Energy

  • January 15, 2025

    Energy Secretary Nominee Emphasizes Production At Hearing

    Energy secretary nominee Christopher Wright promised on Wednesday to "unleash American energy at home and abroad," as Democratic and Republican senators questioned him on his commitment to carrying out transmission permitting reform and increasing nuclear energy generation.

  • January 15, 2025

    Solar Power Biz Beats Shoals' Patent Case At ITC

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has cleared a North Carolina solar manufacturer from a patent case, flipping an administrative law judge's determination that a solar "trunk bus" transmission system infringes a rival's patent.

  • January 15, 2025

    Foes Of Expanded Oil Facility Face Texas Panel's Tough Queries

    A Texas appeals court directed some pointed questions to environmental groups seeking to challenge an oil facility's expansion during oral arguments Wednesday, saying facilities like the one in question have to go somewhere or else "the Europeans will starve in the cold this winter."

  • January 15, 2025

    Hino Motors Inks $1.6B Deal To End Emissions Fraud Claims

    Toyota unit Hino Motors Ltd. will pay approximately $1.6 billion in criminal and civil penalties to close out claims it illegally manipulated emissions and fuel-economy test results for more than 100,000 diesel vehicles sold in the U.S., the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

  • January 15, 2025

    Sidley-Led Flowco Raises $427M In Year's First Major IPO

    Oilfield equipment and services provider Flowco Holdings Inc. on Wednesday priced a $427 million initial public offering above its range, represented by Sidley Austin LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP, marking the year's first sizable IPO.

  • January 15, 2025

    Energy Giants Escape NYC's Climate Deception Suit

    A New York state judge has dismissed the Big Apple's suit accusing Exxon, BP and Shell of deceiving the public about the climate change effects of their operations, saying the city has failed to allege its consumer protection laws were violated.

  • January 15, 2025

    EPA Tells DC Circ. Truck GHG Emissions Rule Is Sound

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is defending its tightened greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles against a challenge brought by dozens of states and industry groups, telling the D.C. Circuit that federal law empowers the agency to regulate all motor vehicles — electric or otherwise.

  • January 15, 2025

    DOJ Reports $2.9B Haul Under FCA, Largest In 3 Years

    Litigation under the False Claims Act generated a little over $2.9 billion in settlements and judgments in the most recent fiscal year, a 5% bump over 2023's total and the most in three years, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • January 15, 2025

    Oil Biz Must Face Action Alleging It Dodged Well Cleanup

    Oil and gas company HRM Resources cannot escape a lawsuit from Colorado landowners alleging the business transferred 200 oil and gas wells to a smaller oil company, which soon after declared bankruptcy, in order to shift cleanup obligations to the state, after a Colorado federal judge found the plaintiffs alleged they were injured by the scheme.

  • January 15, 2025

    Plum Acquisition's Latest SPAC Leads 2 IPOs Raising $200M

    Plum Acquisition IV Corp., the latest special-purpose acquisition company backed by investment firm Plum Partners, and Tokyo-based SPAC Ribbon Acquisition Corp. began trading today after the vehicles raised $200 million combined, guided by four law firms.

  • January 15, 2025

    Conn. Set To End Pollution Review On Property Transfers

    Connecticut regulators have finalized a set of new rules to catch environmental contamination that will replace a system of mandatory inspections on commercial and industrial property transfers, leaving New Jersey as the only U.S. state with such a policy.

  • January 15, 2025

    Biz Court Calls Out Biogas Co. For 'Stack' Of Broken Promises

    A North Carolina Business Court judge pondered during a sanctions hearing Wednesday whether a biogas company should be held in contempt for allegedly violating a court order, saying the company has repeatedly fallen short of its promises in a fight with lenders over funding for renewable energy projects.

  • January 15, 2025

    Feds Float Safety Rule For Growing CO2 Pipeline Network

    Gas- and liquid-phase carbon dioxide pipelines would be subject to new safety standards including improved emergency response and public communications practices under a rule proposed Wednesday by the federal government.

  • January 15, 2025

    Sterlington Lands DC Intl Arbitration Atty From A&O Shearman

    Sterlington PLLC said Wednesday that it has hired an international arbitration attorney who has represented clients in some of the largest commercial disputes heard before tribunals over the last decade as its sixth major lateral hire in the past five months.

  • January 15, 2025

    Origis Energy Lands $1B-Plus Infusion From Brookfield, Antin

    Renewable energy platform Origis Energy, led by Latham & Watkins LLP, on Wednesday announced that it has received new investments from private equity shops Brookfield Asset Management, advised by Vinson & Elkins LLP, and Antin Infrastructure Partners that combined could exceed $1 billion.

  • January 15, 2025

    Elusive Cognizant Witness Ready To Testify, Gov't Says

    A witness from India whose 2023 absence on the brink of the foreign bribery trial of two former Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. executives set off a lengthy delay is now willing to testify, federal prosecutors said, despite stating they were under no obligation to respond to defense counsel's concerns.

  • January 15, 2025

    Holland & Knight Adds Ex-GOP Rep. To Policy Advisory Team

    Holland & Knight LLP has hired seven-term Indiana Republican Congressman Larry Bucshon as a senior policy adviser.

  • January 14, 2025

    'Not Afraid Of Question Presented,' Atty Tells Irked Justices

    As the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday analyzed judicial powers to reopen dismissed cases, a Halliburton attorney sought to steer oral arguments toward questions the high court hadn't agreed to address, testing some justices' patience and eventually prompting the attorney to insist he wasn't "afraid of the question presented."

  • January 14, 2025

    Enbridge Beats Ducere's Oil Transport Antitrust Suit

    Enbridge Inc. beat Ducere LLC's suit accusing it of killing a pipeline terminal project to maintain its monopoly over crude oil transportation services in the Chicago area, after an Illinois federal judge pointed out Monday there are several non-Enbridge pipeline routes providing refineries with alternatives for moving oil.

  • January 14, 2025

    London Judge Affirms Wind Energy's Non-Liability Award

    A London judge on Tuesday refused to set aside an arbitral award finding that Thai renewable energy company Wind Energy Holding was not responsible for paying defense costs incurred by former board members in litigation that ended with a $1 billion judgment against them.

  • January 14, 2025

    SEC Sues Elon Musk Over Late Twitter Buy-Up Disclosure

    Elon Musk violated securities laws by failing to timely disclose his initial buy-up of Twitter stock ahead of his $44 billion acquisition of the company, allowing him to purchase shares at artificially low prices, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a D.C. federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

  • January 14, 2025

    FPL Knew Electrified Palm Tree Was Dangerous, Worker Says

    A worker urged a Florida state appellate court Tuesday to reverse a judgment in favor of Florida Power and Light Co. in a suit alleging he was severely injured because the utility knew that the palm tree he was removing would become electrified after touching nearby wires.

  • January 14, 2025

    Tribe Members Look To Intervene In 8th Circ. Pipeline Case

    Twenty members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation have urged the Eighth Circuit to let them intervene in a Marathon Petroleum Corp. subsidiary's lawsuit challenging the Interior Department's reversal of decisions related to a pipeline crossing the reservation's land in North Dakota.

  • January 14, 2025

    DC Circ. Axes Challenge To Grid Project Perk

    A coalition of energy consumers has no standing to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's grant of an abandonment incentive to the developer of an Iowa transmission project, a D.C. Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.

  • January 14, 2025

    Tribes, Enviro Groups Say Mich. Ignored Climate In Tunnel OK

    Native American tribes and environmental groups urged a quiet Michigan appeals panel Tuesday to undo state approval of Enbridge Energy's plan to dig an underground tunnel to house an underwater segment of an oil and natural gas pipeline.

Expert Analysis

  • Updated FWS Regs Will Streamline Right-of-Way Permitting

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    Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's final rule covering rights-of-way across lands administered by the service will bring increased up-front fees and stricter permit terms and conditions, it also provides a clearer application process and should reduce permitting delays and total costs, say attorneys at Holland & Hart.

  • Nippon, US Steel Face Long Odds On Merger Challenge

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    Following the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' review of Japan's Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel, the companies face a formidable uphill battle in challenging the president's exercise of authority to block the deal on national security grounds, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Opinion

    No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

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    A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Hydrogen Regs Will Provide More Certainty — If They Survive

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    Newly finalized regulations implementing the Section 45V clean hydrogen tax credit allow producers more flexibility, and should therefore help put the industry on more solid footing — but the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress will have multiple options for overturning or altering the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Climate Disclosure Spotlight Shifts To 2 Calif. Laws

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    With Donald Trump's election spelling the all-but-certain demise of the proposed federal climate disclosure rules, new laws in California currently stand as the nation's only broadly applicable climate disclosure requirements — and their brevity is both a blessing and a curse, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Final Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs Add Flexibility For Producers

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    The recently released final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act's clean hydrogen production tax credit offer taxpayers greater flexibility, reducing risk and creating more certainty for investments in the industry, thus diminishing — but not eliminating — the risk of legal challenges to the regulations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • How Decline Of Deference Will Affect Trump Policymaking

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    An administrative law regime without Chevron deference may limit the Trump administration’s ability to implement new policies in the short term, but ultimately help it in the long term, and all parties with an interest in regulatory changes will have to take a fresh approach to litigation, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Anticipating The Maritime Sector's Future Under Trump 2.0

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    With the Republicans taking control of a governance trifecta, the maritime sector should brace for both familiar leadership and new change that could significantly shift shipping and defense priorities, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

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    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • How Trump 2.0 May Change Business In Latin America

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    Companies in Latin America should expect to face more trade restrictions, tighter economic sanctions and enhanced corruption risks, as the incoming administration shifts focus to certain non-U.S. actors, most notably China, says Matteson Ellis at Miller & Chevalier.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

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    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Impact Of Successful Challenges To SEC's Rulemaking Ability

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    In 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faced significant legal challenges to its aggressive rulemaking agenda as several of its rules were vacated by the Fifth Circuit, which could hinder the SEC's ability to enact rules extending beyond express statutory authority in the future, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Justices Seem Focused On NEPA's Limits In Utah Rail Case

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    After last month's oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, the court appears poised to forcefully reiterate that the National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to review only those environmental impacts within their control, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

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