The Trump administration has aggressively pursued deregulatory actions across the federal government, such as proposing to rescind the scientific finding that laid the groundwork for greenhouse gas emissions standards and narrowing the government's jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

State Clean Water Act Permitting Authority

The EPA is planning a revision to a 2023 rule implementing Section 401 of the Clean Water Act that establishes states' and tribes' authority to enforce water quality certifications. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said that during the Biden administration, certain states "attempted to leverage the Clean Water Act to undercut" some projects.

"The intent is to speed up projects that may have been slowed down by virtue of states' involvements," said Duane Morris LLP environmental partner Alicyn Craig. "They still retain the ability to block projects that threaten water quality, but they'll have less room to rely on federal regulations in the future."

Craig said the biggest question is whether any revision of the 2023 rule ultimately strips states of any CWA authority.

"To the extent that states are finding their veto authority or ability to provide input being restricted, there are certainly going to be legal challenges with respect to that," Craig said. [...]

FERC Data Center Interconnection

"They're going to have to fill in a lot of details that will be flexible enough to accommodate what is a pretty nascent industry, but not so loose that it doesn't give appropriate guidance for people to be able to make the investments, that at the federal level at least, people want to see made," said Duane Morris partner Robert Montejo, who works on data center development. [...]

To read the full text of this article, please visit the Law360 site (subscription required).