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Environmental
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June 21, 2024
Justices Say No Feds, No Dice In Texas-NM Water Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Texas, New Mexico and Colorado improperly excluded the federal government from an agreement that resolved a Rio Grande water sharing dispute, rejecting the states' argument that the conflict was theirs alone to settle.
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June 20, 2024
Sunnova Execs Committed Insider Trading, Shareholder Says
A shareholder says solar energy company Sunnova Energy International Inc.'s executives lied about the company's predatory sales practices and opened the company up to securities litigation and heat from regulators, telling a Texas federal court Thursday that the executives breached their fiduciary duties.
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June 20, 2024
6 Firms Build Hydrogen Developer's $1.6B SPAC Merger
Chinese hydrogen solutions company United Hydrogen Group Inc. on Thursday announced plans to go public through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Aimei Health Technology Co. Ltd. in a deal that values the combined business at roughly $1.6 billion on a pro forma basis and was built by six law firms.
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June 20, 2024
Carbon Capture Struggles Doom EPA Rule, DC Circ. Told
Challengers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants reiterated to the D.C. Circuit that the impossibility of rapidly installing carbon capture and sequestration at power plants is reason enough to block the rule's implementation.
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June 20, 2024
Ore. Water Treatment Plant Not On Farmland, Tax Court Says
Portions of farmland used for a wastewater treatment facility were correctly denied a special farm-use assessment rate, the Oregon Tax Court said, allowing the special rate for other contested areas of the property.
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June 20, 2024
EPA Water Rule Withstands Landowner's Attempt To Block It
A North Carolina federal judge declined to block the federal government's rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act in a lawsuit filed by a landowner seeking to develop property in wetlands areas.
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June 20, 2024
Federal Agencies Release Updated Climate Adaptation Plans
More than 20 federal agencies on Thursday published updated climate adaptation plans that are intended to serve as guides for facing problems like extreme heat and precipitation, sea level rise, flooding and wildfire that could put facilities, supply chains and employees at risk.
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June 20, 2024
5 Firms Build Masdar's $3.4B Buy Of Greek Energy Biz
United Arab Emirates renewable energy company Masdar on Thursday unveiled plans to acquire two-thirds of Greek clean energy platform Terna Energy SA in a deal that boasts a €3.2 billion ($3.4 billion) enterprise value and was built by five law firms.
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June 20, 2024
Parties Reach Resolution Ending Ga. Shipwreck Suit
An agreement has been reached ending a lawsuit brought against the companies that owned, chartered, operated and salvaged the MV Golden Ray, a cargo ship that capsized off Georgia's coast, according to a joint stipulation filed Tuesday in Georgia federal court.
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June 18, 2024
'Reckless' Behavior Centered In Climate Coverage Suit Args
Attorneys for a Sunoco subsidiary and AIG offered sharply differing views to Hawaii's top court Tuesday in oral arguments over whether reckless behavior would trigger the oil company's liability coverage in a novel suit over coverage for underlying climate change claims.
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June 18, 2024
Nuke Regulator Asks High Court To Review Atomic Waste Rule
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a contentious Fifth Circuit decision that barred it from issuing a license to a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, saying that the circuit court widened circuit splits and upended decades of agency practice.
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June 18, 2024
Green Group Insists It Can Fight Colo. Air Plan Approval
The Center for Biological Diversity told the Tenth Circuit it didn't forfeit its challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a Colorado air emissions permitting program and that the agency is wrong to assert otherwise.
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June 18, 2024
9th Circ. Asked For En Banc Review In Youths' Climate Case
Youth plaintiffs have asked the Ninth Circuit for en banc review of a panel's decision to toss their lawsuit against the federal government over the effects of climate change.
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June 18, 2024
Blue States And Enviro Groups Back DOE Furnace Rule
Several blue states and environmental and consumer groups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that challenges to the new rules are meritless.
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June 18, 2024
EPA Tells DC Circ. That Smog Plan Is Legally Sound
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday defended its plan to reduce smog-forming emissions in several states, telling the D.C. Circuit that it's taken a sensible approach to cracking down on upwind pollution using a formula that has been backed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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June 18, 2024
African Gold Miner To Go Public Via $500M SPAC Merger
African gold miner Namib Minerals said Tuesday it has agreed to go public by merging with special-purpose acquisition company Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VI at an estimated $500 million value, a deal said to be the largest SPAC acquisition involving an African business to date.
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June 18, 2024
Insurers Must Keep Defending Heating Oil Co. In Class Suit
Two Crum & Forster units must continue defending a heating oil company and several executives in a class action claiming the company provided oil with elevated levels of biodiesel that caused property damage, a Massachusetts federal court ruled, saying the policies' "failure to supply" provisions do not limit or exclude coverage.
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June 18, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Labor Rules For Bonus Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department released final labor rules Tuesday for clean energy projects seeking to significantly boost the value of their tax credits, emphasizing due diligence by developers and announcing that more IRS resources will go toward enforcement of the rules.
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June 17, 2024
Excess Insurers May Need To Pay In Kaiser Asbestos Dispute
A policyholder can tap into first-layer excess policies as soon as the primary coverage for that period is exhausted, the California Supreme Court ruled, potentially implicating several first-level excess insurers to contribute to coverage for underlying asbestos exposure claims against Kaiser Cement and Gypsum Corp.
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June 17, 2024
DC Circ. Gives FERC More Clarity On Scope Of Climate Reviews
A recent D.C. Circuit decision not only endorses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's current approach to reviewing the climate change impacts of gas infrastructure projects, but may also help trim environmental reviews by federal agencies across the board.
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June 17, 2024
6th Circ. Sends Enbridge Pipeline Dispute To Mich. State Court
A Sixth Circuit panel on Monday remanded a dispute between Michigan's attorney general and Enbridge Energy that looks to shut down dual pipelines that cross the Straits of Mackinac, saying the company failed to timely remove the case to federal court and there are no equitable exceptions to do so.
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June 17, 2024
Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal
Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.
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June 17, 2024
Chrysler MDL Class Can Fix 'Puzzling' State Claim Skip
A Michigan federal judge has said he will give a class of drivers alleging Chrysler minivans have a defect that causes their batteries to explode unexpectedly an opportunity to fix their "puzzling" choice not to plead state-by-state claims in the first master complaint of the sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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June 17, 2024
Iowa Seeks To Mute 'Ag-Gag' Law First Amendment Challenge
Iowa on Friday asked a federal district court to dismiss animal rights' and community advocacy groups' First Amendment challenge to the state's "ag-gag" law that's designed to thwart undercover investigations of animal treatment.
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June 17, 2024
Feds, Tribes Say It's Too Soon To Reopen Monument Suit
The federal government, tribes and conservation groups are fighting a bid by Utah and farming associations to lift a more than three-year stay in a challenge to the Bears Ears National Monument, arguing that the state is already involved in litigation that attempts to nullify the presidential proclamation that established it.
Expert Analysis
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10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep
Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.
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Opinion
It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills
After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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EPA Heavy-Duty Vehicle GHG Rules Face Bumpy Road Ahead
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for owners and operators of heavy-duty vehicles are facing opposition from both states and the transportation industry, and their arguments will mirror two pending cases challenging the EPA's authority, says Grant Laizer at Adams and Reese.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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A Look At M&A Conditions After FTC's Exxon-Pioneer Nod
The Federal Trade Commission's recent consent decree imposing several conditions on Exxon Mobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources helps illustrate key points about the current merger enforcement environment, including the probability of further investigations in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, say Ryan Quillian and John Kendrick at Covington.
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Opinion
US Solar Import Probe's Focus On China Is Misguided
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation focuses on the apparent Chinese ownership of solar device importers in four Southeast Asian countries — a point that is irrelevant under the controlling statute, says John Anwesen at Lighthill.
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews
Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.
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New TSCA Risk Rule Gives EPA Broad Discretion On Science
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final amendments to its framework for evaluating the risks of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act give it vast discretion over consideration of scientific information, without objective criteria to guide that discretion, say John McGahren and Debra Carfora at Morgan Lewis.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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Contractors Must Prep For FAR Council GHG Emissions Rule
With the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council expected to finalize its proposed rule on the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk this year, government contractors should take key steps now to get ready, say Thomas Daley at DLA Piper, Steven Rothstein at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and John Kostyack at Kostyack Strategies.
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Lessons In High-Profile Jury Selection Amid NY Trump Trial
Richard Gabriel and Michelle Rey LaRocca at Decision Analysis consider how media exposure can affect a prospective juror in a high-profile case, the misunderstood nature of bias, and recommendations for jury selection in these unique situations as the Trump hush money trial continues in New York.