The Nickel Report

On June 24, 2024, the Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, CO, (23-975), a case challenging the scope of an environmental review conducted by the Surface Transportation Board (“Board”) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA”) for an 88-mile rail line project in Utah. The question before the Court is whether NEPA requires federal agencies to study the environmental impacts of proposed projects beyond the proximate effects of the action that an agency has no authority to regulate.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently finalized its long-anticipated National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (“NECIs”) for fiscal years 2024 through 2027, naming six “priority areas” on which EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (“OECA”) will focus its enforcement efforts and direct additional resources. In his first significant action since being confirmed by the Senate on July 20, 2023, OECA Assistant Administrator David Uhlmann issued a memorandum on August 17, 2023 to the EPA Regional Administrators, advising of the six NECIs. He stated that over the next four years EPA will “address the most significant public health and environmental challenges, protect vulnerable and overburdened communities, and promote greater compliance with our environmental laws.”