Energy

  • January 07, 2025

    DC Circ. OKs FERC's Approval For Indiana Pipeline

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday rejected a challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a 24-mile pipeline serving two new natural gas turbines in Indiana, ruling that an advocacy group wrongly suggested FERC could "second-guess" state regulators' choice of energy generation.

  • January 07, 2025

    No Problem With $217M Dam Repair Tax, Mich. Panel Says

    A Michigan appellate panel on Monday said a $217 million special assessment levied on property owners for dam repairs and lake level restoration after devastating 2020 floods was established through a legally sound process, ruling the owners were never entitled to have a pseudo-judicial review of the tax.

  • January 07, 2025

    Eckert Seamans Adds Former Trump Interior Dept. Atty

    Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC is the latest firm to get in on the exploding lateral movement in the energy legal market following the 2024 presidential election, adding a former Trump administration attorney who served in a first-of-its-kind role in the first administration's Interior Department.

  • January 07, 2025

    FTC Imposes Record $5.6M 'Gun Jumping' Penalty On Oil Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission brought a rare merger "gun jumping" action Tuesday under which Verdun Oil Co. will pay $5.6 million for exerting control over EP Energy LLC before the mandatory waiting period under U.S. antitrust law expired and its purchase of the company closed.

  • January 07, 2025

    CFTC Chair Behnam To Step Down When Trump Takes Office

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam announced Tuesday that he will resign his chairmanship on Inauguration Day in order to make way for new agency leadership under incoming President Donald Trump, who has yet to name Behnam's successor.

  • January 06, 2025

    Exxon Says Calif. AG, Green Groups Defamed Recycling Effort

    Exxon Mobil Corp. claims California's attorney general and a coalition of conservation groups have disparaged its reputation by declaring that the petrochemical company misled people about the effectiveness of plastic recycling and that its "advanced recycling" doesn't mitigate the problem, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Texas federal court.

  • January 06, 2025

    New Rules Won't Lift Political Clouds Over Hydrogen Projects

    The Biden administration's new rules to make hydrogen production tax credits more accessible for project developers and investors may not move the needle much for the industry given President-elect Donald Trump's vow to at least partially repeal the statute that created the credits.

  • January 06, 2025

    Mich. Residents Say Solar Investors Can't Arbitrate Fraud Suit

    Michigan residents who allege Florida investment firms funded a company that duped them into buying defective solar panels have urged a federal judge to deny the firms' bid to arbitrate or dismiss the claims, saying the court has already rejected the investors' arguments.

  • January 06, 2025

    DOD Adds WeChat Owner, CATL To Chinese Military Co. List

    The U.S. Department of Defense added dozens of businesses Monday to its list of companies affiliated with the Chinese military, including electric-car battery maker CATL and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — owner of the popular text-messaging app WeChat — prompting Tencent to slam the designation as "clearly a mistake."

  • January 06, 2025

    Pa. Lawmaker's 'Defamatory' Memo Is Deemed Immune

    Legislative immunity protects a Pennsylvania state senator from an energy executive's claims that he was defamed with a memo about legislation to close a legal loophole associated with his name, according to a ruling from a state appellate court.

  • January 06, 2025

    Seacrest Oil Co. Launches $71M Arbitration Against Petrobras

    Oil and gas production company Seacrest Petroleo said Monday that two subsidiaries have initiated arbitration proceedings against Petrobras, seeking compensation for the Brazilian state-owned oil company's failure to complete pipeline repair work.

  • January 06, 2025

    4 Firms Ask To Helm Hybrid Jeep Exploding Battery Class

    Drivers claiming certain hybrid Jeep vehicles were sold with defective batteries that risk exploding or catching fire have asked a Michigan federal judge to appoint four law firms to steer the case as co-interim class counsel.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biden Closes Off Coastal Areas To Offshore Drilling

    President Joe Biden on Monday announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 625 million acres of U.S. waters on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in Alaska after determining that the environmental and economic risks and harms outweigh the benefits of drilling.

  • January 06, 2025

    Bracewell Adds Pioneer Natural Resources Associate GC

    Bracewell LLP has expanded its energy offerings in Texas with the addition of the former managing associate general counsel for Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc., the firm said Monday.

  • January 06, 2025

    Pa. Coal Co. Hits Ch. 11 With Up To $50M In Debt, Sale Plans

    Corsa Coal Corp., which operates coal mines in Pennsylvania and Maryland, filed for bankruptcy Monday saying it planned to sell itself in Chapter 11 after it wasn't able to secure a U.S. Department of Agriculture-backed loan fast enough to refinance some $16.3 million of debt.

  • January 06, 2025

    Nippon, US Steel Hit Back With Suits After Biden Blocks Deal

    Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. and U.S. Steel Corp. have filed two lawsuits following President Joe Biden's Friday decision to block their planned $14.9 billion merger, claiming Monday that the deal was blocked for "purely political reasons." 

  • January 03, 2025

    Semiconductor Co. Beats 2nd Suit Over Failed $8B Merger

    Semiconductor company MaxLinear Inc. has beaten another suit over its failed $8 billion merger plans with a Taiwan-based company after a California federal jurist found that the investment funds that brought the action didn't have standing to sue since they were investors in the acquisition target, not MaxLinear.

  • January 03, 2025

    Energy Co. Urges 400-Mile Transfer Of Discrimination Suit

    A North Texas energy company told a state appeals court Thursday that a former employee's discrimination and libel suit belongs in Tarrant County, arguing the man dishonestly claimed that a substantial part of the suit's events took place more than 400 miles away.

  • January 03, 2025

    Energy Cos. Ask Top Calif. Court To End Climate Change Suits

    A half-dozen global energy giants urged California's top court Thursday to review a lower court's decision allowing climate change suits against them to proceed, arguing that California courts don't have jurisdiction over claims stemming from global fossil fuel use.

  • January 03, 2025

    Opt-Out Releases In Lumio's Ch. 11 Plan Rejected

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge Friday rejected the opt-out mechanism for obtaining releases for third parties in Solar panel provider Lumio Holdings LLC's Chapter 11 plan, but said she would allow it to solicit votes on the plan.

  • January 03, 2025

    DC Judge Pauses Enforcement Of $35M Poland Award

    Litigation to enforce a $35 million arbitral award against Poland that was issued to a company that was once the country's largest petrochemical and oil product trader will remain on hold until a Swedish appeals court decides whether the award must be set aside under European Union precedent.

  • January 03, 2025

    Treasury Unveils Flexible Final Regs For Hydrogen Tax Credit

    The U.S. Treasury Department released final rules Friday for hydrogen production tax credits that allow fuel produced using nuclear-generated electricity or methane to qualify for the incentive, making the regulations more flexible than what was proposed last year.

  • January 03, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Chris Eubank Jr. hit with a libel claim from a boxing promoter, a perfume boss face proceedings from his businesses following sanctions violations claims, and Israeli broadcasters file intellectual property claims against BT and Sky. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • January 03, 2025

    Biden Blocks $14.9B US Steel-Nippon Deal

    President Joe Biden on Friday formally blocked the planned $14.9 billion merger between Japan's Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel, making good on a prior pledge to keep the latter steelmaker U.S.-owned in one of his final flexes of executive power over cross-border deals.

  • January 02, 2025

    Ex-Bank Chair Asks 7th Circ. To Halt FDIC Enforcement Order

    An Illinois community bank's onetime chairman has asked the Seventh Circuit for an emergency stay of professional sanctions ordered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after an in-house proceeding that he argues was unconstitutional and wrongly decided.

Expert Analysis

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Spanish Assets At Risk Abroad

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    The recent seizure of a portion of London Luton Airport after an English High Court ruling is the latest installment in a long-running saga over Spain’s failure to honor arbitration awards, highlighting the complexities involved when state-owned enterprises become entangled in disputes stemming from their government's actions, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square Chambers.

  • 'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG

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    A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

  • Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules

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    A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address

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    The petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas stands out for a number of reasons — including a deepening circuit split regarding the NRC's nuclear waste storage authority under the Atomic Energy Act, and broader administrative law implications, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

  • 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.

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