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Environmental
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October 16, 2024
Justices Won't Block EPA Power Plant Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuffed pleas to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants while it's being challenged in court, but three justices indicated they had concerns with the rule's legality.
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October 16, 2024
Enforcers Won't Challenge $3B Energy Deal, $5B Coal Tie-Up
Deadlines have passed for antitrust enforcers to challenge Oneok Inc.'s deal for a $3.3 billion stake in EnLink Midstream LLC and Arch Resources Inc.'s all-stock merger with Consol Energy Inc., a deal that's expected to create a natural resources company worth $5.2 billion.
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October 15, 2024
Tribes, Backers Urge Justices To Take On Oak Flat Dispute
Tribes, religious groups and scholars are backing a bid in the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Ninth Circuit ruling allowing part of the Tonto National Forest that is sacred to the Western Apache to be destroyed for a copper mine proposed by a Rio Tinto and BHP venture.
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October 15, 2024
DC Circ. Is Asked To Revive Nuke Waste Suit
An anti-nuclear advocacy group is urging the D.C. Circuit to reconsider its support for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of a temporary nuclear waste storage site in New Mexico, arguing that the court's ruling contained "material legal errors."
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October 15, 2024
Fla. High Court Declines To Hear Case Of Land-Buying Funds
The Florida Supreme Court refused to hear a lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the state over alleged misspent money from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund that went toward expenses not authorized under a 2014 constitutional amendment, rather than being used to purchase property meant for conservation and recreation purposes.
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October 15, 2024
'Gold Standard' PFAS Test Rejected In Tampax Class Suit
A California federal judge on Tuesday rejected the reliability of a testing method described by a putative consumer class as the "gold standard" for detecting so-called forever chemicals, tossing for now claims that The Procter & Gamble Co. falsely advertised its "pure cotton" Tampax tampons.
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October 15, 2024
Standing Rock Sioux Ask Court To Shut Down Dakota Pipeline
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is asking a federal court to block a Texas-based energy company from continuing to operate the Dakota Access Pipeline, arguing its latest emergency response plan fails to include a realistic calculation of a worst-case scenario liquid discharge.
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October 15, 2024
Feds Seek Court's OK On $350M Norfolk Southern Spill Deal
The federal government has asked an Ohio federal judge to approve a nearly $350 million settlement to close out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's legal claims against Norfolk Southern over the fiery February 2023 train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine.
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October 15, 2024
$5M Alcoa Unit Deal Ends EPA's Smelter Foul-Air Suit
A Washington federal judge on Tuesday approved an Alcoa Corp. subsidiary's $5.25 million settlement with the federal government over the alleged release of illegal levels of pollutants at a now-shuttered Washington aluminum smelting plant.
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October 15, 2024
EPA Says GHG Power Plant Rule Is In 'Heartland' Of Authority
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is urging the D.C. Circuit to approve its plan to control greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, saying its prescribed methods for controlling releases are legally sound, effective, reliable and reasonably affordable for the facilities that must implement them.
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October 15, 2024
Texas Insurance Chief Denies Last-Resort Insurer's Rate Hike
The Texas insurance commissioner rejected a 10% rate hike filed by the state's windstorm insurer of last resort, saying the increase would be unfair because of the hardships it would impose on Texas' coast.
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October 15, 2024
FERC Can't Pass On LNG Pipeline Review, DC Circ. Told
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shirked its legal obligations when, through inaction, it effectively greenlit the expansion of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Puerto Rico, environmental and community groups told the D.C. Circuit on Friday.
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October 15, 2024
PE-Backed Ingram Micro Leads 2 IPOs Seeking $466M Total
Private equity-backed information technology company Ingram Micro Holding Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a price range on an estimated $400 million initial public offering set to price next week, one of two companies to launch plans for IPOs that could net $466 million combined.
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October 15, 2024
Polsinelli Adds Merck Legal Director To Energy Group In Philly
An attorney who specializes in representing energy and utility clients and has experience as in-house counsel has left Merck, where she was a legal director for nearly three years, to become the first new lateral shareholder to join Polsinelli's Philadelphia office since the firm opened its doors there in August.
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October 15, 2024
EPA Pitches Deal For Endocrine-Disruptor Screening Suit
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a plan to settle a lawsuit that farmworker and environmental health groups brought over its alleged inaction on an Endocrine-Disruptor Screening Program meant to consider how pesticide chemicals may harm people's hormone systems.
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October 15, 2024
Law Firms Diverge As Anti-ESG Pushback Continues
A continuing onslaught of legislation and litigation opposing corporate environmental, social and governance actions has created a fork in the road for law firms, with some choosing to scale back efforts and others pushing ahead with their internal ESG and diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
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October 15, 2024
The 2024 Law360 Pulse Social Impact Leaders
Check out our Social Impact Leaders ranking, analysis and interactive graphics to see which firms stand out for their engagement with social responsibility and commitment to pro bono service.
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October 11, 2024
11th Circ. Reinstates, Remands Alabama Burial Ground Fight
An Eleventh Circuit panel on Friday vacated and remanded a lower court's order in a fight between two Alabama tribes over a sacred burial site, saying it failed to review the litigation's sovereign immunity issues on a claim-by-claim basis.
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October 11, 2024
Tribes, Enviro Orgs. Can Defend EPA In Pebble Mine Row
A federal judge in Alaska has allowed a slew of environmental groups and Alaskan tribes to defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to block the planned creation of the controversial Pebble Mine, saying they made a convincing argument that intervention is warranted.
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October 11, 2024
Up Next At High Court: CBD Injuries & The Clean Water Act
The U.S. Supreme Court will be closed Monday, but the justices will return to the bench Tuesday to hear arguments over whether the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act allows litigants to pursue claims of economic harm tied to personal injuries, and how specific pollutant discharge limits have to be under the Clean Water Act.
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October 11, 2024
Wash. DOT Settles Deadly Highway Tree Fall Suit For $775K
The Washington State Department of Transportation will pay $775,000 to the surviving members of a family who sued the agency after a Douglas fir fell on their vehicle while they were traveling along a state highway on the Olympic Peninsula in 2017, causing two deaths and devastating injuries to the survivors.
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October 11, 2024
6th Circ. Blocks Work On Tenn. Pipeline For TVA Gas Plant
A split Sixth Circuit panel on Friday temporarily blocked construction of a Kinder Morgan unit's pipeline that would serve a Tennessee Valley Authority natural gas-fired power plant in Cumberland City, as conservation groups challenge Clean Water Act permits Tennessee and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued for the pipeline.
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October 11, 2024
Monsanto Inks $35M Deal With LA For Waterway Cleanup
Los Angeles announced Friday it inked a $35 million settlement with Bayer AG's Monsanto Co. and two other companies over their alleged contamination of the city's bodies of water with toxic chemicals, ending the 2½-year-old lawsuit, with the companies agreeing to various cleanup efforts and reimbursement for previous costs.
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October 11, 2024
Unions Say EPA Rule Contains Protective Wear Loophole
Two major trade unions told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promulgated a rule that lets the agency consider the use of personal protective equipment when conducting risk evaluations, in violation of federal law.
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October 11, 2024
Parties Look To Vacate 40-Year-Old Ore. Tribal Fishing Decree
The U.S. government, Oregon and a Native American tribe are asking a federal court to vacate a 1980 agreement that established hunting and fishing rights for the tribe, arguing that the consent decree was a product of its time and represented a distorted view on tribal sovereignty.
Expert Analysis
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Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships
Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.
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Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation
As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
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What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing
New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.
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Opinion
Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Roundup
After Chevron
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 36 different rulemaking and litigation areas.
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Series
After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.
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Opinion
Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift
It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.
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Opinion
Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend
The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.