A federal judge in Rhode Island has blocked the EPA’s attempt to terminate the Biden-era “Solar for All” program, a $7 billion grant initiative designed to expand residential solar access in underserved communities. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy ruled that the agency acted unlawfully in canceling grants that had already been obligated, concluding that Congress had clearly authorized the funding and intended the program to move forward.

The lawsuit, Rhode Island AFL-CIO et al v. Environmental Protection Agency et al, is notable not only because of the amount at stake, but also because it highlights a recurring separation-of-powers dispute: how far an executive agency can go in unwinding programs that Congress has funded and the government has already put into motion.

Judge McElroy’s decision appears to turn on a straightforward but powerful administrative-law principle.

The EPA has finalized a settlement with Denka Performance Elastomer, LLC over alleged hazardous-waste mismanagement and chloroprene-related violations at the company’s LaPlace, Louisiana facility, closing out claims brought under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. While RCRA settlements are not unusual on their own, this one stands out because EPA framed waste-handling deficiencies as part of a broader set of environmental and public-health risks tied to the facility’s emissions profile and its long-running scrutiny from regulators, residents, and litigants.

That matters.

The Justice Department has filed a proposed consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations arising from the 2022 Keystone Pipeline rupture in Kansas. The case targets the owner and operator of the pipeline system, now associated with South Bow, and centers on one of the most closely watched pipeline spill events in recent years.

According to the government, the settlement would address civil environmental claims tied to the rupture and the operator’s spill-response obligations.