Federal

The Civilian Conservation Corps put Americans to work on public projects during the Great Depression. That was almost ninety years ago. Now a new corps is working to improve Alabama’s coastal environment.

Ropes & Gray’s partner Peter Alpert predicts how the Sackett v. EPA US Supreme Court case might take shape following oral arguments. It’s unlikely the court would strip the EPA of any authority to regulate wetlands until Congress weighs in, Alpert says.

Amendment to treaty on dumping of waste at sea will remove sewage sludge from list of wastes which may be given dumping permit. The amendment to the London Protocol will remove sewage sludge from the list of permissible wastes – wastes which may be considered for dumping at sea.

Marine geoengineering techniques may have potential for mitigating the effects of climate change but may have adverse impacts on the marine environment.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday released a 10-year Arctic strategy that emphasizes deterring increased Russian and Chinese activity in the region as global warming rapidly melts the polar ice caps, drastically transforming the environment.

The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.

Maine’s congressional delegation is continuing to push for relief for the Maine lobster industry at the federal level, as regulators got an earful from lobster fishermen at a hearing Wednesday in Portland.

The federal government is challenging charges from U.S. environmentalists that it's not doing enough to protect critically endangered north Atlantic right whales, claiming measures taken since 2018 have reduced the risk of entanglements in the critical Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fishery by 82 per cent.

New program-specific plans reaffirm EPA’s 2021 Climate Adaptation Action Plan, support President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to climate adaptation

Governments, utilities and residents must prepare for more severe storms

With over 15% of our Nation’s oil produced off the coast of Louisiana, over $5 billion in royalty revenue to the Federal Treasury in 2019, and tens of thousands of jobs, we decided it was time for America to hear the true story.

The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group was awarded $1.2 billion in a settlement agreement with BP. It has leeway to spend that money outside areas directly impacted by the oil spill, including on bird nesting grounds in the Midwest.

On September 29, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) began collecting aerial damage assessment images in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Imagery has been collected in specific areas by NOAA aircraft, identified by NOAA in coordination with FEMA and other state and federal partners.

WASHINGTON – Today, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works announced additional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studies, projects, and programs funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

By investing US$30 million to promote six convergent research teams from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Track E: Networked Blue Economy, the foundation is addressing climate, sustainability, food, energy, pollution and economic concerns.

PACIFIC GROVE – Though transferred to new owners in June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s former Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Pacific Grove hardly has its future decided, with advocates against its sale still pushing to protect the property from potential development.

September 20 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asks questions on preparing for extreme weather events and rising water levels due to climate change.

Among the diverse marine animals that traverse Massachusetts and Cape Cod bays, arguably the most beloved are the many species of whales that come to feed here, from humpbacks to finbacks, minke and pilot whales.

The U.S. Supreme Court opens its new session on Oct. 3, 2022, with a high-profile case that could fundamentally alter the federal government’s ability to address water pollution. Sackett v. EPA turns on a question that courts and regulators have struggled to answer for several decades: Which wetlands and bodies of water can the federal government regulate under the 1972 Clean Water Act?

Outside the meeting in Pittsburgh, environmental activists denounced the technique for capturing carbon emissions from smokestacks, calling it an expensive diversion that would promote the continued extraction of oil and gas.

We have to turn the mitigation wheel faster.

Expect less flooding on the often-flooded Union Avenue in the years ahead, thanks to a $25 million federal grant that will help the city construct a roughly 3,000-foot drainage pipe and tunnel from West Water Street to the Harbor.

‍South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, a protected natural area and center for coastal education, research, stewardship, and training, is now accepting applications from members of the public interested in serving on the South Slough Reserve Management Commission.

Sep. 21—A group in charge of proposing fisheries regulations is meeting this week to consider drastic measures — such as halving the number of traps lobstermen can use — to rapidly reduce risk of injury and death to endangered North Atlantic right whales.

NRCS is announcing the availability of up to $5 million in Wetland Mitigation Banking Program (WMBP) grant funds for the development and establishment of mitigation banks and banking opportunities solely for agricultural producers with wetlands subject to the wetland conservation compliance provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985 (as amended).