• People

Federal Environmental Enforcement Is Back, While Trump Hotel Violates IL State Laws

• Chicago River
• Department of Justice
• enforcement
• Environmental Justice
• permit
• supplemental environmental projects
• Trump

The Justice Department’s Environmental lawyers last week reversed numerous Trump administration policies, including one that allows companies to do environmental restoration and remediation projects as part of their fines and penalties.  At the same time, a state court in Illinois held the Trump International Hotel in Chicago had violated state environmental laws because it was using river water without a valid permit.

Why This Matters:  Our environmental laws are only effective if there is a credible threat of enforcement to ensure compliance, and when it is clear that no one — even a former-President — is above the law.

• Climate Change

What Can Biden Do On Day 1? Litigate and Enforce Environmental Laws

• climate change
• enforcement
• oil and gas
• oil companies
• pollution
• Supreme Court

The incoming Biden Administration’s Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency can immediately reverse current policies directing lax enforcement of the nation’s pollution laws, which undoubtedly have resulted in decreased compliance by facilities across the country.

Why This Matters:  The likelihood of a divided government has led many legal and climate experts to worry that a Biden administration will be hamstrung on climate change.

• Politics

The New Environmental Federalism: States Taking the Lead for Better or Worse

• clean air
• clean water
• enforcement
• federalism
• state

A vacuum at the federal level is leaving lots of room for state governments to lead on environmental issues, but with widely varying impacts. 

• People

Interview of the Week: Lois Schiffer, the Former Top Environmental Enforcer

• enforcement
• Justice Department
• pollution
• public health
• public land

Lois Schiffer is one of the leading environmental lawyers in the United States, having served as the General Counsel of NOAA during the Obama Administration, and as the Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources at the Justice Department during the Clinton Administration, as well as teaching environmental law at Georgetown Law for 30 […]

• Animals

Duct Taped Turtles Turn Up In Luggage – Abandoned by Smugglers

• endangered species
• enforcement
• tortoises
• totoaba
• turtles
• vaquita
• wildlife trafficking

Ironically, just as the world was celebrating World Wildlife Day last weekend, NPR reported that customs officials in the Phillippines on Sunday discovered more than 1500 rare and endangered turtles and tortoises wrapped in duct tape inside four unclaimed pieces of luggage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. 

• People

EPA’s Low Law Enforcement Puts Communities at Risk

• enforcement
• Environmental Integrity Project
• EPA
• House of Representatives

A new report issued yesterday by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) in conjunction with a Congressional hearing on EPA’s lack of enforcement under President Trump, concludes that communities across the country are being put at risk of exposure to dangerous contaminants.