Insights

San Francisco – January 7, 2025: Jon Welner joins Crowell & Moring’s Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Group as a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office. He brings more than 25 years of experience addressing environmental regulatory challenges and resolving land development disputes for businesses and local governments in California.

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

On May 14, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it will keep the current National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (“NPDWR”) for perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) under the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”), while extending the compliance deadline from 2029 to 2031. EPA further announced it plans to rescind requirements in those regulations applicable to other PFAS and mixtures of certain PFAS in drinking water. The NPDWR consists of legally enforceable primary standards and treatment techniques that apply to public water systems and guide EPA’s enforcement of the SDWA. This announcement follows EPA’s April 28, 2025 press release outlining its priorities for PFAS enforcement, which included 21 actions EPA intends to take to address PFAS and “engage with Congress and industry to establish a clear liability framework that ensures the polluter pays and passive receivers are protected.”

On February 4, 2025, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative, signaling five pillars that will guide EPA’s work in the short term, which are summarized below:

On August 6, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) took the rare action of announcing the emergency suspension of all registrations for pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (“DCPA” or “Dacthal”) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”). This is the first time in almost 40 years that EPA has issued an emergency suspension order.[1] EPA’s reasoning for the present action is that DCPA can cause adverse health effects in the fetuses of women exposed to DCPA.

The ABA Section of Energy, Environment, and Resources is hosting an advanced-level conference for CERCLA practitioners offering in-depth discussion on matters related to Superfund site re-openers, and remedy revision to manage changing site conditions or hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants not anticipated in the original remedy. Attendees will gain insight into the finer points of an advanced Superfund practice. 

The 51st Spring Conference on Environmental Law is focused on the future of environmental law and how emerging topics and trends are fundamentally changing our practices. The last several years have been transformative for our society, the environment, and the way we practice law. COVID-19 and the growing frequency of intense weather events attributed to climate change have brought greater attention to the need for action by governments and companies and greater engagement by the public and NGOs.

The National Energy Industry Environmental Law Conference is designed primarily for energy attorneys. This conference will provide energy professionals with opportunities to network with their peers from in-house and law firm environments to build relationships that will benefit them professionally.

Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Partner Amanda Berman will be presenting the session "Regulatory Roulette: The State of Play Under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Other Major Environmental Statutes" at 10:45 am on Wednesday, March 24th.

As regulated industries continue to confront mounting disruptions and, in some cases, temporary shutdown as a consequence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they face the added challenge of managing a range of unrelenting environmental compliance obligations at both the federal and state levels.   

Join us for our third annual Well-Being Conference, highlighting leadership, education, and connection to further advance our well-being and to support the national lawyer well-being movement. 

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registers a new pesticide or reevaluates a pesticide in registration review, the Agency has a responsibility under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to ensure that the pesticide does not jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or adversely modify their designated critical habitats. Through consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the Services), EPA identifies areas that may require geographically specific mitigations to protect listed species and/or critical habitats from the use of pesticides. The mitigations would be communicated in Bulletins Live! Two as specific locations requiring Pesticide Use Limitation Areas (PULAs). PULAs are specific to particular pesticides and may vary based on the properties of the pesticide. Before a PULA can be created it is first necessary to develop a core map. Core maps are species-specific and highlight areas that need to be conserved for a particular species. EPA has recently established a process for development of core maps and subsequent PULAs. This session will focus on the standardized core map development process as outlined by EPA and experiences from various parties that have used it in the development of core maps.