Energy

  • January 31, 2025

    Full DC Circ. Will Not Review White House NEPA Power Ruling

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected petitions for en banc review of a panel's ruling that the White House does not have the legal authority to promulgate regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

  • January 31, 2025

    Supreme Court Eyes Its 'Next Frontier' In FCC Delegation Case

    A case about broadband subsidies will give the U.S. Supreme Court the chance to revive a long-dormant separation of powers principle that attorneys say could upend regulations in numerous industries and trigger a power shift that would make last term's shake-up of federal agency authority pale in comparison. And a majority of the court already appears to support its resurrection.

  • January 31, 2025

    New EPA Leader's First Days Bring Heat From Senators, Staff

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new chief is facing stiff tests from Democratic senators demanding answers about whether money Congress appropriated for grants has been inappropriately frozen and from workers speaking out about deteriorating morale.

  • February 14, 2025

    Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2025 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2025 editorial advisory boards.

  • January 31, 2025

    Trump Funding Freeze Blocked As Court Doubts Reversal

    A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from freezing spending on federal grant and aid programs, calling the move illegal and saying the issue was not mooted by a White House memo claiming the directive had been rescinded.

  • January 31, 2025

    Morgan Lewis Gains Blank Rome Energy Ace In Houston

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced Friday that it has added an experienced energy-focused transactional attorney in Houston who most recently practiced with Blank Rome LLP, fortifying the firm's finance capabilities in the Lone Star State.

  • January 31, 2025

    Nippon Targets Sanyo Special Steel After Nixed US Steel Deal

    Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. on Friday announced plans to launch a tender offer valued at 70.5 billion yen ($456 million) to acquire full control of Sanyo Special Steel, a move that comes in the wake of former President Joe Biden blocking Nippon's $14.9 billion megadeal with U.S. Steel.

  • January 30, 2025

    Former North Dakota Gov. Confirmed As Interior Secretary

    The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 79-18 to confirm President Donald Trump's selection for secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who's vowed to advocate for expanded fossil fuel production.

  • January 30, 2025

    Lower Court Altered Contract Reading, Texas Justices Told

    An Energy Transfer subsidiary told the Texas Supreme Court that a lower court upended the way contracts are interpreted in the state when it found no remedy for alleged losses from a soured $1 billion deal with an Exxon Mobil Corp. unit.

  • January 30, 2025

    FERC Says Pacific NW Pipeline Approval Was By The Book

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is defending its approval of a controversial TC Energy Corp. pipeline expansion project in the Pacific Northwest, telling the Fifth Circuit it reasonably determined that the project was needed and adequately reviewed its environmental impacts.

  • January 30, 2025

    Kirkland-Led Oil And Gas Producer Infinity Prices $265M IPO

    Oil and gas producer Infinity Natural Resources priced a $265 million initial public offering Thursday within its range, represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and underwriters counsel Latham & Watkins LLP, adding to a recent wave of energy-related IPOs.

  • January 30, 2025

    Peruvians Tell High Court Smelter Lawsuit Should Proceed

    Peruvian nationals suing U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert's The Renco Group Inc. for allegedly poisoning them with toxic chemicals from a smelting and refining complex in a rural part of the country are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let their litigation move forward.

  • January 30, 2025

    Valve Maker Had Decades To Prevent Lyondell Leak, Jury Told

    Eight men injured in a chemical leak at a LyondellBasell facility in La Porte, Texas, told a Houston jury Thursday that a pipe valve manufacturer knew its product posed a "serious and deadly hazard" for workers decades before the 2021 leak.

  • January 30, 2025

    Tribe's Alaskan Burial Site Dispute Paused During Talks

    An Alaska federal court has agreed to pause a tribe's suit against state entities and the Federal Aviation Administration over excavations of archaeological artifacts and ancestral remains found during construction of an airport runway as the parties talk about resolving the dispute without further litigation.

  • January 30, 2025

    Energy Co. Takes Aim At FERC Enforcement Powers

    A North Carolina-based energy efficiency aggregator is challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority to investigate it and order it to explain why it should not face nearly $1 billion in penalties for disputed market manipulation and tariff violation allegations.

  • January 30, 2025

    EPA Says Okla. Must Give Tribes Say In Enviro Policies

    Oklahoma must work with its tribal nations in administering dozens of environmental polices, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said in a decision modifying a previous order that allowed the Sooner State full regulatory authority over the majority of Indian Country.

  • January 30, 2025

    Atty Should Lose License In Billing Scandal Case, Judge Says

    A San Fernando Valley attorney colluded with attorneys for the city of Los Angeles in a water utility class action for which he received a $1.65 million fee and later sought to hire hackers to spy on the judge presiding over the class suit, a State Bar of California judge has found.

  • January 30, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Sanctions Miss, Philip Morris Refund

    In the second half of January, the North Carolina Business Court tussled with sanctions against a biogas company, heard claims an insurer tried to deliberately embarrass Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and ordered an $11 million tax refund for Philip Morris.

  • January 30, 2025

    Dentons Partner Joins Mintz's Energy And Sustainability Team

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC has hired a former Dentons partner who will split time between New York and Washington, D.C., working with clients on project finance matters in the energy space, the firm recently announced.

  • January 29, 2025

    SEC Wins $11.3M In Texas Oil Investment Fraud Case

    A Texas federal judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission in an 11-year-old case accusing brokers of soliciting more than 340 "partners" to invest in drilling projects that were actually unregistered investment vehicles, granting the request for over $11 million in disgorgement, interest and a civil penalty from one of the brokers and his companies.

  • January 29, 2025

    Mich. Judge Doubts Discovery Dispute Should DQ Firm

    A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday said a law firm's alleged "bad behavior" doesn't necessarily mean it can't represent a former CEO of a solar energy company, telling residents who sought to disqualify the firm because of a supposed conflict that their complaints may be better dealt with through discovery motions.

  • January 29, 2025

    Comet Lands $17M Fee Award After $40M Trade Secret Win

    A California federal judge has ordered Singapore-headquartered XP Power to pay $17 million to Comet Technologies USA for the tech company's legal fees in the wake of Comet's $40 million trial win, saying the award will deter "malicious trade secret misappropriation" and "encourage trade secret defendants to make reasonable litigation decisions."

  • January 29, 2025

    Cobalt Refiner Hits Ch. 11 With Plan To Cut $164M In Debt

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Wednesday put the operator of one of the world's largest cobalt refineries on course for a March hearing on a Chapter 11 plan to shed nearly $164 million in debt as it deals with depressed cobalt prices it blames on Chinese oversupply.

  • January 29, 2025

    New DOT Chief Orders Fuel Economy Standards Redo

    U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has ordered the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to retool its "extraordinarily stringent" vehicle fuel economy standards, immediately diving into President Donald Trump's rollback of Biden-era policies aimed at bolstering electric vehicles.

  • January 29, 2025

    Senate Confirms Former Rep. Lee Zeldin To Lead EPA

    The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former New York congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Expert Analysis

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Opinion

    Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent

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    The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.

  • How Companies Are Approaching Insider Trading Policies

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    An analysis of insider trading policies recently disclosed by 49 S&P 500 companies under a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule reveals that while specific provisions vary from company to company, certain common themes are emerging, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations

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    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Opinion

    Agencies Should Reward Corporate Cyber Victim Cooperation

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    The increased regulatory scrutiny on corporate victims of cyberattacks — exemplified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against SolarWinds — should be replaced with a new model that provides adequate incentives for companies to come forward proactively and collaborate with law enforcement, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

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    Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.

  • Series

    After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

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    Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • Navigating The Uncertain Landscape Of Solar Tariffs

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    Solar cell and module manufacturers, exporters and importers must navigate an uncertain compliance landscape, given ongoing challenges to U.S. Department of Commerce antidumping and countervailing duty determinations, which have been mounted both by U.S. and non-U.S. manufacturers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Amid SEC Rule Limbo, US Cos. Subject To ESG Regs In EU

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    Though the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is facing legal challenges to its climate-disclosure rulemaking, the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the European Union will force U.S. companies to comply with exactly the kinds of ESG disclosures that are not yet mandated in the U.S., say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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