Energy

  • 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.

  • January 29, 2025

    Chevron, Ex-Manager End Bias Suit Over Altered COVID Tests

    Chevron and a former manager agreed to end the worker's lawsuit claiming she was fired for not speaking up about workers changing COVID-19 test records to avoid travel restrictions while men who did the same thing kept their jobs, according to Texas federal court filings.

  • January 29, 2025

    4 Questions About Trump's Federal Worker Resignation Policy

    President Donald Trump’s offer of letting federal workers resign with several months of paid administrative leave raises questions about its legality and whether workers will actually get paid, attorneys said. Here, Law360 explores four questions that stem from the policy.

  • January 29, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says DOE Pool Pump Rule Detractor Failed To Object

    A Third Circuit panel unanimously denied on Wednesday a swimming pool pump manufacturer's challenge of the U.S. Department of Energy's conservation standards for pump motors, ruling that the company had waived its argument.

  • January 29, 2025

    Orrick Adds Bradley Arant Energy Regulatory Pro In DC

    Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has grown its energy capabilities in the nation's capital with the addition of an attorney from Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

  • January 29, 2025

    Tribal Leaders Call Funding Freeze A 'Step In Wrong Direction'

    Native American nonprofit groups and tribal leaders are weighing the effects of the Trump administration's possible federal funding freeze, calling the president's directive, which was revoked on Wednesday, shocking and vowing to bring legal action if necessary to protect Indian Country and the nation's Indigenous citizens.

  • January 29, 2025

    $7.8B ChampionX Deal Gets Added Scrutiny Across The Pond

    SLB's path to closing its proposed $7.8 billion acquisition of ChampionX got a little trickier Wednesday as the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority launched a formal investigation into a deal that is also under the scrutiny of U.S. regulators. 

  • January 29, 2025

    White House Rescinds Trump's Spending Freeze

    The White House on Wednesday rescinded a directive freezing federal funding, saying it wants to end litigation and confusion, but said the move will not end a review of spending to ensure compliance with a series of executive orders by the president.

  • January 28, 2025

    Combat Vet Says Army Base Job Triggered PTSD In $25M Suit

    A U.S. Army combat veteran has filed a worker discrimination complaint seeking $25 million from a Washington recycling company, alleging that his former civilian employer mocked his military service and dispatched him to a military base despite knowing it brought back war zone fears and triggered PTSD symptoms.

  • January 28, 2025

    Energy Co. Seeks Abeyance In Dakota Access Pipeline Row

    The operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline has asked the D.C. federal district court to suspend a South Dakota tribe's suit to shut down the pipeline's use until the court first rules on the tribe and federal government's competing motions for summary judgment.

  • January 28, 2025

    5th Circ. Revives Arb. Bid In Saudi Arabia Oil Project Row

    A Louisiana federal judge wrongly nixed a bid to send a dispute stemming from a Saudi Arabian oil and gas project to arbitration after the administering institution named in an underlying subcontract was dissolved, the Fifth Circuit ruled in a published opinion.

  • January 28, 2025

    New FERC Chair Backs Status Quo For Gas Project Reviews

    Newly minted Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie told Law360 in an exclusive interview that he sees no reason to change the approval process for gas infrastructure projects despite recent court rulings that have dinged FERC for legally inadequate reviews.

  • January 28, 2025

    Nestle Plant Can Switch Power Providers, Ga. Justices Rule

    The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled Tuesday that Nestle should have been allowed to switch electricity providers from Georgia Power to Walton EMC after renovating a former warehouse facility in Hartwell, Georgia. 

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • New State Climate Liability Laws: What Companies Must Know

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    New legislation in Vermont and New York creating liability and compliance obligations for businesses deemed responsible for climate change — as well as similar bills proposed in California, Massachusetts and Maryland — have far-reaching implications for companies, so it is vital to remain vigilant as these initiatives progress, say Gregory Berlin and Jeffrey Dintzer at Alston & Bird.

  • EU Investor-State Dispute Transparency Rules: Key Points

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    The European Union's recent vote to embrace greater transparency for investor-state arbitration will make managing newly public information more complex for all parties in a dispute — so it is important for stakeholders to understand the risks and opportunities involved, say Philip Hall, Tara Flores and Charles McKeon at Thorndon Partners.

  • Despite Calif. Delays, Climate Disclosure Rules Are Coming

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    Progress continues on state, federal and international climate disclosure regimes, making compliance a key concern for companies — but the timeline for implementation of California's disclosure laws remains unclear due to funding and timing disputes, says David Smith at Manatt Phelps.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Intra-EU Enforcement Trends

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    Hungary recently declared a distinct stance on the European Court of Justice's 2021 ruling in Moldavia v. Komstroy on intra-EU arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty, highlighting a critical divergence in the bloc on enforcing investment awards and the complexities of balancing regional uniformity with international obligations, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • What Happens After Hawaii Kids' Historic Climate Deal

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    Implications of the Hawaii Department of Transportation's first-of-its-kind settlement with youth plaintiffs over constitutional climate claims may be limited, but it could incite similar claims, says J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.

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