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Environment and Natural Resources

Overview

Anticipating and responding under pressure

Crowell & Moring’s Environment & Natural Resources Group navigates a complex landscape where businesses are under increasing pressure to improve their environmental performance and achieve sustainability goals. We draw on our lawyers’ experience in and positive relationships with federal and state regulators and lawmakers to anticipate and resolve disputes, to develop and demystify environmental legislation, and to shape regulation. Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and other publications include our group and its lawyers among the very top environmental practices and practitioners nationwide.

Relevant, cross-disciplinary knowledge and strategic end-to-end counsel

Our lawyers have the in-depth knowledge of environmental market conditions, the law, and policy-making processes to provide effective, nuanced solutions to businesses, trade associations, and other clients across traditional and rapidly emerging areas, including:

  • Strategic Counseling—Advising business and legal leadership on current and emerging environmental risk and opportunity areas, including climate change, environmental justice, planning considerations and requirements related to major energy, water, and industrial projects.
  • Investigations and Enforcement– Providing discreet and efficient risk assessments, determining how best to respond to minimize potential liability, and responding to federal or state government investigations and enforcement actions relating to compliance with federal and state environmental laws and regulations in areas ranging from industrial emissions to aftermarket parts issues to PFAS and other chemical contamination issues.
  • Regulatory Development, Challenges, and Compliance–Shaping environmental laws and regulations to best suit our clients’ needs through engagement with lawmakers and policy makers, preparation of effective comments on proposed rules and other agency actions,  and challenges to or defense of final agency actions in the federal courts.
  • Litigation—Creatively litigating our clients’ most important projects and interests in the federal and state courts, whether by defending key regulatory permits or approvals from attacks under the environmental statutes, affirmatively seeking to clear the path for the next phase of an important project through preemption litigation, or pursuit/defense of remediation cost recovery and contribution actions, particularly those involving high exposure, complex megasites or remedies, or federal government liability.
  • Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Policies and Practices—Advising on issues including, greenhouse gas footprint, “greenwashing” and other advertising issues, compliance with public and private ESG-related regulations and policies, ESG and environmental justice auditing and due diligence.
  • Site Remediation Strategy and Counseling—Counseling on response strategies and risks resulting from alleged contamination or legacy liabilities, preparing environmental emergency and crisis response plans, and negotiating favorable site-wide settlements with the Department of Justice and other Potentially Responsible Parties.
  • Monitoring and Tracking—Tracking and reporting on ongoing multi-jurisdictional environmental, health, and safety compliance topics ranging from requirements imposed by federal environmental laws, to PFAS, to greenhouse gas emission regulations.

Firsthand regulatory and enforcement experience

Prior to joining our firm, many of our lawyers held senior leadership positions in key federal agencies and legislative committees across both Democratic and Republican administrations, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Our work with key decisionmakers enables us to craft solutions that achieve our clients’ goals while harmonizing them with the priorities of government regulators. Even during contentious litigation, our former federal prosecutors and defense attorneys have earned the respect and appreciation of today’s law enforcement and agency officials. Clients also draw on our extensive knowledge of the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs much of the federal decision-making process, to develop and deliver innovative rulemaking arguments that help our clients achieve their interests and protect their products and projects.

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.10.25

Federal Court Strikes Down Interior Order Suspending Wind Energy Development

On December 8, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in State of New York v. Trump held unlawful and vacated the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Wind Order” implementing President Trump’s January 20, 2025, “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8363 (Wind Memo, discussed further in a prior alert). This lawsuit, brought by a coalition of states with Alliance for Clean Energy New York intervening on their behalf, challenges Interior’s implementation, through the Wind Order, of the Wind Memo’s direction to pause processing permits and other approvals necessary to onshore and offshore wind energy development. Notably, the lawsuit does not challenge the other element of the Wind Memo, which withdrew unleased offshore areas from future leasing under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). (Note, even though the Wind Order indicates its effect is temporary, the Wind Memo instructs relevant agencies not to advance wind development projects until a “comprehensive assessment” is completed, and the district court’s order confirms that the affected agencies had no plans to restart permitting activities until that assessment was complete.)...

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Representative Matters

  • Climate Change Litigation. Argued in the D.C. Circuit on behalf of the largest U.S. aircraft manufacturer, defending EPA’s first-ever regulation of aircraft greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We also submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of the electric industry and a national water association urging the Court to preserve EPA’s regulatory authority over GHGs in one of the highest-profile environment and climate change case of the year.
  • Contamination & Site Remediation. Representing industrial companies in their high exposure and legacy liability CERCLA matters involving the most complex sites across the country, including contaminated river sediment sites and multifaceted landfill sites, covering dozens of parties, and remedies in the hundreds of millions of dollars per site. Our work encompasses strategic counseling, allocation mediation proceedings, direct negotiations with DOJ, EPA, natural resource trustees, and other federal agencies, third party recovery, and litigation when necessary.
  • PFAS Investigation & Enforcement. Defending a major chemicals company in engaging with EPA and DOJ regarding historic PFAS use and disposal.
  • Energy Project Defense. Defending the municipal water agency serving Denver from CWA, NEPA, and ESA claims challenging a critical hydropower and dam/reservoir expansion project, and sued to bar a county from using a local permit process to block the project, obtaining a settlement allowing the project to proceed.
  • Renewable Fuels Enforcement. Challenged a $70+ million civil penalty imposed by EPA on a renewable fuels generator, winning a stay from the Sixth Circuit and negotiating a favorable settlement.
  • Crop Protection Products Litigation. Representing leading crop protection companies and national trade associations across a docket of litigation challenging product registrations under FIFRA, the Endangered Species Act, and CEQA in federal and state trial and appellate courts.
  • Chemical Regulatory and Enforcement Counseling. Represented a producer of drinking water preservatives, settling an allegation of required labeling violations under California’s Food and Agriculture Code under the Department of Pesticide Regulation.
  • Electric Vehicle Supplier Product Counseling. Counseling an EV supplier on mobile source and other regulations affecting its business, including EPA and California greenhouse gas requirements, import-export matters, and EV credits.

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.10.25

Federal Court Strikes Down Interior Order Suspending Wind Energy Development

On December 8, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in State of New York v. Trump held unlawful and vacated the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Wind Order” implementing President Trump’s January 20, 2025, “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8363 (Wind Memo, discussed further in a prior alert). This lawsuit, brought by a coalition of states with Alliance for Clean Energy New York intervening on their behalf, challenges Interior’s implementation, through the Wind Order, of the Wind Memo’s direction to pause processing permits and other approvals necessary to onshore and offshore wind energy development. Notably, the lawsuit does not challenge the other element of the Wind Memo, which withdrew unleased offshore areas from future leasing under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). (Note, even though the Wind Order indicates its effect is temporary, the Wind Memo instructs relevant agencies not to advance wind development projects until a “comprehensive assessment” is completed, and the district court’s order confirms that the affected agencies had no plans to restart permitting activities until that assessment was complete.)...

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.10.25

Federal Court Strikes Down Interior Order Suspending Wind Energy Development

Firm News | 2 min read | 12.03.25

Law360 Names David Chung a 2025 Environmental MVP of the Year

Client Alert | 5 min read | 12.02.25

CARB Delays Enforcement of California’s Climate-Related Financial Risk Report Law (SB 261) and Issues New Guidance on Climate Disclosure Requirements in SB 261 and SB 253

Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25

Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025

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Professionals

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.10.25

Federal Court Strikes Down Interior Order Suspending Wind Energy Development

On December 8, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in State of New York v. Trump held unlawful and vacated the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Wind Order” implementing President Trump’s January 20, 2025, “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8363 (Wind Memo, discussed further in a prior alert). This lawsuit, brought by a coalition of states with Alliance for Clean Energy New York intervening on their behalf, challenges Interior’s implementation, through the Wind Order, of the Wind Memo’s direction to pause processing permits and other approvals necessary to onshore and offshore wind energy development. Notably, the lawsuit does not challenge the other element of the Wind Memo, which withdrew unleased offshore areas from future leasing under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). (Note, even though the Wind Order indicates its effect is temporary, the Wind Memo instructs relevant agencies not to advance wind development projects until a “comprehensive assessment” is completed, and the district court’s order confirms that the affected agencies had no plans to restart permitting activities until that assessment was complete.)...

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Practices

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 4 min read | 12.10.25

Federal Court Strikes Down Interior Order Suspending Wind Energy Development

On December 8, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in State of New York v. Trump held unlawful and vacated the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Wind Order” implementing President Trump’s January 20, 2025, “Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects,” 90 Fed. Reg. 8363 (Wind Memo, discussed further in a prior alert). This lawsuit, brought by a coalition of states with Alliance for Clean Energy New York intervening on their behalf, challenges Interior’s implementation, through the Wind Order, of the Wind Memo’s direction to pause processing permits and other approvals necessary to onshore and offshore wind energy development. Notably, the lawsuit does not challenge the other element of the Wind Memo, which withdrew unleased offshore areas from future leasing under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). (Note, even though the Wind Order indicates its effect is temporary, the Wind Memo instructs relevant agencies not to advance wind development projects until a “comprehensive assessment” is completed, and the district court’s order confirms that the affected agencies had no plans to restart permitting activities until that assessment was complete.)...

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