The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA") and Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill ("BIL") during the Biden administration marked a sea change for the clean energy transition in the United States. These landmark laws – through innovative direct funding mechanisms and tax policy – promised to accelerate the adoption of clean energy sources, boost resiliency, reduce carbon emissions, reinvigorate domestic manufacturing and create jobs for a sustainable future. Fast forward to March 2025, and we find ourselves at another, but very different, pivotal juncture. The clean energy community is once again at a transformative moment.
Immediately upon President Trump's inauguration, significant portions of the renewable energy industry found themselves in the direct crosshairs of the new administration. With a series of executive orders halting permitting processes for both offshore and onshore wind projects, freezing financial assistance for a wide swath of clean energy financial assistance programs, and legislative threats to gut the IRA's clean energy tax credits, among other actions, the new administration has already stripped funding, sowed uncertainty in the investment community, and invited widespread litigation. The threat to the clean energy industry is real, and the legal, regulatory and policy challenges require strong and sustained commitment.
Attorneys here at Foley Hoag have been at the forefront of navigating these new waters. From standing up in federal court for Power Forward Communities in its challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to terminate its $2 billion award under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund; to advising on renewable energy credit contract, power purchase agreement and permitting complexities imposed upon projects by this administration's unprecedented actions; to helping clients manage through on-again, off-again tariffs and tariff threats, we have remained and will stay wholly committed to supporting the clean energy transition community. We also have been impressed by the resilience of our clients – developers continuing to create transformative technologies and business models, financing parties adapting financial structures and deployment mechanisms to new realities, and impact investors leaning in to support the most impactful strategies – all with the knowledge that clean energy transition is inevitable and delivers the best and lowest cost solutions across an array of sectors.
We will continue, no matter the headwinds, to provide you with mission-driven service, and the latest insights, resources, and strategies to help adapt in this rapidly evolving landscape. This edition of Climate Law Matters covers some of the executive orders and developments that have happened in the first 90 days of the new administration; future editions will continue to provide these insights to help market participants make decisions and chart their course through these challenges. This thought and action leadership is core to how Foley Hoag will continue to stand up for the American innovation, economic progress and climate solutions that the clean energy transition delivers.
Climate Litigation Against the US Is Dead. How Long Will State Climate Damage Cases Survive?
March 25, 2025 | BySeth Jaffe
On Monday morning, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Juliana v. United States. The cert. denial leaves in place the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ordered the case dismissed for lack of standing. At least for now, this seems to mark the death knell of this kind of climate litigation in the United States. While the denial of cert. is not precedential, it's hard to see any other appeals court reaching a different decision.
Read the full blog post here.
Coming Soon? Rules for Co-Locating Data Centers and Generators in PJM
March 24, 2025 | By Walter Ramsden, Aaron Lang, Zachary Gerson
Some of the biggest questions—and opportunities—facing the electric power sector in 2025 revolve around data centers and how to power them. The U.S. Department of Energy projects that the share of the nation's electricity consumed by data centers will skyrocket from 4.4% in 2023 to 12% in 2028. With endemic delays affecting the growth of the nation's generation, interconnection, and transmission capacities, many data center developers are considering "co-locating" generators behind-the-meter to power their facilities. Yet those plans have raised significant questions regarding how co-location arrangements will be regulated at the federal and state levels. This week, we expect the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") to begin to weigh in, as proceedings concerning co-location get underway.
Read the full blog post here.
"Exigent Circumstances:" ISO-NE and the NYISO Scramble to React as an Electricity Trade War Heats Up at the U.S.-Canada Border
March 11, 2025 | By Zachary Gerson, Noah C. Shaw, Walter Ramsden
U.S. grid operators and policymakers are rushing to prepare for the Trump Administration's threatened tariffs on imported Canadian electricity and the Canadian reaction, an unprecedented state of affairs disrupting one of the most integrated international electric grids in the world. As Ben Storrow wrote for E&E News, "Electricity has not traditionally been subject to tariffs. Electrons don't stop at the local customs office to be inspected."
Read the full blog post here.
New York State Amends Landmark "Climate Change Superfund Act" Amidst Legal Challenges
March 11, 2025 | By Seth D. Jaffe, Basil Seggos, Daniel T. Carlston
We previously reported on New York State's enactment of the Climate Change Superfund Act (the "Climate Superfund Act" or the "Act"), groundbreaking legislation that seeks to recover $75 billion from fossil fuel producers for their past greenhouse gas emissions and to use recovered funds for climate adaptation projects. We also discussed the legal challenges to Vermont's Climate Superfund Act, the first climate superfund law in the U.S., and renewed efforts to pass comparable legislation in California in the aftermath of the tragic Los Angeles wildfires. Since then, there have been significant developments related to New York's Climate Superfund Act.
Read the full blog post here.
The Funding Games: America's Clean Energy and Infrastructure Funding Under the Trump Administration
February 14, 2025 | By Beth C. Neitzel, Noah C. Shaw, James M. Gross, Howard Weiss
As we warned in a January 29 client alert, President Trump's Executive Orders and the subsequent Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum ordering federal agencies to "temporarily pause" any and all funding disbursements and obligations were "just the beginning." Despite the purported rescission of the OMB memorandum and two court orders enjoining its implementation, the status of federal funding is, if anything, even more tenuous two weeks later.
Read the full blog post here.
An Impoundment By Any Other Name
January 29, 2025 | By Beth C. Neitzel, Noah C. Shaw, Kevin Y. Chen, Howard Weiss
A Monday night memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") ordered federal agencies to "temporarily pause" all federal funding and other agency activities that "may be implicated by" the slew of executive orders Trump issued last week. The directive jeopardizes hundreds of billions of dollars of federal funding, including funds already obligated via award contracts. Several of Trump's underlying executive orders do the same, purporting to, e.g., "pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act ... or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act." The result has been chaos and confusion. Affected parties include states and municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and private entities that were awarded federal funds to tackle issues related to energy and climate, healthcare, infrastructure, and other critical policy domains.
Read the full blog post here.
Department of Energy Announces $30M "SUPERHOT" Geothermal Research Program
January 24, 2025 | By Daniel T. Carlston, Seth D. Jaffe
As readers of this space will have noted, geothermal energy is one of the few renewable sources treated positively by early Trump Administration efforts to attain "energy dominance." Given the favorable treatment of geothermal energy under President Trump's initial Executive Orders, it will be interesting to see what happens to this move last week from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
Read the full blog post here.
A Fossil-Forward U.S. Energy Policy Begins to Take Shape under Trump
January 23, 2025 | ByAaron Lang, Noah C. Shaw, Seth D. Jaffe, Basil Seggos
President Trump began his second term by issuing a barrage of executive orders, memoranda, and other directives, many of which targeted U.S. energy policy and the federal employees who implement it. Trump had campaigned on rolling back President Biden's signature clean energy initiatives. His inaugural directives give us the first glimpse of what those reversals may look like.
Read the full blog post here.
Updated Hydrogen Emissions Model Provides Key Insights into Biogas and Fugitive Methane Feedstock Emissions
January 17, 2025 By Aaron Lang
On January 15, 2025, Department of Energy (DOE) released updated
versions of the 45Vh3-GREET lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions model and accompanying instructional manual. The updates
are crucial to the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) Clean
Hydrogen Production Tax Credit, Section 45V. Hydrogen producers
must demonstrate that their hydrogen meets specific lifecycle
emissions thresholds to qualify for the 45V credit. You can find
the updated model here and the updated instructions here.
This post focuses on the model's assumptions for biogas and
coal mine methane (methane released during coal mining activities)
used as feedstocks to produce hydrogen.
Read the full blog post here.
Advancing U.S. Leadership in AI Infrastructure: A Focus on Geothermal Energy
January 17, 2025 | By Aaron Lang
On January 14, 2025, President Biden signed an Executive Order to advance the United States' leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. This comprehensive directive underscores the critical role of AI in national security and economic competitiveness while recognizing and attempting to address the daunting challenge of developing the data center infrastructure necessary to power the growing demand for AI. The order mandates a collaborative effort between federal agencies and the private sector to build AI data centers and ensure the necessary energy infrastructure while maintaining low electricity costs for consumers and prioritizing the development of new, additional clean electricity supply to power those data centers.
Read the full blog post here.
EV Update
March 26, 2025 By Sarah Main
The electric vehicle (EV) industry is facing a mix of challenges and opportunities as the Trump Administration's recent policies and tariff announcements take effect in the market. In its first three months, the Trump Administration took several significant actions that caused major reactions by both EV manufacturers and consumers. To name a few, the federal government froze federal funding for charging infrastructure and other EV subsidy programs, imposed tariffs on key trading partners, and announced plans to reverse Biden-Era emissions standards for cars and trucks. Meanwhile, Congress is considering changes to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). EV tax credits remain in the eyes of those lawmakers that have long opposed the IRA and have sought to roll-back spending authorized in furtherance of Biden Administration climate goals.
The Trump Administration's stance on EVs is also creating challenges at the state-level. While states like New York and New Jersey are charging forward in pursuit of their state EV deployment goals, some question whether state funding is enough to alleviate the cost barriers that already exist and would increase with the removal of federal EV tax credits.
This edition of EV Roundup highlights several notable updates in the realm of tax credits, proposed legislation, and regulatory and policy changes impacting the EV industry today.
Read the full EV Roundup here.
Energy & Climate Counsel Blog
Our Most Recent Posts
- Climate Litigation Against the US Is Dead. How Long Will State Climate Damage Cases Survive?
- Coming Soon? Rules for Co-Locating Data Centers and Generators in PJM
- Aaron Lang Published in SEP Global h3 Newsfeed
- The Sedona Conference Commentary on Clean Rooms
- "Exigent Circumstances:" ISO-NE and the NYISO Scramble to React as an Electricity Trade War Heats Up at the U.S.-Canada Border
- New York State Amends Landmark "Climate Change Superfund Act" Amidst Legal Challenges
- The Funding Games: America's Clean Energy and Infrastructure Funding Under Trump
- Department of Energy Announces $30M "SUPERHOT" Geothermal Research Program
- A Fossil-Forward U.S. Energy Policy Begins to Take Shape under Trump
- Updated Hydrogen Emissions Model Provides Key Insights into Biogas and Fugitive Methane Feedstock Emissions
- Advancing U.S. Leadership in AI Infrastructure: A Focus on Geothermal Energy
- 2024 Clean Energy Act Promotes Energy Storage Deployment Across Massachusetts
Where You Can Find Us - Upcoming Events
NECA 2025 Environmental Conference
April 17, 2025
Portland, ME
Oceantic International
Partnering Forum
April 28 – May 1, 2025
Virginia Beach, VA
ANCA Clean Energy Conference
April 30 – May 2, 2025
Lake Placid, NY
Earth Night
May 1, 2025
Boston, MA
Our Latest News
Energy & Climate Year in Review: 2024
2024 was a crucial year for the clean energy transition. At
Foley Hoag, we worked across the industry to catalyze the creation,
development, and funding of renewable energy and ClimateTech
initiatives. Internally, we grew as a team, doubling down our
commitment to decarbonizing our future.
Here's a look at some of our highlights from
2024.
PitchBook New Rankings: 2024
Foley Hoag has again been named among the most active law firms in venture capital financings in Pitchbook's 2024 Annual Global League Tables. In addition to its Top 20 global recognition, the firm achieved high ranks in 20 other categories, covering a range of markets, sectors, and deal types, on both the company and investor sides. Other notable rankings include Top 10 recognition in the New England Market and the Energy Sector.
Read the full announcement here.
Foley Hoag Adds Several New Lawyers to its Team
- Melanie Bartlett – Tax – Denver - Foley Hoag continues to grow in Denver with the addition of Melanie Bartlett as partner in the firm's Tax practice. Bartlett's work focuses on representing nonprofit organizations, including handling mergers, governing board compliance standards, and advising on expansions into new mission-aligned activities. See full press release here.
- Nicole Perez – M&A – New York – Foley Hoag has announced that Nicole Perez has joined the firm's New York office as a partner in its Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group. Perez brings experience in complex public and private mergers and acquisitions across various industries, including technology, energy, and life sciences. Her practice focuses on representing acquirers and targets in both domestic and cross-border transactions. She also advises on shareholder activism defense matters, hostile takeovers, and takeover preparedness. See full press release here.
- Iain Sandford – International Trade
& Arbitration – Paris – Foley Hoag
welcomes distinguished international trade lawyer Iain Sandford to
its Paris office. As part of the firm's globally recognized
international litigation and arbitration practice—ranked in
the GAR 30—Sandford will enhance our team's capabilities
in WTO and trade law, reinforcing our leadership on the world
stage. Iain has also been active in international law climate
change litigation, representing clients in recent ICJ and ITLOS
proceedings.
See full press release here.
Foley Hoag Attorney Basil Seggos Named to City & State's 2025 Law Power 100 List
Foley Hoag announced that Partner and Senior Policy Director Basil Seggos has been recognized on City & State New York's 2025 Law Power 100 List.
Known for implementing groundbreaking policy focused on energy, climate and environment, Seggos works on renewable energy and environmental issues, complex project siting and permitting, environmental compliance, remediation and redevelopment of contaminated land, government and stakeholder relations, and crisis management.
Read the full post here.
Two Foley Hoag Attorneys Selected for JD Supra 2025 Readers' Choice Awards
Two Foley Hoag attorneys have been recognized in the JD Supra
2025 Readers' Choice Awards, honoring authors who achieved top
visibility for their thought leadership in key topics over the past
year on the JD Supra platform.
Anthony Mirenda – White-Collar Defense
category, for the firm's White Collar Crime &
Investigations blog.
Walter (Mack) Ramsden – Energy category, for
the firm's Energy & Climate Counsel blog.
Read full post here.
Stanford LSE 2024 Annual Report
Foley Hoag joined The Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy Initiative, a law firm-led effort to provide pro bono legal services to sustainability-focused entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations. The initiative continues to grow, with 22 law firms and Stanford's Startup Law: Sustainability program providing pro bono legal help to over 214 startups and nonprofits through the initiative over the past six years. The firms in the initiative have dedicated over $125 million in pro bono services over the past six years to support sustainability efforts both inside and outside of the initiative.
Read the full announcement here.
Some of Our Recent Work
Foley Hoag Represents BlueWave in $118.2 Million Debt and Tax Equity Raise
Foley Hoag represented BlueWave, a leading solar developer,
builder, owner, and operator in the Northeast U.S., in a major
financing round of $118.2 million to support its community solar
portfolio in Maine. The BlueWave project portfolio consists of four
unique solar sites that are qualified for Maine's Net Energy
Billing program, which enables community solar projects to provide
utility bill savings to Maine residents and businesses that opt in.
The program supports the production of clean energy to decarbonize
the grid, as well as provides cost savings to ratepayers.
The $118.2 million financing includes a debt raise of $48.2 million
with City National Bank and a tax equity raise of $70 million with
First American Commercial Bancorp, Inc., which will support
equipment and infrastructure utilized across the four community
solar project sites.
Read more here.
Foley Hoag Advises State of Delaware in $128 million Agreement with US Wind
Foley Hoag advised the State of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) in agreements with US Wind to provide renewable energy credits, community benefits and lease payments to the State and its residents. These agreements, worth more than $128 million, were finalized about a year after the initial announcements of negotiations.
Read more here.
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