Insights

We regularly produce original research and analysis that highlight attorney general work on clean energy and the environment and provide commentary on important and timely topics in these areas of work.

  • Articles Pace Environmental Law Review Logo

    Examining the Role of AGs in a Just Transition

    This article reviews many of the policies and tools that can be and are being harnessed to bring about a “just transition,” ensuring that the emerging clean energy sector provides high quality jobs and that needs of current fossil fuel workers are also adequately addressed. These policies exist at the intersection of workers’ rights and environmental policy.

  • Blog A road viewed from the ground, with yellow lane dividers extending into the distance, meeting a row of five stacks of coins at the horizon, arranged from shortest to tallest

    DOL Paves the Road Green for Retirement


    The Department of Labor has just released a finalized rule around its Investment Duties regulation in order to clarify how Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)-regulated fiduciaries can take into consideration climate and environmental, social, governance (ESG) issues.

  • Blog Solar panels on a building with corrugated metal siding; text from a Department of Energy press release sits in the sky behind the building

    Get a GRIP on DOE Funding


    The acronym soup of federal laws that will turbocharge clean energy is ready for primetime. This week, we’ll take a look at the Infrastructure Law, signed last year (sometimes referred to as the BIL or the IIJA).

  • Blog A roll of circular "I voted" stickers unfurled; the image is black and white except for one sticker, which is red and blue

    2022 AG Elections Results


    Tuesday, November 8 was election day, and AG elections in thirty-three states and territories were held. Here is a breakdown of the results. Last updated 1/5/2023.

  • Blog Several large orange pumpkins; one is carved with a jack-o-lantern face, and the other with the letters "IRA"

    Carving Out Funds for Clean Energy


    Hocus Pocus? Not in the IRA! The Inflation Reduction Act is designed to push money towards clean energy and clean transportation and to supercharge these issues at the state and local level. Here is a breakdown of some of its major goals along with the current status.

  • Articles The Environmental Forum - ELI logo

    A Dormant Threat to State Clean Energy, Public Health Programs

    “In the Courts” Column: This term, the Supreme Court is considering a case about the Dormant Commerce Clause—with the potential to curtail state powers to issue rules that favor a certain energy mix along with safety and health standards. How did we get here?

  • Blog An orange background with white, outline sketches of the following items placed in a pattern across the image: a globe, a traffic cone, a subway card, a bike, a location pin icon, a construction roadblock, a pickup truck, a jeep.

    Take the Next Exit: Getting to Decarbonized, Equitable Transportation


    Electric vehicles (EVs) are going from zero to sixty due to changing consumer preferences, recent state policies, and federal legislation. With EV investment accelerating, it is time to consider what a just transition to a decarbonized transportation sector looks like.

  • Articles The Environmental Forum - ELI logo

    Agencies Can Avoid Major Questions Risks

    “In the Courts” Column: The decision in West Virginia v. EPA required the Supreme Court to take two analytical steps that pose threats to future environmental regulation—but they should not be insurmountable.

  • Blog On the left, a blue and green aerial image of wetlands; on the right, a posterized image of pigs at an animal farm.

    WOTUS, SCOTUS, and Pigs, Oh My!


    The Supreme Court is starting up its new term next week. What is on its environmental docket, you ask? Could it be bigger than last year? Quite possibly!

  • Blog A map of the United States, with California, Colorado, and Washington highlighted in green, is overlaid on a view of wind turbines in a field

    EJ Statutes Grow at the State Level


    Several states have started to address the disproportionate and inequitable effects that their low-income and minority communities have long faced through new statutes that impose permitting limits or enshrine additional environmental review requirements.

  • Blog A posterized black, white, grey, and gold graphic showing the letters "SEQRA" stylized as subway line icons in the foreground, text from SEQRA in the midground, and a taxi driving under a tall overpass backed by a yellow sky in the background.

    EJ Issue to Watch: Governor Hochul Sitting on Passed Cumulative Impact Analysis Bill

    Student Blog Series

    The passage of New York’s cumulative impacts analysis bill by the state legislature in April 2022 was heralded by environmental justice groups as groundbreaking. If Governor Hochul signs the bill, New York can pave the way toward environmental equity in the state.

  • Trackers Wind turbines, and a gavel.

    FERC Judicial Review Tracker

    Updated September 1, 2022

    This tracker collects court decisions reviewing orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and includes the underlying orders in each case, information about the commissioner composition, and the outcome of judicial review. The tracker also includes brief analysis of the data.