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V&E lawyers will discuss a potential wave of DEI and ESG investigations, enforcement actions, and lawsuits from the federal government, state attorneys general, and class action lawyers.

A series of recent actions undertaken by President Biden, near the end of his term, and President Trump, in the early days of his presidency, have called into question a key issue under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”) — whether the President can revoke a previous President’s withdrawal of areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) from oil and gas leasing.

On March 19, 2025, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued two technical assistance documents (the “DEI Guidance”) addressing the application of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) to employers’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) policies and practices.

The opening days of the 119th U.S. Congress have been marked with congressional action under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to potentially invalidate regulations that were issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the final days of the Biden administration.

On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed legislation disapproving the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation implementing the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

If past is prologue, while the second Trump administration is expected to take a number of actions that could lead to increased volatility with respect to renewable identification number (“RIN”) prices just as the first did, there are signals that the administration may take a more deliberate approach this time to reduce shocks to the RIN market, all the more given the interest in supporting renewable fuel production as a domestic fuel source. And while the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) took steps last year that impact the ability of biogas projects to generate Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) credits, state legislative headwinds could eventually result in the opening of new environmental credit markets to shore up demand for renewable natural gas (“RNG”). Overall, while significant uncertainty and risk of RIN volatility remains, there continue to be signals from both the federal executive and legislative branches in support of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”).

As it releases executive orders with unprecedented speed, the Trump administration has begun executing its vision for the United States and the world. This article addresses some of the tax-related topics likely to be the focus of the Trump administration in the coming months, including the extension of certain expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “TCJA”), changes to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”), increased tariffs, and changes to enforcement priorities at the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”).

Despite the Biden administration’s public support for carbon capture and sequestration (“CCS”), we saw neither faster CCS permit approvals from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) nor a significant push towards state primary enforcement authority (“primacy”) during the former president’s tenure.

On February 21, 2025, a federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that partially prevents the Trump administration from enforcing its executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”).

In his first two days in office, newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump signed a flurry of Executive Orders, including several aimed at supporting the traditional energy industry.

Among the drumbeats of rapid pronouncements and policy shifts since January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration recently issued a 180-day pause on new investigations and enforcement actions involving the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”), and signaled a coming shift in how the statute will be enforced in the future.

On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporate Finance (the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued new guidance on Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposals, which comes one day after the Staff posted new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DI”) in connection with shareholder communications and Schedule 13G eligibility.