air capture hubs” (DAC Hubs)—networks that connect direct air capture projects with sequestration facilities and commercial users of captured carbon dioxide (CO2). To support these DAC Hubs, […]
By Jacob Elkin On June 30, 2022, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation denied Greenidge Generation LLC’s application to renew a Title V air quality permit for the Greenidge Generating Station. The facility, previously permitted as a natural gas-fired “peaker” plant, has recently ramped up its power generation to […]
By Jacob Elkin As cryptocurrency has increased in popularity and cryptocurrency mining facilities have expanded their energy consumption, some fossil fuel power plants in New York have ramped up energy generation to provide behind-the-meter power to cryptocurrency miners. Increased power generation to fuel cryptocurrency mining has significant environmental impacts, leading […]
By Jessica Wentz On December 28, 2018, California adopted comprehensive amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, which include a suite of provisions aimed at improving the analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change impacts in state environmental reviews. These provisions touch on both climate change […]
By Dena Adler New research from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reveals that nearly half of states do not have regulatory or statutory requirements for sellers to disclose a property’s history of flood damages to a homebuyer. As a consequence, many […]