Stacey Mitchell and David Quigley Quoted in Law360 Article on Environmental Regulations to Watch in 2021
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Law360 has quoted Akin Gump environment and natural resources partners Stacey Mitchell and David Quigley in the article “Environmental Regulations To Watch In 2021,” which offers several areas in which there could be new environmental regulatory actions this year.
One of them, according to Mitchell, involves the Clean Air Act and how the Biden administration will proceed with greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. She said she expects the new administration to move quickly to reverse course from the Trump administration, which rolled back Obama-era greenhouse gas (GHGs) and fuel efficiency standards and told California it no longer has the right to regulate GHGs from vehicles on its own.
“I anticipate the Biden administration will reverse position about the legal authority to give California a waiver on greenhouse gas emissions and grant California a waiver moving forward,” Mitchell said. “And then I would expect that the Biden administration EPA will get to revising standards. It will be interesting to see if those standards go back to the Obama standards or are perhaps more consistent with the agreement that California entered into with a number of auto manufacturers.”
Quigley, who heads Akin Gump’s environment and natural resources practice, said he will be watching to see what happens to the Clean Water Act and whether the Biden administration will try to match or exceed the actions of the Trump administration.
As an example, Law360 reports that the Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a rule that would either renew or revise more than 50 nationwide permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The proposal also pushes to split Nationwide Permit 12 into three parts, one of which would exclusively deal with oil and gas pipelines, another with electric lines and the third with lines that transport water or sewage.
According to Quigley, “That’s an area where you’re likely to see conflicting rules between the two administrations.”
