Environmental Law Explored: A Podcast SEERies

In this episode of the SEER 100 podcast series, hosts Naveed Nanjee and Rishab Mahajan sit down with Todd Kim, former Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division and now a litigator at Pillsbury Law. This episode traces a century of environmental enforcement, from early common-law nuisance claims to today's sprawling statutory framework of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and CERCLA. Drawing on his experience across government and private practice, Mr. Kim discusses how landmark matters like the East Palestine train derailment and the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis shaped his "principled, practical, problem-solving" approach, and looks ahead to the challenges reshaping the field, including climate change litigation, PFAS contamination, environmental justice, and the growing role of AI in compliance and monitoring.

While WOTUS serves as the jurisdictional foundation of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the statute does not define the term. Since the CWA's enactment in 1972, determining the scope of WOTUS—and, in turn, the reach of federal regulatory authority—has remained a persistent and challenging issue in environmental law. By defining "navigable waters" only as "waters of the United States," Congress left it to the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Army Corps, and the courts to interpret a term with significant implications for federal-state authority, environmental protection, and private property rights. The definition of WOTUS has evolved through a combination of agency action and Supreme Court decisions, including Rapanos v. United States, and Sackett v. EPA (2012) (Sackett I ). These decisions have shaped how the agencies interpret jurisdiction, particularly with respect to wetlands. The split Rapanos decision introduced competing analytical frameworks, further contributing to longstanding uncertainty. In this episode, Professor Royal Gardner will provide a high-level overview of these developments, placing recent changes in context and offering insight into the current and future scope of federal jurisdiction under the CWA. Keep the conversation going. Join SEER

As the inaugural episode in this series, this conversation takes a broad look at the evolution of environmental law and the Section's role in shaping the field over time. The panel of former SEER Chairs includes moderator Alex Dunn, President & CEO of CropLife America and former EPA Assistant Administrator, and speakers John Cruden, Principal at Beveridge & Diamond and former Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. DOJ, and Carol Dinkins, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan. Drawing on decades of leadership across government, private practice, and industry, the speakers reflect on landmark developments in environmental law, the evolution of SEER's influence within the profession, and the challenges and opportunities shaping the field's future. Together, they consider how SEER can continue to contribute meaningfully to the next chapter of environmental law. Keep the conversation going. Join SEER

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) landscape is shifting fast. With major developments like Eagle County, Marin Audubon, Section 5 of President Trump's Unleashing American Energy Executive Order, and several critical cases on the horizon, the way NEPA is applied and interpreted is set for a major transformation. Join Susan Jane Brown (Silvix Resources) in a thought-provoking discussion with Ted Boling (Perkins Coie Partner, former member of the Council on Environmental Quality) and Dinah Bear (former General Counsel of the Council on Environmental Quality). Together, they'll break down these pivotal changes, what they mean for environmental policy, and how NEPA's role may evolve in the years ahead. Don't miss this essential conversation for legal professionals, policymakers, and anyone invested in the future of environmental law.

In the second episode of the Mill Closures and Workforce Shortages in the West series, Andrew Kihn returns, joined by Travis Joseph, President and CEO of the American Forest Resource Council. Together, they delve into the role of land management policies in addressing workforce challenges from the perspective of the timber trade association. Building on the foundation laid in the first episode, this discussion highlights how policy solutions can mitigate the workforce shortages tied to the ongoing closures of lumber mills in the American West. Travis Joseph provides insights into how these closures impact both the timber industry and the broader regional economy, offering actionable approaches to support sustainable forest management and workforce retention.

This podcast featuring Susan L. Stephens (Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.), Kim Diana Connolly (University at Buffalo School of Law, State University of New York), and Sarah P. Jarboe (English, Lucas, Priest & Owsley, LLP) provides a succinct summary of the history of federal regulation of wetlands under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, outlining the seminal Supreme Court decisions that steered the agency rulemaking and set the stage for the Sackett decision. The speakers delve into the Rapanos case and subsequent rulemaking, explaining how these developments informed the Supreme Court, led to multiple lawsuits across multiple states, and culminated in the Court's strongly-worded opinion in U.S. v. Sackett that virtually everyone agrees served to narrow the scope of federal jurisdiction over wetlands. Importantly, listeners will hear the latest updates in the litigation challenging the most recent agency rulemaking, how federal courts are interpreting Sackett across the country, and how federal agencies are handling requests for jurisdictional determinations under the regulatory regime that Sackett left in its wake. Tune in to hear their predictions on what comes next. For the latest jurisdictional announcements, visit https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Regulatory-Program-and-Permits/juris_info/. For more content from these speakers, get their book Wetlands Law and Policy: Understanding Section 404, Second Edition.

In this podcast Steven Ferrey (Suffolk University Law School) and Steve Weissman (Center for Law, Energy & the Environment), two experts in environmental/energy/land use law analyzing what became a legal Rubik's Cube with many different moving pieces to be realigned by attorneys and clients. New policy is changing electric power to move most of the U.S. economy rapidly to utilize electric power in lieu of conventional direct use of fossil fuels for heating, vehicles, and industry. This fundamental transformation occurs amid demands for much more electric power for artificial intelligence, data centers, and cryptocurrency mining, with the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA declaring that "The electric power sector is among the largest in the U.S. economy, with links to every other sector." This podcast identifies multiple resulting new challenges and provides legal "workarounds" regardless of who sits in the White House. French President Macron warned the U.S. Congress: "We're killing our planet. Let us face it. There is no Planet B." As the United States now rapidly responds to move to clean energy to power our future, in mid-2024 the Supreme Court fundamentally altered legal options: Creating a new major questions doctrine fundamentally reducing presidential power particularly related to energy, clean air, and climate; Critically "overruling" the most cited Supreme Court decision in the last 50 years, which also involves the environment Eliminating the ability of certain federal agencies enforcing laws to impose civil fines; and Extending dramatically the statute of limitations to challenge federal regulations affecting environment/energy/land-use (renewable electricity is less dense and requires five to ten times as much land as conventional generation of electricity) This podcast provides a user-friendly road map through this fast-realigning legal maze, and for those interested this podcast is backed up by a new ABA book (Powering the Future: A Lawyer's Guide to Clean Energy) containing all precedent and providing state-by-state charts analyzing barriers, legal differences, and how lawyers may take advantage of achievable workarounds region-by-region.