Full Title: Supreme Court Preview of 2020-2021 Environmental and Energy Law Cases and Review of 2019-2020 Rulings
Author(s): Congressional Research Service
Publisher(s): Congressional Research Service
Publication Date: February 11, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This report reviews some the major environmental, energy, and natural resources decisions from the Supreme Court’s 2019-2020 term and previews the legal disputes and arguments in selected environmental, energy, and natural resources cases and petitions for certiorari in the 2020-2021 term. The report also highlights the broader implications of these decisions and cases for Congress.
The Supreme Court’s 2020-2021 term, which began on October 5, 2020, features cases relating to states’ competing claims to several interstate rivers, disclosure of agency documents produced during an Endangered Species Act consultation, the appropriate court to decide climate change liability suits, the small refinery exemptions under the Clean Air Act’s renewable fuel standard, the relationship between separate CERCLA provisions for recouping cleanup costs, eminent domain authority under the Natural Gas Act, and other areas of EENR law. The Court is also reviewing petitions for a writ of certiorari and complaints related to the scope of the President’s authority to declare national monuments under the Antiquities Act, a state’s denial of a water quality certification under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, and other petitions that may implicate EENR issues. The Biden Administration is shifting executive branch policy on certain environmental, energy, and public health matters and its litigation strategies in pending cases.