September 15, 2008
Our Program:
During this briefing, Gibson Dunn’s Environment and Natural Resources practice group discusses EPA’s recently released Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act. This ANPRM was issued in accordance with last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which held that greenhouse gases are "pollutants" under the Clean Air Act and are thus subject to regulation if EPA makes an "endangerment finding." Any regulation of GHGs under the Clean Air Act could have extraordinarily broad implications, potentially subjecting many currently unregulated sources (such as large residential and commercial buildings) to permitting and regulation under the Clean Air Act for the first time.
Topics to be discussed include:
The threshold findings EPA will have to make before it will regulate GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act.
What types of currently unregulated businesses could be swept under the Clean Air Act’s provisions if GHGs are regulated.
Whether a nation-wide cap and trade program is likely, and how such a program may be structured.
What a federal regulatory program under the Clean Air Act could mean for the various regional and state initiatives currently underway (RGGI, WCI and MGGA).
What is the outlook for national legislation controlling GHG emissions.
What businesses can do now to prepare.
Who should view this program:
In-house counsel, in-house environmental managers, in-house government relations personnel, and environmental engineers and consultants.
We encourage you to forward this invitation to colleagues and friends who would also benefit from our discussion.
Featured presenters include:
Raymond B. Ludwiszewski, Partner in Gibson Dunn’s Environment and Natural Resources practice group. Mr. Ludwiszewski has held senior legal positions in the United States government dealing with environmental regulatory issues and litigation in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. He served as General Counsel at the United States EPA in Washington and as Assistant Administrator for Enforcement at EPA. He was also Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division and Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department. He has written and spoken extensively on environmental law issues. Mr. Ludwiszewski has been listed in Washingtonian magazine’s Best Environmental Lawyers List, the Washington Post magazine’s Best Lawyers in America, and Chambers USA. Mr. Ludwiszewski is a founding member of the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Law Reporter and ELI Press Advisory Board.
Thomas J.P. McHenry, Partner in Gibson Dunn’s Environment and Natural Resources practice group. Mr. McHenry practices general environmental law with an emphasis on air quality, hazardous waste, environmental diligence, land use and energy issues. He represents clients in negotiations with state and federal environmental agencies including air quality management districts, regional water quality control boards, the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the California and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies in the context of air quality, soil and groundwater cleanup, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), facility siting, permitting and other environmental and natural resources issues. He has served on a number of California governmental advisory bodies including: the California EPA Blue Ribbon Commission for a Unified Environmental Statute, the Department of Toxic Substances Control CEQA Guidance Advisory Committee, the DTSC Regulatory Structure Update, Fee Reform and Site Mitigation Update Committees and on the Environmental and Consumer Sources Work Group of the California Strategic Planning Project to Eliminate Lead Poisoning. Mr. McHenry was appointed to serve on the City of Los Angeles Citizens Advisory Committee for the Northeast Area Plan.
Charles H. Haake, Of Counsel in Gibson Dunn’s Environment and Natural Resources practice group. Mr. Haake’s practice includes litigating matters in both federal and state courts in a wide range of environmental matters, such as representing clients in mass tort and toxic tort actions, water contamination and asbestos claims, Clean Air Act enforcement actions, and CERCLA cost recovery actions. Mr. Haake’s practice also includes handling matters concerning greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, such as defending tort actions against clients and challenging agency regulations of greenhouse gas emissions.