Extemp Practice Bank — Environment and Energy, Domestic (USX)

Prepared August 22, 2026 · 10 questions · Part 2 of 2 (pairs with the international bank) Forms: 2 What · 2 Should · 2 Will/Can · 2 Is/Are · 2 How/Did

The questions

1. Will the courts restore the endangerment finding? — Will/Can
2. Will the seven basin states reach a Colorado River deal before the rules expire? — Will/Can
3. Is home insurance becoming unavailable in climate-exposed states? — Is/Are
4. Is permitting reform actually close to passing? — Is/Are
5. Should the Energy Department keep using emergency orders to delay coal retirements? — Should
6. Should LNG export approvals be conditioned on domestic gas prices? — Should
7. What have the offshore wind rulings established about presidential power over energy projects? — What
8. What would shifting disaster costs to the states mean? — What
9. How did the tax-credit rollback change what gets built? — How/Did
10. How has the energy dominance agenda changed federal land? — How/Did

How to use this bank

Draw an envelope of three, prep thirty minutes, speak seven. Read and file the sources under a question before draw day — they are the prep, not the speech.

Three notes specific to the domestic side. Courts are doing much of the work this cycle, so several questions turn on litigation posture rather than legislation — a speech that names the court, the standard, and what happens next beats one that names only the policy. Two questions have real deadlines: the Colorado River guidelines expire at the end of this year, and Interior said it would finalize its own plan by October 1 absent a seven-state deal. The sourcing is deliberately cross-ideological — Interior and BLM press releases sit next to the Center for Western Priorities, Energy In Depth next to Public Citizen — and each is tagged for the side it serves. Read the tag, not the outlet.

If you run this alongside the science-and-technology bank, note that its data-center electricity question covers adjacent ground to question 5 here from a different angle: that one asks whether data centers raise bills, this one asks whether emergency orders are the right answer to load growth.

Dates marked ~ are approximate because the outlet showed no precise publication date.

Storylines in play

• EPA rescinded the 2009 endangerment finding on February 12 and repealed all federal vehicle greenhouse gas standards, calling it the largest deregulatory action in US history (EPA, Feb 18) — with litigation already headed for the Supreme Court.
• The seven Colorado River states missed a second federal deadline on February 14, and Interior said it would impose its own plan by October 1 if they cannot agree (Post Independent, Feb 16).
• Courts struck down all five offshore wind stop-work orders between January 12 and February 2, letting every project under construction in federal waters resume (EDF, Feb 2).
• The clean-energy tax credits hit their cliff on July 4, and a June district court ruling restored the 5% safe harbor that IRS guidance had removed — after $34.8 billion in projects were already cancelled or downsized.
• DOE has used Federal Power Act section 202(c) more than 40 times since May 2025, stalling retirement of at least 4.4 GW of coal capacity, a backstop NERC's improved summer outlook does not incorporate.
• LNG exports approached 20 billion cubic feet a day, with EIA projecting Henry Hub up 16% in 2026 — and Public Citizen putting the household cost at $181 more in a year.
• A FEMA Review Council proposed raising the disaster-declaration threshold enough to have excluded nearly a third of declarations from 2012 to 2025 (CBS News, Jun 10), while BRIC funding was restored only under court order.
• The SPEED Act passed the House in December and sits in the Senate, one of several permitting bills that would tighten NEPA judicial review — with the bipartisan outlook still unsettled.
• Interior is offering more federal acreage for oil and gas than in any year since 2020, with royalty rates back to 12.5% and BLM aiming to complete lease reviews in six months.
• Home insurance is retreating from risk: the California FAIR Plan more than tripled to over 610,000 policies, and insurers lost money on homeowners' coverage in 18 states.

Questions

1. Will the courts restore the endangerment finding?

Form: Will/Can · Positions: A — yes, the D.C. Circuit twice upheld the finding and the science record is unchanged, so the rescission reads as a policy reversal dressed as statutory interpretation; B — no, EPA built the repeal on statutory grounds a post-Loper Bright Court is receptive to, and the litigation will take years regardless

1. Final Rule: Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding — EPA, 2026-02-18 · [B] The agency's own framing: absent the finding, EPA says it lacks Section 202(a) authority, and the action saves over $1.3 trillion.
2. EPA Repeals Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Standards and the Underlying Endangerment Finding — Holland & Knight, 2026-02-13 · [B] The three statutory arguments EPA is actually making — regional versus global pollution, procedural discretion, and severability.
3. EPA rescinds greenhouse gas endangerment finding for motor vehicles — White & Case, 2026-02-23 · [Both] The path to the Supreme Court, plus the practical consequence either way: a state-by-state patchwork.
4. EPA's Endangerment Finding in danger: Key takeaways and uncertainties — Davis Polk, 2026-03-09 · [Both] Why the 2012 D.C. Circuit precedent may not hold: it relied on Chevron deference, overruled in 2024.
5. EPA's Endangerment Finding Repeal, Explained — World Resources Institute, 2026 · [A] The domino logic — vehicles first, then every other sector — and why 16 years of precedent won't fall quietly.
6. Health and Climate Consequences of EPA's Endangerment Finding Repeal — Inside Climate News, 2026-02-24 · [A] The litigation strategy from the challengers' side, starting with a motion to stay the rule in the D.C. Circuit.
7. The Legal Case Against the EPA's Rescission of the Endangerment Finding — Columbia Undergraduate Law Review, 2026-06-09 · [A] The argument that the "de minimis impact" rationale is a policy judgment Congress did not authorize.
8. The Future of Climate Change Regulation and Litigation After EPA's Repeal — Skadden, 2026-04-08 · [B] The twist worth a whole speech: EPA's position that it cannot regulate greenhouse gases undercuts preemption defenses against state climate laws and tort claims.
9. EPA Issues Final Rule to Rescind Endangerment Finding — Kirkland & Ellis, 2026-03-09 · [Background] Exactly what was repealed alongside the finding, including test procedures and reporting rules.

2. Will the seven basin states reach a Colorado River deal before the rules expire?

Form: Will/Can · Positions: A — yes, the Lower Basin has put real cuts on the table and every party prefers a negotiated deal to a federal plan or the Supreme Court; B — no, they have missed two deadlines across four years, the core dispute over who cuts is unresolved, and 2026 is shaping up as the worst hydrologic year on record

1. Colorado River Post-2026 Operations — Bureau of Reclamation, ~2026-08 · [Data] The official process and status, including the Final EIS noticed on July 31 — the federal fallback taking shape.
2. Colorado River states fail to meet federal negotiations deadline — Post Independent, 2026-02-16 · [B] The second missed deadline, Burgum's October 1 ultimatum, and the Upper Basin's refusal of basin-wide cuts.
3. Joint Statement on Colorado River Deadline — Governors Hobbs, Lombardo and Newsom, 2026-02-13 · [A] The Lower Basin's offer in its own words: Arizona cutting 27%, California 10%, Nevada nearly 17%.
4. Arizona, Lower Basin partners commit to continuing efforts — Arizona Department of Water Resources, 2026-02-19 · [A] Negotiators saying they remain committed after the deadline passed, and the principle they are stuck on.
5. Why Colorado River negotiations are so difficult — High Country News, 2026-03-30 · [B] Why two years of talks deadlocked, and the two outcomes if they stay that way: a federal plan or litigation.
6. Colorado River Developments and Potential Compact Litigation — Kilpatrick Townsend, 2026-04-23 · [B] The litigation-risk analysis: 2026 as the worst hydrologic year on record, with compact claims likely to ripen.
7. Management of the Colorado River: Water Allocations, Drought, and the Federal Role — Congressional Research Service, 2026 · [Background] The Law of the River explained neutrally, plus what expires and when.
8. Post-2026 Negotiations — The Colorado River, 2026 · [Both] The two competing proposals side by side — the Lower Basin's fixed 1.5 million acre-foot reduction against the Upper Basin's hydrology-dependent approach.

3. Is home insurance becoming unavailable in climate-exposed states?

Form: Is/Are · Positions: A — yes, insurers of last resort are absorbing the market, carriers lost money on homeowners' lines in 18 states, and mortgages are failing over coverage; B — no, the market is repricing rather than exiting — new carriers entered Florida, California loosened its rate rules, and the sector outlook was upgraded to stable

1. The Uninsurable Future: The Climate Threat to Property Insurance — Yale Law Journal, 2025-12-03 · [A] The residual-market indicator: California's FAIR Plan tripling to over 610,000 policies, and insurers losing money in 18 states, up from eight in 2013.
2. A Premium Crisis: Climate Change Threatens Homeowner's Insurance and Financial Stability — Levy Economics Institute, 2026-04-15 · [A] The transmission into housing: nearly half of buyers and sellers hitting insurance problems, and 30–40% of Louisiana mortgage loans failing over cost.
3. Managing the Climate Change-Fueled Property Insurance Crisis — Center for American Progress, 2026-03-30 · [A] Insured losses reaching $112.7 billion in 2024, up 36%, with nonrenewals rising even in southern New England.
4. 15 States Facing an Imminent Insurance Crisis — Insurify, 2026-02-10 · [Data] Where the strain is spreading beyond the three states usually named.
5. The State of Homeowners Insurance in 2026 — SmartFinancial, 2026-02-17 · [Both] Why carriers leave specific states, and what would have to change for them to come back.
6. Different States, Same Problem: A Home Insurance Crisis — Insurify via Pryor Info, 2026-05-18 · [B] The repricing story: Florida approving eight new property and casualty entrants, California rethinking its price controls.
7. Getting Homeowners Insurance in 2026 and Beyond — Agents Gather, 2026-03-12 · [B] AM Best upgrading the sector outlook from negative to stable in December 2025, and nine new Florida insurers — with the caveat that one active season could reverse it.
8. Climate Risks Present a Significant Threat to the U.S. Insurance and Housing Markets — Joint Economic Committee, 2024-12-16 · [Background] How FAIR Plan losses get socialized across all policyholders, and why fragile carriers raise default risk.