EnviroPolitics Blog

Fossil fuel industry withstands another climate-change lawsuit

SC Court blocks city’s climate suit against energy firms

By J. Michael Showalter of ArentFox Schiff LLP

A South Carolina state trial court recently dismissed a climate tort case filed by the City of Charleston seeking to hold major energy companies liable for harms allegedly caused by climate change. This ended a case that had bounced between state and federal courts for much of the last decade.

The decision, which we break down in detail below, is the latest in a series of state and federal decisions that have rejected attempts by municipalities to use state law as a vehicle to address climate change.

The decision is notable for a few reasons. First, it explicitly rejects the use of state law as a tool to address global climate harms, diverging from recent international trends, including the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on state responsibility for climate change. (For more, see here.)

Second, the decision marks a development in the ongoing debate over the proper forum and legal theory for addressing climate change harms. In this court’s view, state law claims seeking to redress global climate change are preempted and precluded by the federal constitutional structure and the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The court’s rationale stands in sharp contrast to the ICJ’s recent advisory opinion, which suggested that states have affirmative obligations under international law to address climate change and may be held accountable for transboundary harms. While the ICJ’s opinion may reflect a growing international consensus on the need for robust climate action, the South Carolina decision highlights the hesitancy of certain domestic courts to adjudicate claims that implicate global emissions.

Read the complete advisory here

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NJ Transit purchases 200 additional multilevel rail cars from Alstom

*MultiLevel III for New Jersey Transit.*

By Brandon Lewis, Mass Transit

New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) has exercised a contract option with Alstom for the purchase of 200 additional multilevel rail cars to replace aging Comet II, IV, and V single-level cars, standardize the fleet, increase seating capacity by 12% and enhance safety. The new railcars will feature additional seating capacity and accessibility, a higher top speed of up to 110 mph, safety, and enhanced onboard amenities for customers, including USB charging ports.

“This investment reflects our unwavering commitment to providing New Jerseyans with safe, reliable, and modern public transportation,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “By replacing outdated rail cars with state-of-the-art equipment, we’re not only improving the commuting experience for millions of riders, but also strengthening our economy, reducing emissions, and moving toward a more sustainable future.”

The 200 new multilevel rail cars are in addition to the agency’s previous orders for 174 cars, bringing the total purchase order to 374 cars. The contract between NJ Transit and Alstom has a remaining option for 50 more cars, which may be purchased at a later date for a total of 424 cars in NJ Transit’s fleet. NJ Transit plans to fully modernize its rail fleet by 2031.

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How a major NY bank enabled the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein

A Times investigation found that America’s leading bank spent years supporting — and profiting from — the notorious sex offender, ignoring red flags, suspicious activity, and concerned executives.

By David Enrich, Matthew Goldstein, and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, The New York Times

The reporters, who started investigating Epstein more than six years ago, reviewed more than 13,000 pages of legal and financial records for this article.

One day in October 2011, Jeffrey Epstein walked into the cavernous lobby of 270 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The skyscraper was home to JPMorgan Chase, arguably the world’s most prestigious bank. The sex offender — who barely a year earlier was under house arrest after serving 13 months in a Florida jail — was ushered onto an elevator and whisked to a top floor where Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, and the rest of the senior leadership had their offices.

Epstein had long been a treasured customer at JPMorgan. His accounts were brimming with more than $200 million. He generated millions of dollars in revenue for the bank, landing him atop an internal list of major money makers. He helped JPMorgan orchestrate an important acquisition. He introduced executives to men who would become lucrative clients, such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and to global leaders, like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. He helped executives troubleshoot crises and strategize about global opportunities.

But a growing group of employees worried that JPMorgan’s association with a man who had pleaded guilty to a sex crime — and was under federal investigation for human trafficking — could harm the bank’s reputation. Just as troubling, anti-money-laundering specialists within the bank noticed Epstein’s pattern of withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars in cash virtually every month. These were red flags for illicit activity.

That was why Epstein was at the bank’s headquarters. JPMorgan’s top executive in charge of ensuring compliance with laws and regulations had already pushed to fire him as a client. Now Stephen Cutler, a former federal securities regulator and the bank’s general counsel, had added his voice to the chorus.

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EPA to drop requirement that industry report its air emissions

The data, from thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills, and other industrial facilities, is the country’s most comprehensive way to track greenhouse gases.

By Maxine Joselow, New York Times, Sept. 12, 2025, 4:02 p.m. ET

The Environmental Protection Agency moved on Friday to stop requiring thousands of polluting facilities to report the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that they release into the air.

The E.P.A. proposal would end requirements for thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities across the country. The government has been collecting this data since 2010 and it is a key tool to track carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that are driving climate change.

The Friday announcement comes as the Trump administration has systematically erased mentions of climate change from government websites while slashing federal funding for research on global warming.

“Alongside President Trump, E.P.A. continues to live up to the promise of unleashing energy dominance that powers the American dream,” Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, said in a statement. “The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape.”

Zeldin said that ending the program would save American businesses up to $2.4 billion in compliance costs. The New York Times could not independently verify that claim; representatives for E.P.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US EPA proposes end to mandatory greenhouse gas reporting (Reuters)

Critics said the proposal could hobble federal efforts to fight climate change, since the government cannot reduce emissions if it cannot measure how much is generated and where it is produced.

“With this move, they’re taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking,” said Joseph Goffman, who led the E.P.A.’s air office during the Biden administration

For the past 15 years, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program has collected data from about 8,000 of the country’s largest industrial facilities. That data has helped guide numerous decisions on federal policy and has been shared with the United Nations, which has required developed countries to submit tallies of their emissions.

In addition, private companies often rely on the program’s data to demonstrate to investors that their efforts to cut emissions are working. And communities often use it to determine whether local facilities are releasing air pollution that threatens public health.

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RFK Jr. wants more air pollution research, but EPA shut its lab

Trump administration’s version of Abbott and Costello’s ‘Who’s on First?’

By Ariel Wittenberg, E&E News

Researching air quality is key to improving kids’ health, according to a new strategy from the Make America Healthy Again Commission unveiled Tuesday by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

There’s just one problem: EPA, under Zeldin’s leadership, has shuttered the preeminent laboratory in the country studying air pollution’s impact on people. What’s more, it has proposed drastic cuts to the agency’s research staff and moved to rewrite regulations to allow more emissions.

“There will be more air pollution to study, and fewer funds and staff with which to do it,” said Laura Kate Bender, vice president of nationwide advocacy and public policy at the American Lung Association.

The so-called MAHA strategy released Tuesday includes 128 recommendations for improving heath and addressing chronic diseases. It specifically says EPA and the National Institutes of Health “will study air quality impacts on children’s health and utilize existing research programs to improve data collection and analysis.”

Both Kennedy and Zeldin spoke Tuesday about using “gold standard science” to fulfill the report’s objectives, with Zeldin saying that includes “the work of our chemicals, air, and water programs.”

EPA’s shuttering of its Human Research Facility in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, this summer undermines that promise, health experts say.

“It was one of the only places in the country where you could put humans in a chamber and measure their reaction to ozone,” Bender said. “Those studies have long informed our understanding of how much of these pollutants are safe to breathe.”

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Pa regulators act to accelerate replacement of old natural gas lines

By Kalee Lindenmth, ABC 27

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved a plan Thursday that they hope will accelerate the replacement of older plastic natural gas lines.

The commission voted 5-0 on a final order that institutes a mandatory, granular review of system piping.

“Safety is the foundation of our work as regulators, and today’s action underscores the Commission’s commitment to addressing risks wherever they may be found – including in older plastic materials that have been linked to failures across the country,” PUC Chairman Stephen M. DeFrank said.

“This Final Order ensures that Pennsylvania’s natural gas utilities take the necessary steps to identify and address these concerns, advancing our broader mission of protecting communities and maintaining safe and reliable service.”

The PUC said the order directs natural gas utilities to catalog their older plastic materials, especially materials identified by safety authorities as being prone to cracking.

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