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Alumni Forum: The Future of Environmental Regulation
Chicago-Kent Magazine gathered together four Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni, each with decades of experience in environmental law, to discuss the environmental regulation and litigation trends they have noticed in their jobs recently, as well as their predictions of how the regulatory landscape may shift in the near future. All participants solely expressed their personal views, and did not speak in an official capacity as representatives of their respective agencies or organizations.
Cam Davis ’92
Commissioner, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Vice President, GEI Consultants Inc., a ChicagoBased Environmental Engineering Firm
There are two things on my mind. First, threats to administrative law. One thing I’m looking closely at are changes to longstanding administrative law under Chevron v. NRDC (whose precedent provides a great deal of discretion to governmental agencies in how they interpret environmental law). I am concerned the pendulum may be swinging to much more judicial oversight of decisions that ought to be within the discretion of experts within our federal agencies.
Second, there is a great deal of emphasis right now on climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and moving toward renewables. The way that those changes are going to be effectuated are through the kinds of bills that we are now seeing being entertained by Congress.
One trend to look at is whether we’re going to see a lot of the state attorneys general challenge those changes to federal law in a way that may hold up progress in the fight against climate change.
At the municipal level, I’m not seeing a ton of changes yet, but what we see coming down the pike from a federal perspective will have ripple effects for agencies like the MWRD.
John Watson ’88
Chair, Baker McKenzie’s Global Environmental Practice
Unfortunately, it seems like the last four years or so have been suggestive of these broad pendulum shifts that make regulation, enforcement, and administrative rule very chaotic. On the environmental enforcement front, for the first time in my 30-plus year career, the Trump years were notable in the changes in operations and enforcement at [Environmental Protection Agency].…The EPA, on the enforcement front, really disappeared.
Interestingly, we were all sort of expecting that state and environmental groups would step up and fill the void, but that really didn’t happen either. It seemed like a lot of it may be budgetary, but a lot of the states took the opportunity as well to step back from enforcement.
What we expect [now] is with the U.S. EPA, there will be a significant refocus and reemphasis on enforcement.… We’re certainly expecting the U.S. EPA to look for some early examples on the environmental justice front.
[Additionally], companies are being pushed by all of their stakeholders to do more, to say more on the [environmental, social, and governance] front, and that’s creating exposure for companies and litigation. We’re seeing a lot of new cases in the state and federal consumer-protection areas focusing on claims made [by companies] on product labels…in environmental sustainability reports and marketing materials, about their performance around environmental sustainability issues.
The Future of Environmental Regulation
Julie Soderna ’98
General Counsel, Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-Based Nonprofit Watchdog
We’ve been working on getting an energy bill through the [Illinois] General Assembly, one that covers the gamut of environmental and energy issues, from electrification of buildings and transportation, carbon pollution reduction…. That’s the landscape for the next 10 years. The regulatory structure and move to renewables is going to be largely dictated by whatever bill is passed.
Once a big energy bill gets passed, there will be a lot of administrative regulatory litigation at the Illinois Commerce Commission.
There’s a huge equality piece to think about. We need to bring benefits, an approved grid, and renewables to communities that have been deprived of those benefits historically— workforce and contractor equity, climate energy job planning, energy- efficiency financing, and community solar targeted at low-income areas and BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] communities.
The events of last summer really elevated the issue for everyone, and it became really a non-negotiable priority. We may run into some issues with equal-protection law, because the irony is that if you try to target benefits to the people who should be getting them, you become a target from those who think they shouldn’t be getting them. So it’s been a little tricky working that out.
Leslie KirbyMiles ’96
Section Chief, Office of the Regional Council, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5
Everyone knows there is a transition going on in the EPA, and it’s a fairly big transition from the previous administration to this administration.
This administration is going to prioritize environmental justice and climate change, but other than those broad brush strokes, we haven’t seen anything specific yet. So we’re really looking for some more direction from the political appointees.
Enforcement is continuing, and partnerships with states and tribes are a big thing, and always have been a big thing in any administration. The vocabulary changed a little last administration, but we are still protecting the air, water, and land at the EPA.
I do think you’re going to see, and we have seen, a significant increase in mobile source work [vehicle regulation] in the Clean Air Act. And we’re focused also on accident prevention, to help plan and prevent spills…The other thing we may be seeing more [regulation] of, particularly, is contaminants.
But I would also lie on top of that, this idea of environmental justice.…We will be highlighting that work, maybe more in this administration than in past administrations.
