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Regulating EV Batteries’ Carbon Footprint: EU Climate Ambition or Green Protectionism?

The European Union’s (EU’s) recent proposal for a new regulation on EV batteries is a groundbreaking effort, the first to focus on the entire value chain to improve product sustainability and safety throughout the life cycle. Battery producers inside and outside of the EU will have to meet a series of requirements, starting from carbon footprint declaration and related labeling to complying with life-cycle carbon footprint thresholds, for having their products placed in the EU market.

Federal Environmental Justice Legislation and Regulations

With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and Water Resources Development Act of 2022, the statutory landscape has changed to reflect the Biden Administration’s emphasis on environmental justice. On February 27, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and ELI’s Pro Bono Clearinghouse co-hosted a panel of experts who explored how communities can leverage the statutory changes that have taken place, what decisions have been left up to agencies, and how proposed legislation, like the Environmental Justice for All Act, will affect future environmental justice efforts.

88 FR 42136

DOI, acting through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, proposed to modify its criteria for determining whether oil, gas, and sulfur lessees, right-of-use and easement grant holders, and pipeline right-of-way grant holders may be required to provide bonds or other financial assurance above the current regulatorily prescribed base bonds to ensure compliance with their Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act obligations.

88 FR 41541

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration proposed amendments to its hazardous materials regulations to require all railroads to generate in electronic form, maintain, and provide to first responders, emergency response officials, and law enforcement personnel, certain information regarding hazardous materials in rail transportation to enhance emergency response and investigative efforts.

88 FR 41477

FERC adopted a reporting requirement to direct transmission providers to file one-time informational reports describing their current or planned policies and processes for conducting extreme weather vulnerability assessments.

88 FR 41262

FERC directed the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to develop a new or modified reliability standard to address reliability concerns pertaining to transmission system planning for extreme heat and cold weather events that impact the reliable operation of the bulk-power system.

88 FR 39845

EPA seeks comment on implementation of a plan to ensure that farmworkers have access to bilingual pesticide labeling by December 2025 under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022.

88 FR 39424

EPA seeks comment on the draft Cumulative Risk Assessment (CRA) Guidelines for Planning and Problem Formulation, which describe steps for the planning and problem formulation of CRAs and offer guidelines for when they could be appropriate.

88 FR 38861

EPA announced a proposed consent decree that resolves Center for Food Safety v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 4:22-cv-6001-JST (N.D. Cal.), alleging the Agency unreasonably delayed responding to a petition for rulemaking, submitted to EPA on or around July 10, 2017, relating to the revision of testing requirements of pesticides prior to registration.

This Permit Reform Already Works. Why Aren't More Mining Projects Using It?

In January 2021, the mining sector was made eligible for coverage under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) program, a pilot project designed to expedite federal permitting. Although mining projects have been eligible for over two years, only recently was the first one posted on the Permitting Dashboard.