On April 8, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” which directs the U.S. attorney general to work with department and agency heads to “identify all State and local laws, regulations, causes of action, policies, and practices (collectively, State laws) burdening the identification, […]
Cities Climate Law Initiative
43 posts
Last week, building electrification secured an important victory in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In Association of Contracting Plumbers of The City of New York, Inc. et al v. City of New York, plumbing and building trade groups challenged New York City’s Local […]
On his first day in office President Trump axed the Biden-era federal Buy Clean program. Buy Clean was designed to leverage the federal government’s buying power to help grow the low carbon building materials industry. Killing it will have consequences—buildings are responsible for a major share of global carbon dioxide […]
On Monday, January 27, 2025, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum-25-13 relating to a “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.” The memo references several of President Trump’s January 20 executive orders (EOs), including the “Unleashing American Energy” EO. It directs federal […]
As expected, a newly sworn-in President Donald Trump spent the afternoon following his inauguration signing executive orders (EOs), many of them intended to unwind climate and environmental initiatives enacted by former President Joe Biden. In the EOs, President Trump orders federal agencies and personnel to take certain actions – or […]
Yesterday, January 21, 2025, the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief on behalf of the National League of Cities (NLC) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles (the “HDV Rule”) that went into […]
Last Friday, December 20, 2024, the Sabin Center submitted an amicus brief to the New York State Court of Appeals – the state’s highest court – in support of the City of New York in Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., et al. v. City of New York. At issue in […]
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 […]