McGuireWoods Washington, D.C., partners Aaron Flynn, Makram Jaber and Allison Wood were profiled in the May 4, 2021, Bloomberg Law article titled “Lawyers Look Ahead to a Busy Year for Air and Climate Issues.”
The partners, described in the article as a “powerhouse trio of Clean Air Act lawyers” who joined McGuireWoods’ regulatory and compliance team in 2020, discussed what’s ahead as President Biden unveils more clean air and climate actions.
Jaber said disputes over operating permits for large emission sources may lead to significant litigation. The team predicted a big impact from regulations in areas such as cross-state air pollution and carbon limits.
“There have been several cases in the last few years in particular, where environmental justice has been the basis for rejecting an air permit or rejecting a NEPA analysis,” Flynn noted, adding that a lot more litigation is likely.
The trio also pointed to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) reporting as a rising factor. “If you’re a publicly traded company, at this point, you are not going to be able to ignore ESG,” Wood said.