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Environmental
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June 14, 2024
DC Circ. Backs FERC Climate Reviews In Pipeline Project Row
The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared to endorse the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current method of evaluating the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects in approval in rejecting an environmental group's challenge of the agency's pipeline upgrade project serving the New York City area.
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June 14, 2024
Enviros Fight FERC OK Of Pipeline Feeding Mexico LNG Plant
The Sierra Club and Public Citizen called on the D.C. Circuit to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a methane gas pipeline to run between West Texas and Mexico, asserting the agency failed to conduct a thorough analysis of the pipeline's 157 U.S.-based miles.
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June 14, 2024
House Passes $884B Defense Bill For 2025
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed an $883.7 billion defense policy and budget bill in a mostly party-line vote after adopting several contentious amendments related to climate change, abortion and diversity programs.
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June 14, 2024
Malaysian Oil Biz Hibiscus Buys TotalEnergies Unit For $259M
Kuala Lumpur-based oil and gas producer Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad said it has agreed to buy a Brunei subsidiary of France's TotalEnergie for $259 million, advised by Malaysian law firm Murad Yee Partnership.
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June 13, 2024
Co. Says 'Lawyerly Technicalities' Won't Undo $45B DOE Deal
A joint venture awarded a $45 billion nuclear waste management contract by the U.S. Department of Energy accused a rival joint venture of relying on "lawyerly technicalities" to upend an award it said was ultimately determined by who could perform the work best.
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June 13, 2024
FERC Faces Chorus Of Calls To Rethink Grid Policy Overhaul
Dozens of requests that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reconsider parts or all of its sweeping revision of its regional transmission planning policies have been filed, some of which could telegraph future court challenges if the agency ultimately sticks to its guns. Here's a roundup of the notable issues raised in the rehearing requests for FERC Order No. 1920.
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June 13, 2024
Chinese Officials Promise Response On EV Tariffs
A Chinese Foreign Ministry official told reporters on Thursday that Beijing "will take all measures necessary" to combat planned European Union tariffs on its electric-vehicle exports, after Brussels announced preliminary countervailing duty rates of up to 38.1%.
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June 13, 2024
Monsanto Can't Plead Ignorance On PCB Pollution, Cities Say
Chicago suburbs looking to hold Monsanto and related businesses accountable for their financial share of reducing pollutants in water that flows into Lake Michigan urged an Illinois state court to keep their case alive, arguing the companies should have known about the dangers of the chemicals in products.
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June 13, 2024
Chamber Asks DC Circ. To Reject EPA's PFAS Designation
Three business groups, spearheaded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have gone to the D.C. Circuit to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to declare two "forever chemicals" to be hazardous materials under federal law.
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June 13, 2024
Norfolk Southern Slams Bid To Seal Reports In Derailment Suit
Norfolk Southern ripped into a chemical company's bid to seal two expert reports from a former first responder that the railroad sought to file in the multidistrict litigation over last year's derailment and chemical spill in Ohio, saying the chemical firm's arguments are weak and misstate the issues.
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June 13, 2024
Tribes Fight BC's Consultation Policy On Aboriginal Rights
Indigenous nations along British Columbia's U.S. border want a say in projects they claim will threaten the environment and their quality of life after the Canadian province announced plans earlier this year to develop a policy to clarify how tribes located outside the country are consulted on such endeavors.
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June 13, 2024
Tesla Shareholders Approve Musk's Compensation Package
Tesla's shareholders voted to approve a multibillion-dollar compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk, the company's top lawyer announced Thursday during a meeting in which investors also approved moving the company's incorporation from Delaware to Texas.
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June 13, 2024
Green Groups Challenge EPA Approval Of La. Well Authority
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to give Louisiana authority over some underground injection wells, which can be used for carbon capture and sequestration, violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, green groups said in a new lawsuit.
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June 13, 2024
Ford Asks To Defend EPA's Heavy-Duty Truck Emissions Rule
Ford Motor Co. has urged the D.C. Circuit to let it intervene in defense of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final rule establishing greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, dump trucks, public utility trucks and buses.
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June 13, 2024
FERC Gains Full Bench With 3rd Nominee Confirmation
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed former Massachusetts Undersecretary for Energy and Climate Solutions Judy W. Chang to fill a vacant commissioner slot at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the agency a full complement of five commissioners.
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June 13, 2024
Ex-DLA Piper Atty, Md. Registered Lobbyist Joins Saul Ewing
A longtime DLA Piper attorney and registered lobbyist with more than 30 years backing clients before Maryland regulators is joining Saul Ewing LLP, the firm has announced.
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June 13, 2024
Trade Groups Join EPA Vehicle Emissions Rule Fight
A coalition of trade associations and auto dealers on Thursday called for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's final rule requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks and vans.
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June 13, 2024
6th Circ. Skeptical Of Takings Theory In Mich. Dam Collapse
Property owners whose homes were damaged in flooding caused by a hydroelectric dam collapse met pushback from Sixth Circuit judges Thursday, in their case arguing local governments must compensate them for their losses under a Fifth Amendment takings theory.
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June 12, 2024
Senate Confirms 2 FERC Nominees, Puts 3rd Nominee On Deck
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed two nominees to fill vacant commissioner slots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and scheduled a Thursday vote for a third nominee.
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June 12, 2024
Tribes Say Court Must Examine Spill Risks In Gold Mine Row
Half a dozen tribes that oppose a large open-pit gold mine along the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska have urged a federal judge to vacate a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorization for the project, saying the government has wrongly interpreted environmental concerns.
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June 12, 2024
Oil Cos. Ignore Precedent In Climate Change Row, Tribes Say
Two Washington tribes seeking to remand their consolidated cases against several oil industry giants to state court say the defendants' arguments of complete preemption in their efforts to keep the climate change litigation in the federal circuit misconstrues precedent, including claims to vindicate aboriginal title.
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June 12, 2024
EPA Tells DC Circ. Emissions Rules Should Stay In Place
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fired back at attempts to pause two final rules establishing greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants and expanded methane emissions control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure, urging the D.C. Circuit to keep the rules in place amid myriad legal challenges.
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June 12, 2024
GOP, Dems Fight Over Climate Investment 'Collusion'
House Judiciary Democrats and Republicans traded barbs and competing staff reports Wednesday over investment industry initiatives to combat climate change that the GOP called a "climate cartel" and their partisan rivals said is simply responsible, and voluntary, investing.
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June 12, 2024
Lumen Board Faces Investor Suit Over Lead Cable Liability
The board members of Louisiana-headquartered telecommunications company Lumen Technologies Inc. face a shareholder derivative suit alleging they breached their fiduciary duties following revelations about, and subsequent scrutiny of, lead components of the company's physical cable networks.
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June 12, 2024
SPAC Dealmakers Expect Modest Pickup After Market Bottom
Market professionals expect a slow pickup in deals involving special-purpose acquisition companies starting in the second half of 2024, predicting on Wednesday that a leaner market will emerge following the recent crash and imposition of tighter regulations.
Expert Analysis
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Wildfire Challenges For Utility Investors: Liability Theories
The greater frequency and scale of wildfires in the last several years have created operational and fiscal challenges for electric utility companies, including new theories of liability and unique operational and risk management considerations — all of which must be carefully considered by utility investors, say David Botter and Lisa Schweitzer at Cleary.
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5 Ways To Hone Deposition Skills And Improve Results
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Depositions must never be taken for granted in the preparations needed to win a dispositive motion or a trial, and five best practices, including knowing when to hire a videographer, can significantly improve outcomes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism
In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.
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10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation
By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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How Echoing Techniques Can Derail Witnesses At Deposition
Before depositions, defense attorneys must prepare witnesses to recognize covert echoing techniques that may be used by opposing counsel to lower their defenses and elicit sensitive information — potentially leading to nuclear settlements and verdicts, say Bill Kanasky and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.
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Proposed RCRA Regs For PFAS: What Cos. Must Know
Two rules recently proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would lead to more per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances being regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and would increase the frequency and scope of corrective action — so affected industries should prepare for more significant cleanup efforts, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs May Be Legally Flawed
While the recently proposed regulations for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit have been lauded by some in the environmental community, it is unclear whether they are sufficiently grounded in law, result from valid rulemaking processes, or accord with other administrative law principles, say Hunter Johnston and Steven Dixon at Steptoe.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.