August 11th, 2025 — by Blakely Durham — Category: Water Quality
South Carolina has become a hotspot for litigation surrounding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The reason? The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina is home to the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Product Liability Multidistrict Litigation.
July 29th, 2025 — by Bradley Reimer — Category: Miscellaneous
The UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement (“BBNJ” or “BBNJ Agreement”), also called the High Seas Treaty, is the first comprehensive international agreement in history to lay out a legal framework for protecting the high seas. First introduced in 2023, the Agreement has recently received waves of both signatures and ratifications, bringing it closer to enforcement.
Oil Company Faces Legal Pushback for Attempted Restart of Santa Barbara Pipeline
July 16th, 2025 — by Bradley Reimer — Category: Offshore Energy
On June 3rd, 2025, a California court ordered the Houston-based oil company Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable) to halt the opening of the Las Flores Pipeline System in Santa Barbara, California. This is a significant blow to Sable’s attempt at revitalizing and reopening the Santa Ynez Unit (Unit), the oil platforms and pipes responsible for the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
In 2009, President George W. Bush created three marine national monuments conserving and protecting over 195,000 square miles. These designations created environmental safeguards by prohibiting commercial fishing and the extraction of natural resources within the area.
Plaintiffs sued the state of Mississippi for introducing private leasing of on-bottom oyster harvesting on public reefs. In 2023, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law to authorize the DMR to lease up to eighty percent of the state-owned reef permitted areas available.
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, limiting the scope of review of environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).