Photo of Ellie Dawson

Elizabeth (Ellie) B. Dawson is a counsel in the Environment & Natural Resources Group in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office and a leader of the firm’s global ESG Advisory Team. She advocates for her clients’ interests in everything from agency rulemaking petitions under the Clean Air Act to Superfund liability and allocation disputes, everywhere from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the Western District of Washington.

Front of mind for many federal contractors is the proposed FAR rule that would make federal contract awards contingent upon meeting mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requirements. But a provision in the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 scales back the reach of that potential rule on Department of Defense (DoD) contracts.Continue Reading FY 2024 NDAA Pumps the Brakes on Mandatory GHG Emissions Disclosure Requirements for DoD Contracts

On March 8, 2023, the Biden Administration announced a further opportunity for companies to take advantage of significant federal funding intended to promote clean manufacturing and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in federal procurement.  In line with the Biden Administration’s push to implement a clean energy economy (as we have previously covered, for example, here and 

This special edition of the Fastest 5 Minutes podcast covers recent developments related to the Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Act, and key areas to watch in 2023. The podcast features a cross practice team of Crowell partners, so we offer perspectives from tax, energy, labor and employment, government contracts, ESG, environmental, and government affairs.

On December 23, 2022, the Department of Defense (“DoD”), General Services Administration (“GSA”), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (“NASA”) extended the comment period on the proposed rule, “Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk,” from January 13, 2023 to February 13, 2023.  As we summarized previously, the proposed rule would, if

In a major and largely unprecedented development for federal contractors, the White House announced on November 10, 2022 that the FAR Council will publish early next week a proposed rule that would, if finalized, require many federal contractors receiving more than $7.5 million in annual federal contracts to inventory and publicly disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on an annual basis.  Contractors deemed “major”—those that receive annual federal contracts in excess of $50 million—would be further required to disclose annually their Scope 3 GHG emissions and climate-related financial risk assessment process.  Beyond disclosures, and perhaps more significantly, major contractors would also be required to set emission-reduction targets to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, and have those targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This last element of the proposal is a notable departure—and escalation—from similar pending proposals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which only propose to require GHG disclosures from regulated companies and funds, not substantive goals or changes. Continue Reading Your Climate Disclosures or Your Contracts? Federal Contractors Face Unprecedented Proposed Rule for Mandatory Climate Disclosures

Government Contractors who are concerned with how their companies are navigating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts will want to read a new report by Crowell & Moring. A recent survey of top decision-makers by Crowell & Moring finds that nearly 80% of responding companies have identified and adopted environmental performance goals beyond what regulations