In a new article in Natural Resources & Environment, the quarterly magazine of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Holland & Hart attorneys Murray Feldman and Ashley Peck examine the states’ roles in implementing federal environmental programs in light of the current administration’s shifting environmental priorities.
As the article notes, current state challenges and approaches to federal environmental policy initiatives are an ongoing feature of the constant pull and tug between the states and the federal government over the allocation of power and direction of environmental policy. Even in past administrations there were frequent state challenges to federal environmental regulatory decisions. In general, when the states interpret federal environmental policy direction as if the states’ concerns are not being heard or that their citizens’ interests are not being protected, then the states may be motivated to litigate to bring those interests into the federal decision making. For more, see the full article.