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Environmental
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March 12, 2025
Texas Urges Court Not To Let DuPont Out Of PFAS Lawsuit
Chemical companies DuPont and Corteva are leaning on a "fraudulent transfer scheme" in order to exit a lawsuit accusing them of making and selling forever chemicals despite knowing about their toxic nature, the state of Texas said Tuesday, urging a federal court not to give them the out.
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March 12, 2025
Second Bid For Roundup Mass Tort Launched In New Jersey
A second application for lawsuits against Monsanto Co. and Bayer AG alleging injuries by exposure to the company's weed killer Roundup to be designated as multicounty litigation has been filed with the New Jersey Supreme Court, according to a notice to the bar.
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March 12, 2025
Arizona Lawmakers Reintroduce $5B Tribal Water Rights Act
A bipartisan group of Arizona federal lawmakers reintroduced a bill to finalize a $5.1 billion water rights settlement for three Indigenous tribes in the Colorado River Basin that, if approved, will resolve one of the Grand Canyon State's longest-running water disputes.
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March 12, 2025
Duane Morris Adds Meyers Nave Enviro Litigation Duo In LA
Duane Morris LLP is expanding its environmental team, bringing in a pair of Meyers Nave environmental litigators at its Los Angeles office.
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March 11, 2025
6th Circ. Ends Group's Challenge To Great Lakes Fishing Pact
The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a nonprofit's challenge to a pact between Native American tribes and the state of Michigan for allegedly lacking guardrails to prevent overfishing in the Great Lakes, finding it lacked jurisdiction since the nonprofit never intervened in the case and only filed amicus curiae briefs.
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March 11, 2025
Art Loft Building's Toxicity Was Disclosed, Expert Testifies
A defense toxicologist told a Los Angeles jury Tuesday that residents in a large live-work art building received warning of carcinogenic chemicals in the soil underneath, supporting a real estate company's argument that the statute of limitations blocks the claims.
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March 11, 2025
Trump Admin Shutters EPA's Enviro Justice Office
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday dissolved its more than 30-year-old environmental justice and civil rights office, the latest in a string of EPA actions targeting efforts to ease pollution burdens on historically disadvantaged communities.
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March 11, 2025
Chemical, Carpet Cos. Seek Toss Of Ga. County's PFAS Suit
Nearly a dozen carpet and chemical manufacturers have moved to dismiss a Georgia county's lawsuit seeking to hold them responsible for an alleged public health crisis in the northwestern part of the state brought on by the sale and use of toxic chemicals in carpet manufacturing.
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March 11, 2025
NJ Residents Push To Repackage Contaminated Water Claims
Residents of National Park, New Jersey, asked a state appellate court panel for permission to revive and amend their proposed class claims over contaminated water, arguing Tuesday that the allegations are a matter for tort law, not contract law.
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March 11, 2025
Feds Push Back On Enviro Orgs., Tribes In Yellowstone Bison Case
The Interior Department is asking a federal court to reconsider orders that allowed environmental groups to intervene and add two more federal agencies as necessary parties to a challenge over the management of the bison population in Yellowstone National Park, arguing the move is an attempt to hijack the litigation.
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March 11, 2025
EPA Officially Cuts $20B In Funding For Climate Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday canceled $20 billion in congressionally approved grant funding for climate change projects that it had frozen for weeks and criticized as wasteful and out of step with the Trump administration's priorities.
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March 11, 2025
6th Circ. Asks If It Should Duck Enbridge Pipeline Fight
A Sixth Circuit panel has asked if it should pause or reject altogether Enbridge Energy LP's lawsuit challenging Michigan's efforts to shutter a pipeline because of a pending state court case, requesting briefs ahead of oral arguments next week.
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March 11, 2025
Trump Taps DOJ Vet To Serve As Energy Dept.'s Top Lawyer
President Donald Trump has nominated a Winston & Strawn LLP partner, who formerly led the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division during Trump's previous term, to serve as the U.S. Department of Energy's general counsel.
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March 11, 2025
Insurer Says AIG Unit Must Cover Water Contamination Suit
An AIG unit can't rely on its policy's pollution exclusion to bar coverage for a Texas water utility accused of providing contaminated water to residents, the utility's other insurer told a federal court, saying the court has already rejected the application of the exclusion in a related case.
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March 11, 2025
Groups Say EPA Must Regulate Phosphate Mining Waste
The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and others have called on the D.C. Circuit to order the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate radioactive waste from phosphate mining and fertilizer production, which are currently excluded from federal regulation.
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March 11, 2025
Conservationists Sue FWS Over 'Blanket' Species Rule
Two conservation groups are suing the U.S. Department of the Interior in Montana federal court over an Endangered Species Act rule they say illegally gives the government power to indiscriminately restrict landowners' use of their property.
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March 11, 2025
Fannie Mae Says Complex Filed Ch. 11 To Duck $73M Loan
Fannie Mae told a federal court Monday that a Houston apartment complex's Chapter 11 filing was a "tactic" to avoid its obligation to repay a $73 million loan.
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March 11, 2025
Holland & Hart Taps Perkins Coie Attys For New Phoenix Office
Holland & Hart LLP announced Tuesday that it has opened its 14th office, this one in Phoenix, with two environmental partners from Perkins Coie LLP.
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March 10, 2025
EPA Says It Wants To Redo Biden-Era Chemical Risk Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday told the D.C. Circuit it wants to reconsider a Biden-era rule that strengthened regulations to assess chemicals' health and environmental risks.
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March 10, 2025
Alsup Refuses To Vacate Hearing Into OPM Mass Firings
U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Monday denied the Trump administration's request to vacate an upcoming evidentiary hearing into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's mass firings of probationary federal employees, and required OPM director Charles Ezell to appear in person or else be deposed.
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March 10, 2025
EPA Climate Grantee Sues Citibank, Agency Over Frozen Cash
A climate-change-focused nonprofit is accusing Citibank NA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in D.C. federal court of breaching a contract to deliver billions of dollars in grant funding that's been frozen by the Trump administration.
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March 10, 2025
Tariff Shifts Creating Compliance Chaos For Energy Cos.
The unpredictability of President Donald Trump's tariff maneuvers is challenging energy companies' ability to comply with fluctuating mandates and making tariff violations more likely.
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March 10, 2025
DOT Pulls Biden Enviro Justice Highway Funding Policy
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday rescinded Biden-era memorandums that advised state and local agencies receiving funds from 2021's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to prioritize highway, road, bridge and other projects that promoted social justice or climate resiliency goals.
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March 10, 2025
DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.
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March 10, 2025
Whitecap Merging With Veren In $10.4B Oil & Gas Deal
Whitecap Resources Inc. said Monday it will merge with fellow Canadian oil and gas company Veren Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at CA$15 billion (US$10.4 billion) including debt.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.
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8 Ways Cos. Can Prep For Termination Of Their Enviro Grants
The federal government appears to be reviewing energy- and infrastructure-related grants and potentially terminating grants inconsistent with the Trump administration's stated policy goals, and attorneys at DLA Piper provide eight steps that recipients of grants should consider taking in the interim.
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Opinion
Undoing An American Ideal Of Fairness
President Donald Trump’s orders attacking birthright citizenship, civil rights education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs threaten hard-won constitutional civil rights protections and decades of efforts to undo bias in the law — undermining what Chief Justice Earl Warren called "our American ideal of fairness," says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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How Trump EPA Could Fix Carbon Combustion Residuals Rule
The Trump administration is likely targeting the recently adopted carbon combustion residual rule, especially since it imposes very stringent, detailed and expedited requirements on coal power plants — but even if the rule is not vacated entirely, there are measures that could greatly reduce its regulatory burden, says Stephen Jones at Post & Schell.
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Nippon Order Tests Gov't Control Over Foreign Investments
The U.S. government is primarily interested in restraining foreign transactions involving countries of concern, but former President Joe Biden’s January order blocking the merger of Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel shows that all foreign direct investments are under the federal government’s microscope, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Opinion
Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice
A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.
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How Trump Orders Roll Back Energy Efficiency Mandates
President Donald Trump's first-day executive orders — including a freeze on administrative rules, an order to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, and a directive to broaden consumers' appliance choices — have shifted federal policy on energy efficiency, and bring new considerations for companies engaging with the U.S. Department of Energy, say attorneys at HWG.
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Expect Continued Antitrust Enforcement In Procurement
The scope of federal antitrust enforcement under the second Trump administration remains uncertain, but the Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which collaborates with federal and state agencies to enforce antitrust laws in the government procurement space, is likely to remain active — so contractors must stay vigilant, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege
Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.
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Emerging Energy Trends Reflect Shifting Political Landscape
As the Trump administration settles in, some emerging energy industry trends, like expanded support for fossil fuel production, are right off of its wish list — while others, like the popularity of Inflation Reduction Act energy tax credits, and bipartisan support for carbon capture, reflect more complex political realities, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.
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Tax-Free Ways To Help Employees After The LA Wildfires
Following the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, there are various tax-free ways to give employees the resources and flexibility they need, including simpler methods like disaster relief payments under Internal Revenue Code Section 139 and leave-sharing programs, and others that require more planning, says Ligeia Donis at Baker McKenzie.
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Improving Comms Between Trial Attys And Tech Witnesses
In major litigation involving complex technology, attorneys should employ certain strategies to collaborate with companies' technical personnel more effectively to enhance both the attorney's understanding of the subject matter and the expert's ability to provide effective testimony in court, say attorneys at Buchalter.
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As EPA Backs Down, Expect Enviros To Step Up Citizen Suits
As President Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draws down federal enforcement efforts, environmental groups will step into the void and file citizen suits — so companies should focus on compliance efforts, stay savvy about emerging analytical and monitoring methods, and maintain good relations with neighbors, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Series
Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.
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Rethinking How To Engage Shareholders, Activists Via Proxies
This proxy season, companies should consider visually driven proxy statements that highlight the board's strengths, the alignment between executive compensation and performance, and a commitment to sustainability and risk management to earn the support of investors and fend off hostile acquirers, say Craig Clay and Ron Schneider at DFIN.