CleanLaw

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, a former senior executive at EPA who oversaw the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks in US history. Jody and Chet analyze EPA's most recent proposal to update greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and discuss how the implementation of those standards might be impacted by subsidies and incentives in the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act and future litigation.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-81-Journey-to-the-electrification-of-the-transportation-sector.pdf

Mentioned links:

Episode 65, Clean Car Rules with Jody Freeman and Chet France https://soundcloud.com/user-995691545/65clean-car-rules-with-jody-freeman-and-chet-france?si=db9f227fa1424e34a1a30e322212c7e1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

EDF Joins Dozens of Other Leaders to Defend EPA’s Clean Car Standards in Court: https://www.edf.org/media/edf-joins-dozens-other-leaders-defend-epas-clean-car-standards-court

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-81-Journey-to-the-electrification-of-the-transportation-sector.pdf

Executive Director Carrie Jenks speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus about his recently released book, The Making of Environmental Law, Second Edition. In this long-awaited update, Professor Lazarus describes how environmental law has developed over the last two decades and explores new challenges for the field, including the shifting role of the judiciary, long overdue efforts to achieve environmental justice, and addressing climate change.

Read the transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-80-The-Making-of-Environmental-Law-April-2023.pdf

Carrie Jenks and Hannah Oakes Dobie talk about EPA’s latest regulation to address interstate ozone pollution, the “Good Neighbor Plan.” They discuss how the rule’s new design features will refine EPA’s longstanding air transport program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. You can read more about the 2023 “good neighbor plan” in the link below.

This podcast was recorded on April 3, 2023. On April 5, EPA issued its pre-publication version of the proposed Mercury Air Toxics Standards that Carrie mentions in her discussion about upcoming power sector rules that might impact the timing for installation of emissions control technologies.

Read the transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Transcript-7-the-Good-Neighbor-Plan-for-Interestate-Ozone-Pollution.pdf

Acronyms in this episode: CAIR (Clean Air Interstate Rule), CSAPR (Cross-State Air Pollution Rule), FIP (Federal Implementation Plan), NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards), SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction controls), SNCR (Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction controls), SIP (State Implementation Plan)

Senior Staff Attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Hannah Perls talk about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They discuss the regulatory and legal implications of the derailment, including who is in charge of the response and the different roles that federal agencies play. They also discuss the cleanup order issued by EPA and possible federal reforms to railroad safety regulations.

You can find a transcript of this episode here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Transcript-78-East-Palestine-Sara-and-Hannah.pdf

In our first CleanLaw Quick Take*, our Executive Director Carrie Jenks and Staff Attorney Hannah Perls walk through the latest updates on the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Hannah explains how the US Army Corps of Engineers' announcement about its upcoming draft environmental impact statement might affect the future of the pipeline, and how litigation between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Army Corps got us to this point.

Carrie and Hannah also review the Tribe's concerns in that litigation, what will happen after the draft environmental impact statement is released, and how other federal actions might affect what's in the Army Corps' draft.

You can stay updated on the Dakota Access Pipeline on our Regulatory Tracker Page. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/09/dakota-access-pipeline/

Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-77-DAPL-QT-with-Hannah-and-Carrie.pdf

*CleanLaw Quick Takes are mini episodes where our staff break down a current topic in environmental or energy law in ten minutes or less. These episodes are designed for general audiences as well as practitioners.

Recent HLS graduate Lowry Yankwich speaks with Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions rule for oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf.

This rule is intended to protect workers and prevent oil spills, and is part of the reforms instituted since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Lowry and Chris discuss the arc of this rulemaking through the Obama, Trump, and Biden presidencies, and Chris explains its technical and legal aspects. You can stay updated on this rule on our BSEE Regulatory Tracker page https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/bsee-blowout-preventer-and-well-control-rule/

Here is a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Transcript-76-Lowry-and-Chris.pdf

Carrie Jenks, our executive director, speaks with Kyle Danish, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Dan Zimmerle, the director of the Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University. They discuss EPA's recently released supplemental proposal to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector, and how the regulatory framework EPA has proposed is designed to enable the use of advanced technologies to better detect and therefore reduce emissions. You can read more about EPA's proposed rule in our white paper EPA’s Supplemental Methane Proposal—A Comprehensive Regulatory Framework to Encourage Use of Advanced Technologies and Significantly Reduce Methane Emissions. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/epa-supplemental-methane-proposal/

Here's the link to a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Transcript-Carrie-Dan-and-Kyle.pdf

EELP Legal Fellow Abby Husselbee speaks with Cory-Ann Wind, the Program Manager of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Cory has worked for ODEQ for over 29 years, the last 12 in fuels, transportation, and climate policy. Abby and Cory discuss clean fuel standards and their benefits, Oregon’s program and history, prior legal challenges to their programs, and some lessons learned. 

Here's the link to a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Transcript-Cory-Ann-and-Abby.pdf

Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari’s work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to enable the clean energy transition.

Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Hannah-and-Ari-transcript.pdf

Links they discuss include:

The Electricity Law Initiative’s Comment on FERC’s proposed rule on long-term regional transmission planning responds to FERC’s proposal to reinstate rights of first refusal and discusses the benefits of retaining competitive transmission development.

Comment is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Harvard-ELI-RM21-17-NOPR-Comment.pdf

FERC rule is here https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=2fae9f65-2968-cdf2-94ba-804ef7300000

ELI's comments on FERC oversight of transmission rates proposes new oversight mechanisms, including an independent transmission monitor, designed to protect consumers from inefficient transmission investments. Link is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/AD22-8-AriPeskoe-PreTechConStatement.pdf

At around 30 minutes, Ari mistakenly says that Congress’ 2021 infrastructure law provides $5 billion for resilience and reliability investments. The law actually provides more than $10 billion for such investments.

Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Rebecca Bratspies at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and founding Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, which works with community groups seeking to obtain full and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. They discuss recent environmental justice legislation (EJ) in New York, and what these legislative wins mean for environmental regulation and overburdened communities in the state. Prof. Bratspies also speaks about the Center’s EJ comic book series and her work with Renewable Rikers, a campaign to transform the Rikers Island correctional facility into a renewable energy center.

Center for Urban Reform and EJ comics are here https://www.law.cuny.edu/cuer/

Renewable Rikers is here https://www.renewablerikers.org/

Here is a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Hannah-and-R-Bratspies-transcript.pdf