CleanLaw

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Andrea Joy Campbell, and Vernice Miller-Travis, Executive Vice President and Environmental Justice Lead at the Metropolitan Group. They discuss the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle federal environmental justice and equity programs, funding, and priorities, and what those changes mean for critical infrastructure, toxics-free housing, access to clean air and clean water, and more. They also discuss what states and community-based organizations are doing in this moment to safeguard public health and environmental protections in Massachusetts and nationwide. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw_EP103-Transcript.pdf Links: Multi-State Guidance Concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Employment Initiatives, from 16 state attorneys general, Feb. 13, 2025 https://www.mass.gov/doc/multi-state-guidance-concerning-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-employment-initiatives/download Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, a report from the United Church of Christ's Commission for Racial Justice, 1987 https://www.ucc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ToxicWastesRace.pdf Searchable map of facilities invited by EPA to apply for presidential exemptions from air pollution limits, compiled by EDF, April 30, 2025 https://www.edf.org/maps/epa-pollution-pass/

In this episode, EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Carrie Jenks, EELP's executive director and Ari Peskoe, director of EELP's Electricity Law Initiative. They discuss President Trump's most recent executive orders on climate, energy, and the environment and what they are watching for as agencies begin to implement the administration's directives to roll back environmental regulations; challenge state energy and climate policies, and revitalize the coal industry. Transcript available here: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw_EP102-Transcript.pdf

Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe and EELP Fellow Eliza Martin discuss their new paper, Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers are Paying for Big Tech Power. As Amazon, Google, Meta, and other technology companies try to secure electricity for their new data centers, electric utilities are expanding their systems to serve them. Because utility companies profit by building infrastructure, serving data centers is a lucrative opportunity that is incentivizing utilities to offer attractive rates to Big Tech companies. Ari and Eliza discuss how rate-setting processes can shift utility costs among ratepayers and explain how rate structures, as well as contracts between utilities and data centers, could be transferring Big Tech's energy costs to the public. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanLaw_EP101-Transcript.pdf Read the paper https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/extracting-profits-from-the-public-how-utility-ratepayers-are-paying-for-big-techs-power/

EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus, Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and Carrie Jenks, executive director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program. They discuss the Trump administration's actions to date on climate, energy, environment, and natural resources and break down which actions have an immediate effect, what will take time, and what they will be watching for, including actions affecting the federal workforce. They also discuss why the practice and study of law matter now more than ever. Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CleanLaw_EP100-Transcript.pdf Our analysis of the Trump administration's initial executive orders https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/trumps-environmental-and-energy-executive-orders-initial-insights-and-what-were-watching/ Our rollback resources https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/topic/rollback-resources/ Our Regulatory Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker-type/regulatory-tracker/ Our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker-type/environmental-justice-tracker/

EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with speaks with Debbie Chizewer and Nick Leonard about environmental justice lawyering, including leveraging Title VI of the Civil Rights Act on behalf of frontline communities. Debbie Chizewer is a managing attorney with Earthjustice based in Chicago, where she leads the organization's Midwest litigation strategy. Nick Leonard is the executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center based in Detroit, which provides legal representation to communities across Michigan. This is the second episode in a 2-part series on Title VI. Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CleanLaw_EP99.pdf Links mentioned in episode: Episode I in this series https://soundcloud.com/user-995691545/ep-9860-years-of-title-vi-of-the-civil-rights-act-part-1-la-v-epa Great Lakes Environmental Law Center https://glelc.org/ Earthjustice Midwest Office https://earthjustice.org/office/midwest CARE v. EPA, No. 4:15-03292-SBA (N.D. Cal.) https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/114.20order20032030202018.pdf US Ecology Agreement between Michigan EGLE and Complainants https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/title-vi-use-north-2024-08-29-title-vi-complaint-agreement-complaint-no-20-001-d-use-north-final_.pdf

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Olatunde Johnson, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Professor Johnson and Hannah discuss the history and evolution of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a crucial legal tool for the environmental justice movement. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked EPA and the Department of Justice from enforcing their Title VI rules prohibiting actions that disparately impact communities of color in the state of Louisiana, and now those rules are at risk of being struck down nationwide.   This is the first episode in a 2-part series on Title VI. Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CleanLaw_EP98.pdf Links mentioned in show: Louisiana v EPA - https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024.08.22-cain-judgement.pdf Our podcast on the "Quagmire Quartet" Suite of Supreme Court Decisions Undermine Administrative Law -https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-suite-of-supreme-court-decisions-undermine-administrative-law/ Petition for Rulemaking on Title VI from Republican-led Attorneys General - https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/epa-title-vi-comment-final.pdf Response to Petition for Rulemaking from Environmental Justice and Civil Rights Groups - https://www.nclc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024.09.04_Letter_Title-VI-Response-cover-letter-executive-summary-response-letter.pdf Democratic AGs' Response to the Petition for Rulemaking - https://stateimpactcenter.org/files/AG_Actions_NY_Response_FL_Rulemaking_Petition_9.5.24.pdf Olatunde C. Johnson, Lawyering That Has No Name: Title VI and the Meaning of Private Enforcement, 66 Stan. L. Rev. 1293 (2014). - https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/1094/

EELP senior staff attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Andy and Sara discuss the origin and evolution of presidential authority to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act, how Congress and the courts have responded to these designations over the act's 118-year history, present day legal challenges to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and what could be ahead for monuments in the Supreme Court. Transcript here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CleanLaw_EP97-final.pdf

In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Jody and Andy break down what they call the “Quagmire Quartet” of recent Supreme Court decisions that overturn the Chevron doctrine and undermine administrative agencies. They discuss the new challenges that federal agencies will face as they work to protect the public, the ways in which the Supreme Court has centralized power in the judiciary, how courts can continue to uphold important federal rules, and why they have hope. Transcript available at http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP96-transcript.pdf

California has had a pivotal role in creating US clean car and clean air regulations under multiple administrations. In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Mary Nichols, former Chair of the California Air Resources Board and California's Secretary for Natural Resources, as well as former Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. They discuss California's role in driving car and air emissions regulation, how automakers and market forces have evolved since the 1970s, and what may happen in the coming years under either election outcome. Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Mary-episode-95.pdf

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Claire Wayner, senior associate at RMI's Carbon-Free Electricity program, and Casey Baker senior program manager at GridLab. They discuss how the utility industry thinks about building new high-voltage transmission lines and how FERC Order No. 1920 attempts to push the industry to develop more transmission to accommodate new, clean sources of electricity while maintaining a reliable and affordable power system. Transcript (pdf): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP94.pdf

Hannah Perls, EELP Senior Staff Attorney, and Deanna Moran, vice president of healthy and resilient communities at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, walk through some of the surprising ways that law and policy drive adaptation decisions in Massachusetts and beyond, including state and local building codes, design standards and risk disclosures, how to make our utilities more resilient without forcing ratepayers to bear the costs, and permitting. We also dig into current advocacy efforts for a wicked resilient New England.

The Endangered Species Act, which turned 50 years old on December 28, 2023, has been described as one of the most potent environmental law statutes ever enacted. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, discuss the initial bipartisan support for the act, the Supreme Court cases that shaped its implementation, and the success of the law in protecting numerous species. They also talk about how the Endangered Species Act could be improved and the risks that it may face in the future. Quotes “… I spent 33 years litigating the Endangered Species Act. As my colleagues who are still at the Department of Justice can attest, litigation in this space is often very frustrating. There are bad cases, there are bad outcomes, but I think by any measure, we ought to understand we should step back at this 50th anniversary and say congrats to that Congress, congrats to President Nixon. This is really a powerful statute.” —Andrew Mergen [39:19] “That's the fabulous thing about this law. It's not an anthropocentric law. It's a biocentric law. It's a law which recognizes the responsibility that humankind has to all species on our planet. So it's not a law which is saying, ‘This is really important for the economy.' No, it's a law that's saying, ‘This is important for our spirit, this is important for who we are.'” —Richard Lazarus [30:12] “So you need to have ways to actually have the statute provide incentives for private landowners to actually maintain the habitat, not view the statute as a threat to economic viability.” —Richard Lazarus [43:07] “When the wolves were put back onto the landscape in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the Nez Perce tribe played an important role in that. We now see with the California condor the Northern California tribes playing an important part in the re-establishment of those populations, and that is a plus and a really important part of the future of the act.” —Andrew Mergen [45:45] Transcript (PDF): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-EP92.pdf

In this episode Harvard Law professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, Chair of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative's Oil and Gas Executive Committee, Riley Duren, CEO and Founder of Carbon Mapper, Peter Zalzal Distinguished Counsel and Associate Vice President of Clean Air Strategies at Environmental Defense Fund, and EELP's Executive Director, Carrie Jenks. They discuss international and domestic efforts to reduce methane emissions, the Global Methane Pledge from COP 26, the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter from COP 28, the Biden administration's recently released final methane rule for the oil and natural gas sector, the technology innovation that is making it increasingly possible to detect methane leaks, and the climate benefits of focusing on methane. Transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-91-transcript.pdf

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Staff Attorney Hannah Dobie about Ari's new article about power sector governance, Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate's Control. They discuss how FERC's legal authority shapes regional governance, how independent decisionmaking by Regional Transmission Organizations is compromised by utilities and other incumbent firms, and why this is holding back the industry's innovative potential.  Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-90-transcript-RTO.pdf Ari's paper is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control/ Show notes with graphic mentioned at 23:15 https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/cleanlaw-replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control-hannah-dobie-interviews-ari-peskoe-about-his-new-article-in-energy-law-journal/

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling and Jack Ewing, a New York Times business reporter who writes about the auto industry and electric vehicles. Jody, Kevin, and Jack discuss the three cases currently before the D.C. Circuit about how agencies set vehicle standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel efficiency. They also discuss the United Auto Workers strike, the economics and supply chain considerations for manufacturing electric vehicles, and how each may affect the Biden administration's climate policy for the transportation sector. Transcript here:http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-89-transcript.pdf

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's founding director Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, director of Harvard Law's Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about a case the US Supreme Court will hear this fall, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which petitioners have asked the Court to overrule the Chevron doctrine — a legal doctrine that governs when a court should defer to an agency's interpretation of a law. The case arises under the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which authorizes requiring commercial fishing vessels to carry onboard observers, but the statute doesn't specify that the fishermen should pay for those observers. Jody and Andy talk about how the Supreme Court might cabin or overrule the Chevron doctrine, and what the case might mean for other environmental regulations and federal regulation more broadly. Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-88-transcript-8-23-2023.pdf Quotes: "The Chevron case involved a reading by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Reagan administration that was actually helpful to business, and allowed them some flexibility in updating facilities without having to get new permits under the Clean Air Act. Those were the facts of Chevron. It was viewed as a flexibility-enhancing interpretation, a deregulatory, business-friendly interpretation." –Jody Freeman [6:00] "I think that the folks who are advancing an anti-administrative state agenda are just worried that Congress has created a pretty robust environmental statutory regime, a pretty robust human health and safety regime, and the agencies are proceeding in good faith to implement Congress's goals there. I think that at this point in the game, folks who are anti-regulatory would rather detooth the professional staff in those agencies rather than abide by what really does appear to be a neutral doctrine on its face." –Andy Mergen [29:20] "This is a profoundly important tool for the lower courts, to get their handle on issues that they're confronting every day from agencies. It's a really, really important framework for promoting stability and rule of law values. I think we would lose a lot if we were overturning Chevron."  –Andy Mergen [48:10] "Even if you overturn Chevron, you can't avoid the fundamental problem, which is that Congress is giving agencies a job to do, and they need to have some flexibility interpreting their mandates" –Jody Freeman [53:55]

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls talks with Susan Crawford, the John A. Riley clinical professor at Harvard Law School, and Michelle Mapp, an Equal Justice Works law fellow at the ACLU of South Carolina and former CEO of the South Carolina Community Loan Fund, about Susan's most recent book, Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm. Quotes: “Charleston is everything about America sort of distilled: enormous growth, enormous focus on profit, a deep rootedness in our history of racism and now facing a lot of pressures from both the water and from development.” —Susan Crawford (9:31) “... [W]e have just refused to even begin to have these conversations as a community, as a state, or as a country. But they're conversations that we must have because whether we choose to put our head in the sand or not, the water is coming, the hurricanes are coming, these weather events are coming as we are already seeing in our country.” —Michelle Mapp (36:20) “We have to elect people who are capable of looking beyond their short-term plans and their short-term success in office to think about the long-term survival of this country.” —Susan Crawford (41:09) Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-87.pdf

Harvard Law School Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Law Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court's recent decision in Sackett v. EPA. They discuss how the Court's reliance on a dictionary definition of waters will drastically limit Clean Water Act protections: severely shrinking what qualifies as covered wetlands and streams, and as a result, enfeebling the federal government's ability to protect the larger water bodies the act still clearly covers. With a deep dive into the history of the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court's prior decisions, and the science of watersheds, they put into context how the Sackett decision flies in the face of what Congress intended when it passed this landmark legislation. Quotes: “[I]f the Court uses a continuous surface water connection test, which is what they're moving towards, to traditional navigable waters required for wetlands, more than 50% of wetlands in some watersheds would no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. With respect to streams: Ephemeral and intermittent streams would not be jurisdictional waters and thus more than 90% of stream length, in some watersheds, would no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act.” —Steph Tai [6:50] “… [W]e don't have to guess what the purpose of the Clean Water Act is, it's the very first section of the act, section 101, it says its purpose is to preserve the biological, physical, and chemical integrity of the nation's waters. That is the purpose of the statute. And unfortunately, what the court is done here, it's made it impossible to do that both to those waters that are now no longer covered themselves, which are important, and because their connection to the waters the court says are covered. So all sets of those waters will no longer be effectively protected by the statute. And when Congress did this in 1972, they did it deliberately. They deliberately decided we needed a national law, a comprehensive law. They deliberately defined the term navigable waters to mean waters of the United States as a broad term, and the accompanying legislative history said, we're doing that deliberately. We want to tap into the full scope of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause. So, they were intentionally not making this depend on traditional notions of navigability. And that's been the sort of the settled law. And now the court has turned back the clock.” —Richard Lazarus [13:45] “I felt a sense of disappointment there wasn't a dissent that really took the majority to task and chimed in about the danger of the Thomas-Gorsuch approach and view of the Commerce Clause... [L]urking here in the Thomas-Gorsuch concurrence is a very radical view of the Commerce Clause and what Congress can do and what it means for environmental law more generally.”  —Jody Freeman [42:50] “There is a real tone and tenor and attitude of real disdain for the enterprise of the agencies in these cases. For the job the government has been given by Congress in these statutes, a sense of the government is the enemy. The government imposes and impinges on liberty. There's a line in the Alito opinion, Richard, that says the Clean Water Act is a ‘potent weapon' and it has ‘crushing' consequences. Not, ‘there's a mission.' Congress gave the agency a mission to protect the waters of the United States.” —Jody Freeman [55:08] Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-86-final.pdf

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hanna Perls, Executive Director Carrie Jenks, and Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe break down recent changes to federal permitting passed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, aka the debt ceiling bill, which President Biden signed on June 3rd. Mentioned link: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/5/federal-actions-to-improve-project-reviews-for-a-cleaner-and-stronger-economy Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-85.pdf

Executive Director Carrie Jenks and EELP's Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe discuss the Supreme Court's recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision. Ari explains how this case about a California law regulating sales of pork products will help insulate state clean energy laws from certain types of legal challenges. Mentioned links: https://statepowerproject.org/ Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-84.pdf

EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and EELP's executive director, Carrie Jenks speak again with Jay Duffy, litigation director at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Jody, Jay, and Kevin recently joined CleanLaw to discuss the Supreme Court's decision about the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, and now, with Carrie, talk about EPA's recently proposed greenhouse gas regulation for the power sector and their views on how EPA's approaches were shaped by both the Supreme Court's decision, West Virginia v. EPA, and Congress's enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act. Transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-83-Power-Sector-Rule-Jody-Jay-Kevin-Carrie.pdf

EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Dr. Carolyn Kousky, associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Sean Hecht, who is the managing attorney of Earth Justice's California Regional Office. They discuss the past, present, and future of disaster insurance, including the role that governments can play in helping design insurance markets that not only redistribute climate related risk, but can help mitigate that risk in an effective and equitable way. Carolyn and Sean are just speaking for themselves and not on behalf of their current or former organizations. Transcript available here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-82-Disaster-Insurance-Past-Present-Future-with-Hannah-Perls-Carolyn-Kousky-Sean-Hecht.pdf Mentioned links: Carolyn Kousky, Understanding Disaster Insurance: New Tools for a More Resilient Future (2022): https://islandpress.org/books/understanding-disaster-insurance Sean Hecht, Climate Change and the Transformation of Risk: Insurance Matters, 55 UCLA L. Rev. 1559 (2008): https://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/55-6-3.pdf Carolyn's testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/reauthorization-of-the-national-flood-insurance-program-improving-community-resilience The California Insurance Commission's Sustainable Insurance Roadmap: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/180-climate-change/The-Sustainable-Insurance-Roadmap.cfm

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, a former senior executive at EPA who oversaw the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks in US history. Jody and Chet analyze EPA's most recent proposal to update greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and discuss how the implementation of those standards might be impacted by subsidies and incentives in the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act and future litigation. Mentioned links: Episode 65, Clean Car Rules with Jody Freeman and Chet France https://soundcloud.com/user-995691545/65clean-car-rules-with-jody-freeman-and-chet-france?si=db9f227fa1424e34a1a30e322212c7e1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing EDF Joins Dozens of Other Leaders to Defend EPA's Clean Car Standards in Court: https://www.edf.org/media/edf-joins-dozens-other-leaders-defend-epas-clean-car-standards-court Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-81-Journey-to-the-electrification-of-the-transportation-sector.pdf

Executive Director Carrie Jenks speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus about his recently released book, The Making of Environmental Law, Second Edition. In this long-awaited update, Professor Lazarus describes how environmental law has developed over the last two decades and explores new challenges for the field, including the shifting role of the judiciary, long overdue efforts to achieve environmental justice, and addressing climate change. Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-80-The-Making-of-Environmental-Law-April-2023.pdf

Carrie Jenks and Hannah Oakes Dobie talk about EPA's latest regulation to address interstate ozone pollution, the “Good Neighbor Plan.” They discuss how the rule's new design features will refine EPA's longstanding air transport program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. You can read more about the 2023 “good neighbor plan” in the link below. This podcast was recorded on April 3, 2023. On April 5, EPA issued its pre-publication version of the proposed Mercury Air Toxics Standards that Carrie mentions in her discussion about upcoming power sector rules that might impact the timing for installation of emissions control technologies. Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-7-the-Good-Neighbor-Plan-for-Interestate-Ozone-Pollution.pdf Acronyms in this episode: CAIR (Clean Air Interstate Rule), CSAPR (Cross-State Air Pollution Rule), FIP (Federal Implementation Plan), NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards), SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction controls), SNCR (Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction controls), SIP (State Implementation Plan)

Senior Staff Attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Hannah Perls talk about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They discuss the regulatory and legal implications of the derailment, including who is in charge of the response and the different roles that federal agencies play. They also discuss the cleanup order issued by EPA and possible federal reforms to railroad safety regulations. You can find a transcript of this episode here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-78-East-Palestine-Sara-and-Hannah.pdf

In our first CleanLaw Quick Take*, our Executive Director Carrie Jenks and Staff Attorney Hannah Perls walk through the latest updates on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hannah explains how the US Army Corps of Engineers' announcement about its upcoming draft environmental impact statement might affect the future of the pipeline, and how litigation between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Army Corps got us to this point. Carrie and Hannah also review the Tribe's concerns in that litigation, what will happen after the draft environmental impact statement is released, and how other federal actions might affect what's in the Army Corps' draft. You can stay updated on the Dakota Access Pipeline on our Regulatory Tracker Page. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/09/dakota-access-pipeline/ Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-77-DAPL-QT-with-Hannah-and-Carrie.pdf *CleanLaw Quick Takes are mini episodes where our staff break down a current topic in environmental or energy law in ten minutes or less. These episodes are designed for general audiences as well as practitioners.

Recent HLS graduate Lowry Yankwich speaks with Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions rule for oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf. This rule is intended to protect workers and prevent oil spills, and is part of the reforms instituted since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. Lowry and Chris discuss the arc of this rulemaking through the Obama, Trump, and Biden presidencies, and Chris explains its technical and legal aspects. You can stay updated on this rule on our BSEE Regulatory Tracker page https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/05/bsee-blowout-preventer-and-well-control-rule/ Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-76-Lowry-and-Chris.pdf

Carrie Jenks, our executive director, speaks with Kyle Danish, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Dan Zimmerle, the director of the Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University. They discuss EPA's recently released supplemental proposal to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector, and how the regulatory framework EPA has proposed is designed to enable the use of advanced technologies to better detect and therefore reduce emissions. You can read more about EPA's proposed rule in our white paper EPA's Supplemental Methane Proposal—A Comprehensive Regulatory Framework to Encourage Use of Advanced Technologies and Significantly Reduce Methane Emissions. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2022/11/epa-supplemental-methane-proposal/ Here's the link to a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-Carrie-Dan-and-Kyle.pdf

EELP Legal Fellow Abby Husselbee speaks with Cory-Ann Wind, the Program Manager of Oregon's Clean Fuels Program in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Cory has worked for ODEQ for over 29 years, the last 12 in fuels, transportation, and climate policy. Abby and Cory discuss clean fuel standards and their benefits, Oregon's program and history, prior legal challenges to their programs, and some lessons learned.  Here's the link to at transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-Cory-Ann-and-Abby.pdf

Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari's work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to enable the clean energy transition. Links they discuss include: The Electricity Law Initiative's Comment on FERC's proposed rule on long-term regional transmission planning responds to FERC's proposal to reinstate rights of first refusal and discusses the benefits of retaining competitive transmission development. Comment is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-ELI-RM21-17-NOPR-Comment.pdf FERC rule is here https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=2fae9f65-2968-cdf2-94ba-804ef7300000 ELI's comments on FERC oversight of transmission rates proposes new oversight mechanisms, including an independent transmission monitor, designed to protect consumers from inefficient transmission investments. Link is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/AD22-8-AriPeskoe-PreTechConStatement.pdf At around 30 minutes, Ari mistakenly says that Congress' 2021 infrastructure law provides $5 billion for resilience and reliability investments. The law actually provides more than $10 billion for such investments. Here's the link to at transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-Ari-transcript.pdf

Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Rebecca Bratspies at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and founding Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, which works with community groups seeking to obtain full and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. They discuss recent environmental justice legislation (EJ) in New York, and what these legislative wins mean for environmental regulation and overburdened communities in the state. Prof. Bratspies also speaks about the Center's EJ comic book series and her work with Renewable Rikers, a campaign to transform the Rikers Island correctional facility into a renewable energy center. Center for Urban Reform and EJ comics are here https://cuer.law.cuny.edu/ Renewable Rikers is here https://www.renewablerikers.org/ Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-R-Bratspies-transcript.pdf

Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of HLS, speaks with Roger Martella, GE's Chief Sustainability Officer. They discuss GE's recent sustainability commitments and how the company is tackling its operational and downstream emissions across the aviation, public health, and power sectors. A note for our listeners – this episode was recorded before Congress passed of the Inflation Reduction Act. For a transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-71-Roger-Martella-and-Lowry-Yankwich.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, Sara Levy, and Hannah Perls

Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Greg Dotson, an associate professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and recent Democratic chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jody and Greg discuss the climate and clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and the potential implications for clean energy development and addressing climate change. For a transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Greg-Dotson-IRA.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, Sara Levy, and Hannah Perls

EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman speaks with Jay Duffy, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling, about what the Supreme Court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA means for their clients and the potential implications for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. For a transcript of this episode see here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-Jay-Kevin-WV-v-EPA-part-2.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

Professors Jody Freeman and Richard Lazarus and EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks discuss the Supreme Court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA. They break down the majority decision, concurrence, and dissent, and discuss how the major questions doctrine could affect EPA regulations addressing greenhouse gases and other key regulatory priorities for the Biden administration. For a transcript of this episode see here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-Richard-Carrie-WV-v-EPA-part-1.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

Harvard Law professors Jody Freeman and Richard Lazarus discuss the Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA. The Court's decision in this case will address the scope of EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, potentially impacting future EPA rules. For a transcript of this episode see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Richard-WV-v-EPA-transcript.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

EELP Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Joel Scata, a Water and Climate Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he works on clean water and climate change adaptation policy solutions. They discuss the ins and outs of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which, for the past fifty years, has helped define floodplain development by issuing federally-backed flood insurance policies to property owners and renters, and setting baseline building, land use and floodplain management criteria. However, many argue the program has failed, accumulating billions of dollars in debt and subsidizing risky development. In this episode, Joel and Hannah review the program's history, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) latest reforms including Risk Rating 2.0, and what challenges remain if the NFIP is to help communities adapt to a climate changed world. For more information on this discussion you can see (links below) NRDC's Climate Adaptation page, NRDC's & ASFPM's Petition for FEMA to update its NFIP Rules (Jan. 8, 2021), and NRDC's Comments responding to FEMA's Request for Information on the NFIP (Jan. 27, 2022). https://www.nrdc.org/issues/climate-adaptation https://www.nrdc.org/resources/nrdc-asfpm-petition https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/comments-nfip-floodplain-mgmt-standards-20220127.pdf To learn more about FEMA's authority to integrate equity considerations into its programs, see EELP's Report on Equitable Disaster Relief. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/10/equitable-disaster-relief/ Click here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-Joel-Scata-transcript.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

Our founding director Jody Freeman speaks with Chet France, who served as a senior executive at EPA and led the development of vehicle pollution standards at the agency, including overseeing, during the Obama administration, the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks. They talk about the development of the clean car rules, the stalled progress under the Trump administration, and the Biden administration's renewal and strengthening of the original standards. With President Biden's ambitious goals for electric vehicles, the major auto companies' pledges to produce an all-electric fleet, Congress's funding of charging infrastructure, and the new EPA standards, Jody and Chet discuss how we are at a potentially transformational moment in the history of the Clean Air Act, the auto industry, and climate change. A transcript of this episode is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Chet-Transcript.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

Lowry Yankwich, a third year student at HLS, speaks with Doug Christel, policy analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sustainable Fisheries Office. They discuss the approval of the South Fork Wind Project, which is only the second commercial-scale offshore wind project to be approved in federal waters. The project is small but has garnered outsized attention particularly due to its potential impacts on Coxes Ledge, an important fish habitat area. The two discuss possible impacts on fisheries from the South Fork project specifically, and wind development generally, and explore ways in which developers and government agencies are attempting to address and mitigate concerns raised by fishers. They put the South Fork project into perspective and show how it represents a significant milestone in the story of offshore wind development in the U.S. Note: at 34 minutes Doug questions his recollection of the micro-siting diameter for turbines, whether it's 500 feet or meters. He later confirmed it's 500 feet. You can read more about the legal implications of this topic here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/11/the-implications-of-boem-decision-on-the-south-fork-wind-farm/

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kate Konschnik of Duke University about EPA's recently proposed methane rules for new and existing oil and natural gas sources. They discuss some of the input EPA is seeking from stakeholders related to advanced technologies and how regulations could enable their deployment to achieve emission reductions. You can learn more about this topic in our white paper, EPA's Methane Proposal for the Oil and Gas Sector—A Strong Foundation to Reduce Methane Emissions and Regulatory Path for More. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/11/epas-methane-proposal-for-the-oil-and-gas-sector-a-strong-foundation-to-reduce-methane-emissions-and-regulatory-path-for-more/ Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-63-Kate-and-Carrie-Talk-Methane.pdf

Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Madison Condon, associate professor of law at Boston University who studies how climate change relates to corporate governance, market risk, and regulation. They discuss her research on how the market has failed to properly price climate risk and how the Securities and Exchange Commission might address that failure through new regulation. You can read Madison's paper here. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3782675 Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hana-and-Madison-Transcript.pdf

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Kevin co-chairs the firm's Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what is at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trump Administration's Affordable Clean Energy Rule for the power sector. They also discuss advice to new litigators. Note: this episode was recorded on August 24th, the day the petitioners' replies were due. Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Carrie-and-Kevin-Discuss-ACE-Rule.pdf

Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law's International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmental injustice in the United States and beyond. They also feature guest commentary from Tripti Poddar, a litigating attorney practicing in Delhi and Assam. She's also a consultant with legal empowerment organization called Nazdeek, based in Delhi, where she supports community-led advocacy and research on economic and social rights. For a full transcript of this episode please see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-60-Hannah-Aminta-Tripti-Human-Rights.pdf Links from the show: The Center for Economic and Social Rights' OPERA Framework https://www.cesr.org/opera-landing Nazdeek https://nazdeek.org/ Our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ejtracker/ Our Biden 100 Days Report https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/bidens-first-100-days-of-climate-action/ Our Biden/Harris Administration Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/biden-climate-environmental-tracker/

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-59-Ari-and-Brandon-Smithwood-on-Distributed-Energy-Business-Models.pdf

EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra and Fellow Hannah Perls talk about the progress of the Biden administration on climate and environmental priorities now that the first hundred days have passed. We originally posted this as a video, which you can view at the link below. See here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-58-Hannah-and-Hana-Assess-Biden-Progress-in-First-100-Days-1.pdf Video link: https://youtu.be/EhvV80q8kx8 Other links we mention: Tracking the Biden-Harris Climate Agenda https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/biden-climate-environmental-tracker/ Corporate Climate-Related Disclosure https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/climate-related-disclosure-and-financial-risk-management/ Rethinking the “One National Program” for Clean Cars https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/03/rethinking-the-one-national-program/ US Regulatory Barriers to an Ambitious Paris Agreement Commitment https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/04/us-paris-commitment/ Sign up for our newsletter here https://tinyurl.com/43hyhzsb

EELP Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Naeema Muhammad and Elizabeth Haddix. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Elizabeth is a Managing Attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She previously was the Senior Staff Attorney at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights where she led the center’s environmental justice docket from 2010 until 2017, when UNC eliminated the Center’s ability to represent clients, after which Elizabeth and the Center’s only other staff attorney, Mark Dorosin, formed the Julius Chambers Center for Civil Rights and continued to represent all their clients. In 2019, the Chambers Center became the Lawyers’ Committee’s only regional office. This is the second episode in a 2-part series in which we look at environmental justice litigation in eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. https://ncejn.org/ https://lawyerscommittee.org/ Full transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-57-Hannah-Naeema-Elizabeth-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI-pt-2.pdf CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

In this episode EELP Fellow Hannah Perls spoke with Naeema Muhammad and Alexis Andiman. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Alexis Andiman is a staff attorney with the Sustainable Food & Farming Program with Earthjustice. This is the first episode in a 2-part series in which we’ll look at some of the legal tools advocates are using to challenge the disparate impacts of pollution in environmental justice communities. In both episodes, we’ll be focusing on eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. A full transcript of this episode is available at http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-56-Hannah-Naeema-Alexis-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI.pdf For more on Naeema's and Alexis's work: https://ncejn.org/ https://earthjustice.org/about/offices/sustainable-food-farming CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy

Note: this episode was recorded in January, 2021. In this episode our staff attorney Caitlin McCoy was joined by Justin Gundlach and Elizabeth Stein to discuss their recent article "Harmonizing States' Energy Utility Regulation Frameworks and Climate Laws. A Case Study of New York."  Justin is a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. His work focuses on state-level energy and climate policy. And he's a coeditor of Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law, and the author of numerous publications and amicus briefs on legal and policy issues related to the impacts of energy use on climate and of climate change on infrastructure and public health.  Elizabeth is the lead counsel for energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund. She engages in state proceedings to advocate for aligning energy policies with state climate policies. And she has a particular focus on reducing reliance on oil and gas in transportation and in the building sector. She's successfully developed and advocated for best practices in the electric system to make sure that the grid is resilient and supports sustainability and reliability. And an important part of her work of course is collaborating with state and local agencies.  A full transcript is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-55-Caitlin-Elizabeth-Justin-NY.pdf We hope you enjoy this podcast!

Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Article entitled Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’s Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation. Note: we recorded this episode in early November, 2020. See here for a full transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-54-Ari-and-Scott-Hempling-on-Electric-Utility-Mergers.pdf

In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Texas Tech Climate Center and Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science. Professor Hayhoe talks about the cutting edge science of climate change attribution, how she tries to help the public understand the reality of climate change by making it local, how best to assess and report the impacts of it, and why she is hopeful. Click here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-53.pdf