“All of the Above Energy”/ “Energy Dominance”: The Courts Strike Back on Climate Change

Although the Obama and Trump administrations differ markedly on climate change and energy policy, their oil and gas decisions are being similarly faulted by federal courts. President Obama had an “all of the above” energy policy that included the development of oil and gas but took addressing climate change as a serious obligation. President Trump […]

President Trump announced on June 1 that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The announcement follows months of uncertainty about whether President Trump would fulfill his campaign pledge to withdraw U.S. participation in the deal (which was signed by 195 countries with only two countries in opposition–Nicaragua (because it wasn’t stringent enough) […]

* This blog is co-authored with Sarah Ruckriegle, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, current Captain in the Air Force and law student at the University of Las Vegas where she is based.  Heidi Ruckriegle is an Associate with the Welborn firm.   The United States Department of Defense (“DoD”) is the world’s single […]

“Keep it in the Ground” – Part II

After the President denied the Keystone XL pipeline, climate change activists have turned their attention to federal fossil fuel leasing, discussed in our recent blog post: What’s Next, Post Keystone XL? “Keep it in the Ground!”.  The “Keep it in the Ground” proponents argue the President should abandon his “all of the above” energy policy […]

With the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama as part of the Administration’s “package” of climate change actions to deliver to the UN Conference on Climate Change in December, activists and their political allies have turned to the next battlefield – stopping the leasing of federal minerals. http://goo.gl/mU8qia On November 4, Senator […]

When candidate Obama was running in 2008, he identified energy as his top priority and described his goal as the “transformation of American energy” to address the threat of climate change. On August 2, 2015, the President and the EPA Administrator announced the final rule to implement his Clean Power Plan. The focus of the […]

On January 14, 2015, the Obama Administration announced a plan to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations by 40 to 45 percent by 2025. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/14/fact-sheet-administration-takes-steps-forward-climate-action-plan-anno-1 This announcement is part of the implementation of the President’s 2013 Climate Action Plan, and, in particular, the 2014 “Strategy to Reduce Methane.” President Obama stated then that […]