Energy

  • August 06, 2024

    From Vets To Labor: The Policies VP Pick Walz Has Backed

    Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Kamala Harris' pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate pairs her with a state leader and former lawmaker who has advocated for veterans' rights and public education while also championing a more progressive agenda, from cannabis legalization to abortion care access to stronger union rights.

  • August 06, 2024

    3 Firms Guide AI-Focused Semiconductor Maker's SPAC Deal

    Special-purpose acquisition company byNordic Acquisition Corp. said Tuesday it plans to acquire and take public an artificial intelligence-focused subsidiary of Sivers Semiconductors AB through a deal advised by three law firms.

  • August 06, 2024

    Enviro Groups Seek Penalties For Suncor Refinery Pollution

    Environmental justice groups sued Suncor Energy USA Inc. on Tuesday seeking civil penalties on behalf of people exposed to air pollution near an oil refinery, contending that federal and state regulators have failed to stop the company's ongoing Clean Air Act violations.

  • August 06, 2024

    EPA Seeks DC Circ. Remand Of Good Neighbor Plan

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the D.C. Circuit to let it take a second look at its plan to reduce smog-forming emissions across several states, arguing a remand is necessary to solve issues recently identified by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 06, 2024

    Fifth Third Bank Faces MDL Bid Over Allegedly Hidden Costs

    A group of consumers is urging the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize in New Jersey five proposed class actions alleging Fifth Third Bank NA's solar panel financing business hid loan costs from consumers.

  • August 06, 2024

    Conn. AG Says Utility Misconstrued Power Plant Cleanup Deal

    The Connecticut Attorney General's Office has told a state court that The United Illuminating Co., now part of Avangrid Inc., raised inapplicable defenses to an environmental cleanup lawsuit by misconstruing an earlier consent decree as a "contract" the government could breach as the utility remediated an abandoned New Haven power plant.

  • August 06, 2024

    Wind Tower Co. Asks Full Fed. Circ. To Revisit Subsidy Duties

    A Federal Circuit panel wrongly concluded that a 10% depreciation rate for deducting costs related to manufacturing facilities set by Canadian law was an unfair trade subsidy that justified countervailing trade duties, a wind tower manufacturer told the court in seeking a rehearing.

  • August 06, 2024

    NJ Justices Remove 'Routine' Barrier To Compressor Hub

    The New Jersey state appeals court misinterpreted the word "routine" in a decision that paused a plan for a natural gas compressor station in the Highlands Preservation Area, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

  • August 06, 2024

    10th Circ. Says Union Contract Legally Imposed On Okla. Co.

    An Oklahoma electric company must accept the successor contract imposed on it by an arbitration board, the Tenth Circuit said Tuesday, upholding an Oklahoma federal court's decision that the pact between Brent Electric Co. and an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local was imposed lawfully.

  • August 06, 2024

    SEC Defends Climate Disclosure Rules At 8th Circ.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision axing Chevron deference and the agency's 50-plus year history of considering additional environmental-related disclosures in an effort to defend its recently adopted climate disclosure rules.

  • August 06, 2024

    Wash. Appeals Court Reverses On Gas Chain Owing State Tax

    A Pacific Northwest gas station chain that issued fuel cards to customers must pay the Washington state business tax when cardholders purchase gas from other participating gas station chains as well as from nonparticipating chains, a state appeals court panel said Tuesday, reversing an earlier opinion.

  • August 06, 2024

    Ariz. Tribe Seeks To Block Lithium Exploration Project

    An Arizona tribe is asking a federal district court to block the approval of a lithium exploration project that it says threatens the life of a sacred medical spring used for cultural and religious purposes, arguing the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider its actions on the historic property.

  • August 06, 2024

    DC Circ. Axes FERC Reauthorizations For Texas LNG Projects

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday vacated reauthorization orders that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued for liquefied natural gas projects on the Texas Gulf Coast over environmental analysis deficiencies.

  • August 06, 2024

    39 Law Firms Call On 6th Circ. To Reverse FirstEnergy Ruling

    Dozens of law firms have signed on to an amicus curiae brief urging the Sixth Circuit to reverse a decision in a FirstEnergy shareholder litigation, the latest voices in the legal, insurance and business communities to call on the appellate court to reverse an Ohio federal judge's ruling they warn will threaten attorney-client privilege.

  • August 06, 2024

    Exxon Assistant GC Jumps To Duane Morris As Trial Partner

    A longtime attorney at Exxon Mobil Corp. has made the move from in-house to private practice at Duane Morris LLP to begin the next chapter of his career.

  • August 07, 2024

    Simpson Thacher Pilots Stonepeak's $3B Opportunities Fund

    Private equity firm Stonepeak, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, raised $3.15 billion for a fund dedicated to opportunistic investing in the infrastructure sector, beating the fund's target by over $600 million, according to a Tuesday announcement.

  • August 06, 2024

    Solar Tech Co. SunPower Hits Ch. 11 With $2B Of Debt

    Residential solar technology company SunPower Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with more than $2 billion of funded debt obligations and plans for an asset sale.

  • August 06, 2024

    Paul Hastings Gains Tax Pro In Dallas From McDermott

    Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that its meteoric growth in Texas is continuing with the addition of a partner in Dallas who strengthens its global tax practice and came aboard from McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

  • August 06, 2024

    Energy Dept. Awards $2.2B For 8 Grid Upgrade Projects

    The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday awarded $2.2 billion of congressional funding for an eight-pack of electric grid projects, including $700 million for a transmission line that would create a new link between the western and eastern portions of the U.S. grid.

  • August 05, 2024

    Abandoned Gas Wells Class Action Survives 4th Circ. Battle

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday rejected EQT Corp.'s and Diversified Energy Co.'s efforts to evade a proposed class action filed by West Virginia property owners who allege they've been harmed by abandoned oil and gas wells.

  • August 05, 2024

    GSA Makes First Tribal Carbon-Free Electricity Purchase

    A Seneca Nation holding company is the first tribal majority-owned business to be awarded a bid from the U.S. General Services Administration to sell carbon pollution-free electricity to the federal agency, a move that's been in the works since at least April.

  • August 05, 2024

    Nondisclosure Led To 'Apparent Bias' In Nigeria Oil Case

    A London court has ordered a tribunal to reconsider an arbitral award issued in a $2 billion case over a funding deal for Nigerian oil fields, ruling that a since-replaced arbitrator had wrongly failed to reveal the total extent of her relationship with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.

  • August 05, 2024

    SEC Nabs $1M Default Win Against Fuel Tech Co.

    A fuel and gas company previously known as Taronis Technologies Inc. must pay a $1 million civil penalty after disregarding U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations it touted nonexistent or exaggerated customer relationships with big customers, including Turkey's government and food processor Smithfield.

  • August 05, 2024

    Petrobras Manipulating US Law For $2B, 5th Circ. Hints

    A Fifth Circuit judge accused a Brazilian state-owned oil company subsidiary of "hiding behind the corporate structure," saying during oral arguments on Monday that subsidiary Petrobras America Inc. was seemingly manipulating American law for treble damages totaling nearly $2 billion stemming from allegations of bribery.

  • August 05, 2024

    Star Peak Shareholders Consolidate And Amend Class Action

    Mix-and-match attorney teams will lead and manage a proposed class stockholder suit alleging damages from the blank check company deal that took artificial intelligence-driven energy storage business Stem Inc. public in April 2021, Delaware's chancellor has ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • First-Of-Its-Kind Chancery Ruling Will Aid SPAC Defendants

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    The Delaware Chancery Court's first full dismissal of claims challenging a special purpose acquisition company transaction under the entire fairness doctrine in the recent Hennessy Capital Acquisition Stockholder Litigation establishes useful precedent to abate the flood of SPAC litigation, say Lisa Bugni and Benjamin Lee at King & Spalding.

  • Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects

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    Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers

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    With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

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