Environmental

  • August 06, 2024

    Conn. AG Says Utility Misconstrued Power Plant Cleanup Deal

    The Connecticut Attorney General's Office has told a state court that The United Illuminating Co., now part of Avangrid Inc., raised inapplicable defenses to an environmental cleanup lawsuit by misconstruing an earlier consent decree as a "contract" the government could breach as the utility remediated an abandoned New Haven power plant.

  • August 06, 2024

    EPA Emergency Bans Pesticide Chem Over Risks To Unborn

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it's imposing an emergency ban on all pesticide products that contain a chemical used since the 1950s that it says puts fetuses at risk of thyroid problems and a cascade of other health issues.

  • August 06, 2024

    Wind Tower Co. Asks Full Fed. Circ. To Revisit Subsidy Duties

    A Federal Circuit panel wrongly concluded that a 10% depreciation rate for deducting costs related to manufacturing facilities set by Canadian law was an unfair trade subsidy that justified countervailing trade duties, a wind tower manufacturer told the court in seeking a rehearing.

  • August 06, 2024

    NJ Justices Remove 'Routine' Barrier To Compressor Hub

    The New Jersey state appeals court misinterpreted the word "routine" in a decision that paused a plan for a natural gas compressor station in the Highlands Preservation Area, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

  • August 06, 2024

    SEC Defends Climate Disclosure Rules At 8th Circ.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision axing Chevron deference and the agency's 50-plus year history of considering additional environmental-related disclosures in an effort to defend its recently adopted climate disclosure rules.

  • August 06, 2024

    Ariz. Tribe Seeks To Block Lithium Exploration Project

    An Arizona tribe is asking a federal district court to block the approval of a lithium exploration project that it says threatens the life of a sacred medical spring used for cultural and religious purposes, arguing the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider its actions on the historic property.

  • August 06, 2024

    DC Circ. Axes FERC Reauthorizations For Texas LNG Projects

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday vacated reauthorization orders that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued for liquefied natural gas projects on the Texas Gulf Coast over environmental analysis deficiencies.

  • August 06, 2024

    39 Law Firms Call On 6th Circ. To Reverse FirstEnergy Ruling

    Dozens of law firms have signed on to an amicus curiae brief urging the Sixth Circuit to reverse a decision in a FirstEnergy shareholder litigation, the latest voices in the legal, insurance and business communities to call on the appellate court to reverse an Ohio federal judge's ruling they warn will threaten attorney-client privilege.

  • August 06, 2024

    Exxon Assistant GC Jumps To Duane Morris As Trial Partner

    A longtime attorney at Exxon Mobil Corp. has made the move from in-house to private practice at Duane Morris LLP to begin the next chapter of his career.

  • August 06, 2024

    Solar Tech Co. SunPower Hits Ch. 11 With $2B Of Debt

    Residential solar technology company SunPower Corporation filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with more than $2 billion of funded debt obligations and plans for an asset sale.

  • August 06, 2024

    Energy Dept. Awards $2.2B For 8 Grid Upgrade Projects

    The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday awarded $2.2 billion of congressional funding for an eight-pack of electric grid projects, including $700 million for a transmission line that would create a new link between the western and eastern portions of the U.S. grid.

  • August 05, 2024

    FTC Says Syngenta 'Distorts' Info Rules In Competition Case

    The Federal Trade Commission is urging a North Carolina federal court to force Syngenta Corp. to produce documents in a lawsuit accusing the chemical maker and Corteva Inc. of suppressing competition from cheaper generic pesticides, emphasizing that the information is relevant to the case despite Syngenta's contentions to the contrary.

  • August 05, 2024

    Abandoned Gas Wells Class Action Survives 4th Circ. Battle

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday rejected EQT Corp.'s and Diversified Energy Co.'s efforts to evade a proposed class action filed by West Virginia property owners who allege they've been harmed by abandoned oil and gas wells.

  • August 05, 2024

    GSA Makes First Tribal Carbon-Free Electricity Purchase

    A Seneca Nation holding company is the first tribal majority-owned business to be awarded a bid from the U.S. General Services Administration to sell carbon pollution-free electricity to the federal agency, a move that's been in the works since at least April.

  • August 05, 2024

    Monsanto PCB Appeals Win Has Shallow Impact, Families Say

    A group of families suing Monsanto alleging they were poisoned by chemicals at a Washington school has told a trial judge their case can't be limited by the state's 12-year statute of repose for product liability claims, even though an appellate court did just that in a related case.

  • August 05, 2024

    Star Peak Shareholders Consolidate And Amend Class Action

    Mix-and-match attorney teams will lead and manage a proposed class stockholder suit alleging damages from the blank check company deal that took artificial intelligence-driven energy storage business Stem Inc. public in April 2021, Delaware's chancellor has ruled.

  • August 05, 2024

    Top Groups Lobbying The FCC

    The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates nearly 180 times in July on issues ranging from rural broadband to Wi-Fi hot spots for schools and libraries, new payment rates for phone call captioning, spectrum for the electric grid, and more.

  • August 05, 2024

    Army Corps Fights Amendment To Miss. Dolphin Harm Suit

    The Army Corps of Engineers told a federal judge that Mississippi local governments and industry groups should not be allowed to amend a lawsuit claiming its diversion of trillions of gallons of polluted floodwater into the Mississippi Sound unlawfully harmed bottlenose dolphins.

  • August 05, 2024

    Former Refiner Can't Dodge Polluted Water Remedy

    A Virgin Islands oil refinery that spewed oil onto neighbors' properties has lost its Third Circuit challenge to a court-ordered program that required it to buy bottled water for residents too poor to buy it themselves.

  • August 05, 2024

    Washington, Tribes Back EPA's Health Criteria For The State

    The state of Washington and five Native American tribes have argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rightly restored more than 140 human health criteria aimed at protecting the state's residents from toxic pollutants, urging a D.C. federal judge to reject several business groups' attempt to overturn the agency's rule.

  • August 05, 2024

    El Paso Inks Deal Over NM Agency's $1.3M Sewage Dump Fine

    An El Paso, Texas, water utility is moving to end a lawsuit against the New Mexico Environment Department that challenged two compliance orders and a nearly $1.3 million penalty imposed against it over sewage diversions into the Rio Grande.

  • August 05, 2024

    Transportation Policies To Watch: Midyear 2024 Review

    Rail and aviation safety reforms following recent incidents, stricter vehicle emission standards guiding automakers' gradual pivot to electrification, and the integration of new automation and drone technology are some of the transportation industry's top regulatory priorities to watch in the second half of 2024.

  • August 05, 2024

    Pennsylvania Legislation To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report

    The Pennsylvania Legislature is following other jurisdictions striving to make social media safer while preserving free speech, and putting stricter limits on "forever chemicals" that had been widely used in firefighting applications and products for resisting stains and stickiness. Here, Law360 looks at some of the Pennsylvania bills attorneys are watching in 2024.

  • August 05, 2024

    9th Circ. Denies Rehearing Bid In ESA Fish Protection Suit

    The Ninth Circuit denied conservation groups' request to rehear a ruling affirming the federal government's approval of water supply contracts for the Central Valley Project in California.

  • August 05, 2024

    PE Firms Carlyle, Quantum Ink $3B Deal For US Power Co.

    Houston-based Quantum Capital Group said Monday it has agreed to purchase Cogentrix Energy, a U.S. independent power producer, from Carlyle for about $3 billion.

Expert Analysis

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    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.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    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.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    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.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    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.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    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.

  • Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend

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    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.

  • A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers

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    With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.

  • Series

    NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 saw less enforcement activity in the realm of New York financial services, but brought substantial regulatory and legislative developments, including state regulators' guidance on cybersecurity compliance and customer service processes for virtual currency entities, say James Vivenzio and Andrew Lucas at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Tracking Implementation Of IRA Programs As Election Nears

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    As the Biden administration races to cement key regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, a number of the law's programs and incentives are at risk of delay or repeal if Republicans retake control of Congress, the White House or both — so stakeholders should closely watch ongoing IRA implementation and guidance, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

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