PODCAST: Environmental Regulation Under the Trump Administration — C&M’s First 100 Days Series
Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.17.16
In the second podcast of Crowell & Moring’s “First 100 Days” series, Partner Tom Lorenzen and Counsel David Chung of the firm’s Environment & Natural Resources Group sit down to discuss what environmental regulation might look like under president-elect Trump’s new administration. Tom served in the U.S. DOJ’s Environment & Natural Resources Division for more than 15 years, experiencing first-hand the transition between two presidential administrations – from President Clinton to President Bush, and from President Bush to President Obama.
Covered in this 15 minute podcast:
- Trump and the EPA – how climate change regulation and the coal industry might be affected.
- Priorities for revising or revoking rules put in place by the Obama Administration.
- What might throw a wrench in the new administration’s plans to roll back certain rules.
- New environmental regulations the Trump administration might issue.
- Who might be chosen to lead the EPA.
Click below to listen or access from one of these links:
PodBean | SoundCloud | iTunes
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
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Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
