Current and former Environmental Protection Agency lawyers as well as seasoned energy and environmental lawyers in private practice shared their insights, projections, and advice at POWER’s legal affairs conference.
From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) top lawyer to attorneys who have argued cases against the agency’s regulations, all the speakers at POWER’s December 7 legal affairs conference in Las Vegas, Navigating Legal Implications of Power Industry Regulations, agreed that taking a wait-and-see approach to compliance with recent federal regulations is ill-advised. As EPA General Counsel Avi S. Garbow (Figure 1) said in his opening keynote address, “they’re all final rules,” and it would be “wrong and risky” to treat them as uncertain, even when subject to legal challenge.
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Michael G. Cooke of Greenberg Traurig (Figure 2) advised that states need to focus on state implementation plans (SIPs) for the CPP and not just litigation. States must submit SIPs by September 6, 2016. A two-year extension can be requested, but annual progress reports are required, and final SIPs must be submitted by September 6, 2018.