On June 9, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed granting the State of Texas primary enforcement authority—commonly referred to as “primacy”—over the permitting and regulation of Class VI underground injection control (UIC) wells under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This would authorize the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC)…
Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Resilience: Unlocking Private Debt for Energy and Infrastructure | Episode 6 (6.11.25)
In the newest episode of Resilience, Pillsbury’s Shellka Arora-Cox and Brookfield Asset Management’s Brian Callahan discuss one of the most dynamic corners of the energy and infrastructure market: private debt. (Editor’s note: The following transcript has been edited for clarity.) Shellka Arora-Cox: Welcome to Resilience, the podcast where we explore how grit and innovation…
Investing in Data Centers
It seems like such a simple question. Who owns data centers? Ownership structures in the digital economy are more varied than might appear on the surface. While the largest computing and cloud service providers, such as Apple, Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure) and Google (Cloud)—also known as “hyperscalers”—do own and operate…
Interior Department Streamlines NEPA, ESA, NHPA Reviews for Geothermal Energy Projects
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on May 30 that it will invoke emergency permitting procedures to accelerate environmental review of select geothermal energy projects, with three proposed geothermal projects in Nevada to be among the first projects to undergo expedited review. This action follows President Trump’s January…
Powering Data Centers with Nuclear Generation
The rapid growth of electricity demand from data centers has emerged as a major challenge for the U.S. power sector. Much of this demand is being driven by the deployment of large learning models (LLMs) and generative artificial intelligence (AI). These workloads require large-volume, high-uptime computational infrastructure, and correspondingly large,…
From Shale to Salt: Texas Supreme Court Applies Uniform Rule for Ownership of Subsurface Caverns
In a closely watched opinion issued on May 16, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court in Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Undergrounds Services Markham, LLC, — S.W.3d —, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 1415892 (Tex. May 16, 2025) resolved a long-uncertain issue of subsurface property rights in the context of salt dome mining. The…
Spring 2025 Environmental Update: New Cases, New Rules and Other Developments
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT City and County of San Francisco v. EPA (March 4, 2025) In the first major environmental decision by the Court in the 2024 Term, the Court’s analysis of the Clean Water Act concluded that there was no provision in the Act supporting the imposition by EPA…
States and Municipalities Advance Climate Change Lawsuits as Trump Administration Seeks to Block Them
Even as the Trump administration moves to block state and local climate liability efforts, states and municipalities continue to advance lawsuits seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for harms associated with climate change. Most recently, the State of Hawaii initiated a climate deception lawsuit, and the City of Charleston,…
Navigating the Diverging Landscape of Climate Disclosure Laws
As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) steps back from defending its March 2024 Climate Disclosure Rule, companies face growing uncertainty in navigating an increasingly fragmented and uncertain landscape of state and international mandates—with no uniform standards in sight. This development signals a broader shift under the Trump administration, which…
Federal Government Sues Four States Over Climate Superfund Laws and Climate Change Litigation
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a series of federal lawsuits against four states—New York, Vermont, Michigan and Hawaii—alleging that recent legislative and enforcement efforts to hold fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate change unlawfully interfere with federal authority. The lawsuits, filed on April 30 and May…