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Showing 16 results

William Buzbee

Edward and Carole Walter Professor of Law

A scientist tests water quality in a marsh

William Buzbee | May 25, 2023

The Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA Bender

On May 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-awaited decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is the Supreme Court’s fourth foray over several decades into what count as protected “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act. This language provides the key jurisdictional hook for all important federal powers under the Act.

William Buzbee | August 13, 2020

New Science Magazine Article Lays Bare Failings of Trump Navigable Waters Rule

A new article in Science magazine that I co-authored with a number of distinguished environmental science professors from around the country dissects the remarkable disregard for science that the Trump administration displayed in its recent dismantling of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which protected millions of miles of rivers and acres of wetlands from polluters.

William Buzbee | June 19, 2020

The Supreme Court’s DACA Decision, Environmental Rollbacks, and the Regulatory Rule of Law

On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration's rescission of the Obama administration's immigration relief program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In explaining and then defending its DACA rollback, the Trump administration had raised an array of claims that, if accepted, would have undercut numerous regulatory rule of law fundamentals. Instead, the Court strengthened these longstanding requirements. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) v. Regents will become central to battles over the many Trump administration rollbacks and reversals of environmental and other regulations.

William Buzbee | October 30, 2017

The Hill Op-Ed: Trump Administration’s Clean Power Plan Repeal Proposal Is Illegal

This op-ed originally ran in The Hill. The Trump administration’s efforts to sidestep finalized regulations through stays or delays have so far met with judicial rejection in three straight decisions. As these courts have concluded, such a deregulatory strategy violates settled law that administrative agencies are bound by their own finalized regulations until they undo them […]

William Buzbee | June 15, 2017

New York Times Op-ed: Regulatory ‘Reform’ That Is Anything But

This op-ed originally ran in The New York Times. After decades of failed efforts to enact “regulatory reform” bills, Congress appears to be within a few votes of approving reform legislation that would strip Americans of important legal protections, induce regulatory sclerosis and subject agencies that enforce the nation’s laws and regulations to potentially endless […]

William Buzbee | September 23, 2016

Federalism Games in the Clean Power Plan Battle

Next Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear four hours of argument over the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Federalism-linked statutory, regulatory, and doctrinal law has been and will be crucial to the CPP’s fate, and several issues of federalism will play a key role. In designing the CPP, the U.S. […]

William Buzbee | June 3, 2015

The New Final ‘Waters of the United States’ Rule: Separating Rhetoric and Reality

William W. Buzbee, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, offers his comments here regarding the May 27, 2015 released final rule and accompanying materials regarding what waters are federally protected “waters of the United States.”  Professor Buzbee is also a founding member-scholar of the Center for Progressive Reform.  He has testified repeatedly before congressional […]

William Buzbee | June 3, 2014

EPA’s Proposed Power Plant Regs: Solid Legal Footing, Considerable Flexibility

On June 2, 2014, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued its much awaited and debated proposed Clean Air Act Section 111(d) regulations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing electric utility generating units, colloquially referred to as power plants.  And because the largest GHG emitters in this category are coal burning plants, such […]

William Buzbee | October 15, 2013

Regulating Existing Power Plants Under Clean Air Act 111(d) (Part I): The CAA’s Language & Structure

In late September, the EPA proposed regulation of new power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act’s “New Source Performance Standards” (NSPS) provisions. Now an often little noticed follow-on provision—Section 111(d)— is suddenly in the spotlight. Section 111(d) requires regulation of existing sources that are in categories of polluters subject to NSPS regulation. President Obama, […]