Energy

  • November 19, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Loper Bright Can't Save DTE Safety Appeal, Mich. Court Says

    A Michigan appellate court was not persuaded by an energy company's invocation of the demise of the Chevron agency-deference doctrine, affirming on Monday a safety citation issued to the company after an employee's death and ruling that the state never followed Chevron deference anyway.

  • November 19, 2024

    Trump DOT Pick Puts Highway, Road Rebuilds Back In Focus

    President-elect Donald Trump's selection of former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy to serve as his secretary of transportation would send a savvy communicator to liaise with Capitol Hill and refocus the federal government's infrastructure investment priorities more on highways, roads and bridges and less on renewables and clean-energy initiatives, experts say.

  • November 19, 2024

    Oil Refiner Not Obligated To Arbitrate Oil Sands Project Claims

    A Canadian appeals court has determined that an Alberta oil refiner is not obligated to arbitrate its claims against subcontractors in a dispute that arose from allegedly defective steam generator modules intended for a steam-assisted gravity drainage oil sands project northeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

  • November 19, 2024

    Neb. AG Expands Electric Trucks Fight To Volvo, Daimler

    However a federal court challenge to California's phaseout of gasoline and diesel trucks plays out, Nebraska's attorney general wants to make sure that Volvo, Daimler and other semitruck giants don't eliminate traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles, filing a Nebraska state court antitrust suit Tuesday describing phaseout commitments as anticompetitive collusion.

  • November 19, 2024

    Feds Defend BLM Authority In States' Methane Rule Challenge

    The Biden administration has urged a North Dakota federal court to grant it a summary judgment win in five states' lawsuit challenging a new rule aimed at cracking down on natural gas waste, defending the rule's creation as being well within the Bureau of Land Management's statutory authority.

  • November 19, 2024

    After Biden-Era Rebuild, EPA Staff Brace For Trump Term 2

    Many U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees are gearing up for President-elect Donald Trump's second term with a promise to fight any efforts to dramatically reduce staffing levels and pointing to new union contract protections to bolster claims that they're prepared.

  • November 19, 2024

    LA Waterkeeper Sues Union Pacific Over Pollution Controls

    The Los Angeles Waterkeeper slapped Union Pacific Railroad Co. with a complaint in California federal court, alleging the company's failure to implement pollution controls at four industrial facilities has led to hazardous discharges of heavy metals and oils into the San Jose Creek, San Gabriel River and other bodies of water.

  • November 19, 2024

    Utah Counties, Feds Ask Justices To Restore Rail Oil Project

    Utah counties and the federal government fired back at a Colorado county's attempt to affirm a D.C. Circuit ruling that overturned federal approval of a rail project intended to haul crude oil out of Utah's Uinta Basin, telling the U.S. Supreme Court in separate briefs the county's understanding of the National Environmental Policy Act is incorrect.

  • November 19, 2024

    Unjust PJM Power Auction Rules Must Be Redone, FERC Told

    State consumer advocates want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to rewrite the electricity capacity auction rules for the nation's largest regional grid operator, saying PJM Interconnection's existing rules unjustly saddle consumers with billions of dollars of extra costs.

  • November 19, 2024

    Trump Names Wall St. Exec For Chief Commerce Role

    Donald Trump will nominate longtime Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to head up the U.S. Department of Commerce, the president-elect announced Tuesday, selecting a top member of his transition team to oversee a vast bureaucracy that grapples with key trade policies.

  • November 19, 2024

    Treasury Finalizes Partnership Tax Credit 'Direct Pay' Regs

    The U.S. Treasury Department finalized regulations Tuesday to make it easier for tax-exempt entities that co-own development projects to qualify for a direct cash payment of clean energy tax credits by electing out of their partnership tax status.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Circ. Doubts It Can Confirm Foreign Enforcement Order

    The D.C. Circuit did not seem at all convinced Monday morning that two Mauritian mining companies could lean on a treaty governing arbitral awards to enforce a foreign court judgment confirming a $50 million arbitration award against Zimbabwe stemming from a soured joint mining venture.

  • November 18, 2024

    Trump Taps Fox Host Sean Duffy For Transportation Secretary

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday he will nominate former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy to serve as head of the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

  • November 18, 2024

    Worker Urges High Court To Fix Rift In Axed Age Bias Suit

    A former Halliburton employee asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a Tenth Circuit order shuttering his age bias suit after finding he couldn't challenge an arbitration award because the case was voluntarily dismissed, arguing the ruling creates a "twilight zone" in the law.

  • November 18, 2024

    Trump DOE Pick Signals Funding Flux For Clean Energy Cos.

    President-elect Donald Trump tapping oilfield services executive Chris Wright as U.S. energy secretary underscores the frostier federal reception that awaits clean energy companies, but experts say the industry shouldn't cede the playing field to fossil fuels just yet.

  • November 18, 2024

    Chancery Consolidates 2 Musk, Derivative Damage Suits

    Delaware's chancellor on Monday combined two class suits that separately targeted Elon Musk's massive sales of Tesla Inc. stock and alleged diversions of Tesla talent to Musk's spun-off artificial intelligence venture, while ordering coordination with a suit seeking damages arising from alleged insider trading in late 2022.

  • November 18, 2024

    Venezuela Slams Withholding Of Stock Docs In Citgo Sale

    Venezuela has urged a Delaware federal judge to order a special master overseeing the auction of oil giant Citgo's parent company to give the country a copy of the now-executed and unredacted stock purchase agreement he made with another party.

  • November 18, 2024

    EPA Has No Choice But To Rethink Smog Rule, DC Circ. Told

    U.S. Steel Corp. told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was obligated to reconsider its so-called "good neighbor" smog emissions rule after it was partially invalidated by a court, arguing the agency's own brief confirms that its refusal to do so was improper.

  • November 18, 2024

    8th Circ. Set For Arguments In Oil Lease Termination Row

    The Eighth Circuit set arguments on Friday for Dec. 18 in an appeal over a North Dakota federal judge's decision to throw out Denver-based Prima Exploration Inc.'s lawsuit alleging the Bureau of Indian Affairs schemed with two rival companies to end its lease on land within the Fort Berthold Reservation.

  • November 18, 2024

    Brazil's Unigel Seeks Ch. 15 Nod For $810M Restructuring

    Several units of Brazilian petrochemical producer Unigel Group have urged a New York bankruptcy court to recognize their overseas bankruptcy plans to address roughly $810 million of debt, saying factors including the war in Ukraine and inflation have hampered the companies' liquidity.

  • November 18, 2024

    Former GE Exec Guilty Of Faking Docs In $1.1B Power Deal

    A Manhattan federal jury on Monday convicted a former GE Power executive of using forged documents, then taking a $5 million kickback, in what federal prosecutors called a corrupt effort to close a $1.1 billion energy deal in Angola.

  • November 18, 2024

    Ex-Utility Co. Worker Says OT Violations Were 'No Secret'

    A former employee of North Carolina-based utility services company Stake Center Locating LLC asked an Illinois federal judge to certify his proposed class of workers that were allegedly not paid proper overtime, stating that "it's no secret SCL uniformly requires its locators to work off the clock."

  • November 18, 2024

    Pa. AG-Elect Likely To Target AI, Robocalls And Opioids

    Pennsylvania Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday is likely to focus on cracking down on artificial-intelligence-related scams that prey on vulnerable populations, unwanted robocalls, and opioid makers, while being less inclined to hammer down on energy and fossil fuel companies, experts said.

  • November 15, 2024

    DC Circ.'s White House NEPA Upheaval Sends Shockwaves

    The D.C. Circuit's recent decision declaring the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks the authority to issue legally binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act shocked environmental attorneys and has the potential to ignite federal agency chaos, experts say.

  • November 15, 2024

    Ex-GE Exec's Connection To Forged Docs Is Clear, Feds Say

    Prosecutors told a New York federal jury Friday that trial evidence clearly proves a former GE executive knowingly used forged documents to secure a $1.1 billion gas turbine deal in Angola and demanded millions of dollars for his troubles.

Expert Analysis

  • Navigating Antitrust Considerations In ESG Collaborations

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    The intersection of ESG goals and antitrust laws presents a complex challenge for businesses and their counsel — but by creating clear frameworks for collaboration, adhering to established guidelines and carefully considering the competitive implications of their actions, companies can work toward sustainability while mitigating legal risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, overturning the Chevron doctrine, will have a far-reaching impact across the entire public policy life cycle, beginning with how Congress writes its laws and extending through agency implantation and judicial review, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

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    While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

  • NYSE Delisting May Be The Cost Of FCPA Compliance

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    ABB’s recent decision to delist its U.S. depository receipts from the New York Stock Exchange, coupled with having settled three Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions, begs the question of whether the cost of FCPA compliance should factor into a company's decision to remain listed in the U.S., says John Joy at FTI Law.

  • CFTC Action Highlights Necessity Of Whistleblower Carveouts

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's novel settlement with a trading firm over allegations of manipulating the market and failing to create contract carveouts for employees to freely communicate with investigators serves as a beacon for further enforcement activity from the CFTC and other regulators, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • 5 Tips For Solar Cos. Navigating Big Shifts In US Trade Policy

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    Renewable energy developers can best mitigate new compliance risks from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s increased tariffs on imported solar cells, and simultaneously capitalize on Treasury Department incentives for domestic solar manufacturers, by following five best practices in the changing solar trade landscape, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • 3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry

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    Companies in the EV manufacturing ecosystem are experiencing a boom in business, but with this boom comes increased regulatory and enforcement risks, from the corruption issues that have historically pervaded the extractive sector to newer risks posed by artificial intelligence, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.

  • Keeping Up With Carbon Capture Policy In The US And EU

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    Recent regulatory moves from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Commission in the carbon capture, sequestration and storage space are likely to further encourage the owners and operators of fossil fuel-fired power plants to make decisions on shutdowns or reconfiguration to meet the expanding requirements, say Inosi Nyatta and Silvia Brünjes at Sullivan & Cromwell.

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