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Environmental
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November 05, 2024
How Trump Can Quash His Criminal Cases
Donald Trump's projected victory at the polls also translates to a win in the courts, as the second-term president will have the power to end both of his federal criminal cases. And the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity would shield him from any consequences for ordering his charges to be dismissed, experts say.
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November 05, 2024
An Early Look At Trump's Supreme Court Shortlist
With former President Donald Trump projected to win the 2024 presidential election and the Republicans' success in securing the U.S. Senate majority, Trump may now get the chance to appoint two more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, cementing the court's conservative tilt for decades to come.
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November 05, 2024
GOP's Senate Win Hands Future Of The Judiciary To Trump
Republicans were projected to take back the White House and Senate and possibly the House early Wednesday, putting the GOP in position to back Donald Trump's agenda and his slate of young, conservative judicial nominees.
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November 05, 2024
The Firms With An Inside Track To A New Trump Admin
Law firms that have represented Donald Trump and the Republican Party on everything from personal legal woes to election-related lawsuits could see the risks of that work pay dividends as Trump is projected to secure a second term in office.
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November 05, 2024
Nat'l Park Service Makes Tribal Consultation A Top Priority
The National Park Service's director has issued a first-time agency order making nation-to-nation consultations with Native American and Alaska Native tribes a top priority for agency decision-makers as they work on conservation and other issues that affect Indigenous communities.
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November 05, 2024
Feds Push For Win In Tongass National Forest Road Rule Row
The U.S. government is asking an Alaska federal judge to affirm its decision to reinstate roadless area protections for millions of acres of the Tongass National Forest, arguing its authority to enact such rules to balance uses is spelled out in statute and has long been recognized by courts.
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November 05, 2024
Mich. Judge Won't Delay Benton Harbor Lead Pollution Suit
A federal magistrate judge in Michigan rejected a request to push back a scheduling conference in litigation over lead contamination in a Michigan city's drinking water, ordering the parties on Monday to press forward with resolving the significantly narrowed case.
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November 05, 2024
Groups Lose Early Bid To Undo Calif. Climate Disclosure Laws
A California federal judge rejected the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups' attempt to block California's corporate climate disclosure rules before discovery, ruling Tuesday that discovery is needed for the court to answer whether the laws facially violate the First Amendment.
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November 05, 2024
States Say EPA 'Wants To Drive The Car' In CWA Row
Idaho and a coalition of states are asking a North Dakota federal judge to strike down a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring states to consider tribal treaty rights when they set their water quality standards, arguing the agency has no such power under the Clean Water Act.
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November 05, 2024
EPA's Superfund 'Blank Check' Dooms PFAS Rule, Groups Say
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrote itself a legal "blank check" to increase the number of chemicals subject to required cleanups under federal Superfund law, industry advocates told the D.C. Circuit.
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November 05, 2024
Conagra Settles False Ad Suit Over 'Sustainable' Fish
Conagra and a proposed class of consumers have settled a suit accusing the food giant of deceptively labeling its seafood products as sustainable despite using ocean-harming methods to source them, according to a minute order entered Tuesday.
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November 05, 2024
FERC Skimped On Pipeline Review, Environmental Groups Say
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly limited its review of a methane gas pipeline that crosses the U.S.-Mexico border to a 1,000-foot border facility, ignoring the 157-mile U.S.-based pipeline segment that cuts across Western Texas, environmental groups told the D.C. Circuit.
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November 05, 2024
Holland & Knight Gains Latham Project Finance Atty In DC
Holland & Knight LLP has hired a former Latham & Watkins LLP attorney, who has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, D.C., to represent equity investors, developers, lenders and other clients in a range of project finance matters, the firm announced Tuesday.
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November 05, 2024
On The Ground: How Attorneys Safeguarded The Election
Attorneys worked tirelessly Tuesday to support citizens and election workers on the final day of voting in one of history's most contentious presidential contests.
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November 04, 2024
Couple Avoids Prison For $500K Emission-Tampering Scheme
A Washington federal judge on Monday sentenced a married couple who owned an auto repair shop to four months of GPS monitor and four years of probation for raking in more than $500,000 by illegally altering pollution-control devices on hundreds of diesel trucks.
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November 04, 2024
NC Commission Signs Off On Duke Energy Resource Plan
The North Carolina Utilities Commission has signed off on Duke Energy's latest resource plan, with one nonprofit lamenting that the order gives the utility giant "essentially everything it wanted."
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November 04, 2024
Post-Chevron, DC Circ. Wrestles With At-Sea Monitoring Rule
A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday revisited a challenge to federal regulations requiring fishermen to fund the cost of compliance monitors aboard their ships, grappling with how to interpret the federal statute underlying the regulations following the demise of the Chevron deference.
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November 04, 2024
Monsanto Can't Keep Expert PCB Estimates From Seattle Jury
A Washington state judge has slapped down Monsanto's bid to stop a plaintiffs' expert from sharing chemical exposure opinions with jurors in a Seattle PCB poisoning tort, saying on Monday that the company's stance that the testimony is "junk science" relies on an outdated record in a related Court of Appeals case.
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November 04, 2024
FERC, NJ Conservation Orgs Battle Over Pipeline Rehearing
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is clashing with a host of conservation groups and the New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel over whether the D.C. Circuit should reconsider a panel decision that vacated the agency's approval for a natural gas pipeline expansion on the East Coast.
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November 04, 2024
Hurricane Zeta MDL Judge Orders Mediation Amid DQ Battle
A Houston judge overseeing a multidistrict litigation created to handle claims from crew members who say they were injured while weathering Hurricane Zeta on a Transocean drilling rig ordered the parties to mediation Friday in the midst of a bitter disqualification battle between their feuding firms.
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November 04, 2024
Shell Slips Negligence Claim In Pa. Nuisance Lawsuit
Neighbors of Shell Chemical Appalachia's Western Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant will need to be more specific about dust and pollution affecting their homes if they want to revive a negligence claim that a federal court struck from a proposed class action Monday.
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November 04, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Block Coal Ash Rule During Challenge
The D.C. Circuit has denied East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc.'s effort to block the implementation of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that strengthened the federal regulations requiring safe management of coal ash dumped at operating and retired power plants.
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November 04, 2024
Class Cert. Sought In Ga. Man's 'Forever Chemicals' Suit
A Georgia man who lives near a Mount Vernon Mills textile plant asked a federal judge on Friday to certify two classes of neighbors who want to hold the manufacturers of so-called "forever chemicals" responsible for the alleged pollution of city drinking water.
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November 04, 2024
Michigan County Fights To Keep Radioactive Waste Out
Wayne County urged a Michigan federal judge to keep in place an order barring a local landfill from accepting deliveries of radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project, arguing the surrounding communities' and environmental health could suffer for "billions of years."
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November 04, 2024
Texas Border Buoy Trial Delayed After En Banc Ruling
An Austin federal judge paused an impending bench trial between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over a 1,000-foot buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, reopening discovery Monday in the wake of an en banc circuit court opinion that slammed the judge for ordering the removal of the buoys.
Expert Analysis
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What Chevron's End Means For How Congress Does Business
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.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step
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.
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What Cos. Should Know About New Global Plastics Regs
As the global regulatory landscape for plastics and recycling changes rapidly — with new policies coming into effect in California, at the federal level, in the European Union and at the United Nations — businesses that operate across jurisdictions must stay informed to remain compliant, mitigate legal risk and achieve stewardship goals, say attorneys at O'Melveny.
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The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership
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.
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5 Tips For Solar Cos. Navigating Big Shifts In US Trade Policy
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.
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Series
Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake
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.
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
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.
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3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry
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.
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How Cos. Should Handle Research Org.'s Carcinogen Evals
In light of the International Agency of Research for Cancer's list of substances slated for review over the next five years, manufacturers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and consumer products should monitor for potentially unbalanced determinations, which could stimulate litigation regarding potential exposure from products, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
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Keeping Up With Carbon Capture Policy In The US And EU
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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New State Climate Liability Laws: What Companies Must Know
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.
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EU Investor-State Dispute Transparency Rules: Key Points
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.
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Despite Calif. Delays, Climate Disclosure Rules Are Coming
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.
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Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Intra-EU Enforcement Trends
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.