Federal and state courts made monumental decisions this year that transformed environmental policy. Get ready for more of the same in 2024. As I report today, a flurry of environment-related court rulings are expected in the coming months. The Supreme Court will consider cases that could overturn a legal doctrine key to upholding federal rules — environmental and otherwise — and block a significant EPA air quality regulation, while a Hawaii court will begin holding the second-ever U.S. youth climate trial. Environmental lawyers say they are bracing for losses before the conservative-dominated Supreme Court. “The agencies are going to have to be much more intentional,” said Kerry McGrath, a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth, who specializes in environmental, energy and administrative law. “They can’t just assert authority based on some broad statutory language.” Let’s recap
In the biggest environmental ruling of 2023 — Sackett v. EPA — the Supreme Court released Chantell and Michael Sackett from the government’s requirement that they obtain a federal water permit to build their dream home on an Idaho lakeshore. But Sackett also put new limits on EPA’s oversight powers, demolishing protections for most of the nation’s wetlands and shifting authority to states that may not have the desire or the resources to ramp up their own water permitting programs. One of the nation’s most prominent energy court battles was also obliterated in 2023 by congressional mandate. Lawsuits over the contentious Mountain Valley pipeline nearly disappeared after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia brokered a deal to save the $7 billion project designed to carry natural gas through his home state. The year also saw an historic legal victory for environmental activists. In August, a Montana court found that state officials violated the rights of young people by ignoring the climate damage wrought by fossil fuels — the first ruling of its kind in the United States. The decision — Held v. Montana — is already driving similar lawsuits in other states, including Hawaii. Buckle up
In January, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that has the potential to end a 40-year-old legal doctrine that helps federal agencies like EPA win in court. The court’s decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which is expected by early summer, will come as the Biden administration begins to finalize — and legally defend — rules to limit power plant emissions, curb tailpipe pollution and define federally protected waters. In February, the high court will also consider blocking an EPA rule that stops states from spewing smog-forming air pollutants to their downwind neighbors. “This could be a precursor of a changing of the environmental standards we’ve lived with for the past 30 or 40 years,” said Mark Sudol, senior adviser at the environmental permitting consulting firm Dawson & Associates. “I hope not, but we’ll see where it goes.”
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