Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead spoke with The New York Times on what environmental regulations could look like if Donald Trump returns to the White House.
“The first Trump administration came in without having been prepared to take over the government,” said Holmstead. “I don’t think they’ll make the same mistakes again.”
If Trump retakes the White House, he will most likely face fewer legal and bureaucratic obstacles this time around with the Supreme Court overturning the Chevron doctrine and halting the EPA “Good Neighbor” rules limiting smokestack pollution blowing across state borders.
Despite this, Holmstead warned that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Chevron might make it harder in some cases to water down existing regulations. Many EPA rules, for instance, are litigated in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where two-thirds of current judges were appointed by Democrats.
