Strategies helps businesses and individuals solve the complexities of dealing with the government at every level. Our team of specialists concentrate exclusively on government affairs, representing clients nationwide who need assistance with public policy, advocacy, and government relations strategies.
This unique program provides innovative and affordable opportunities to startups and early-stage emerging companies with a solid technology or scientific foundation. We help companies that have a quality management team in place and do not have other significant legal representation.
eMerge’s lawyers and technologists work together to deliver strategic end-to-end eDiscovery and data management solutions for litigation, investigations, due diligence, and compliance matters. We help clients discover the information necessary to resolve disputes, respond to investigations, conduct due diligence, and comply with legal requirements.
Ben Cowan, a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Environmental + Natural Resources Practice Group, was quoted in the March 6, 2025 E&E News article, “3 Questions Answered About NEPA Under Trump.”
The Trump administration’s rescission of CEQ’s rulemaking power — bolstered by recent court decisions against the agency’s regulatory authority — “adds another layer of uncertainty onto the permitting process generally,” said M. Benjamin Cowan, a partner at the law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, which represents clients in the renewable energy sector.
…
Cowan of Troutman said his firm is also looking to advance projects in ways that do not require federal permitting, including NEPA analysis, particularly for projects that are either in their very early stages or close to completion.
“Depending on the nature of the impacts, there are ways to redesign projects, or project construction, to avoid impacts,” he said.
For a wind farm or a solar project, for example, that might mean rerouting roads or collection lines to avoid Clean Water Act permit requirements for discharge into federal waters, Cowan said.
“There’s costs associated with doing that,” he said, “but in many cases, it may be preferable to subjecting yourself to a permitting process that may not even be available to the industry right now.”
…
“The courts have said that CEQ did not have the authority from Congress to implement these rules that are binding on other agencies,” Cowan said. “And so the Trump administration is withdrawing those rules.”
…
But groups may think twice about bringing those claims in light of the decisions from the D.C. Circuit and North Dakota District Court, said Cowan of Troutman.
Those rulings “provide the legal cover for what the Trump administration is doing with NEPA,” said Cowan.
This just in
Firm Events
Cocktails and Networking During MEDevice Boston
August 26, 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
Lifted Restaurant
450 Summer St, Boston, MA 02210
Sponsored Events
San Francisco Renewable Energy Drinks: End of Summer Party
August 26, 2026 | 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM PT
Spark Social SF
601 Mission Bay Blvd North, San Francisco, CA 94158-2472
Speaking Engagements
The 2026 Multifamily Maturity Cliff: Reading the $162 Billion Refinancing Wave and the Engagements It Will Generate
August 26, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 3:10 PM ET
Webinar
Speaking Engagements
ILTACON 2026 Conference
August 23 – 27, 2026
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
2800 Opryland Dr, Nashville, TN 37214
