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Project Finance
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March 08, 2024
Ex-NJ Transit Exec Says Fears Over $2B Project Led To Firing
NJ Transit's ex-chief of construction management, who was overseeing the largest project in the agency's history, claims that his 2023 firing was retaliation for raising concerns about what he called design defects in the $2.3 billion endeavor to replace the aging Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River.
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March 08, 2024
Calif. County Hasn't Fixed Oil Permitting Rules, Court Says
A California appeals court again nixed a Kern County, California, ordinance that paves the way for faster oil and gas development in the area, saying the court-ordered, revised policy still doesn't comply with the state's bedrock environmental law.
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March 08, 2024
Ex-Private Funds Leader With Perkins Coie Jumps To MoFo
The former chair of Perkins Coie LLP's private investment funds group has jumped to Morrison Foerster LLP in Denver.
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March 08, 2024
Direct Pay Regs Would Lift Major Barrier For Energy Projects
A U.S. Treasury Department proposal to give partnerships access to direct payments of tax credits for green energy projects would lift a significant barrier that has prevented tribes, municipalities, schools and nonprofits from capitalizing on joint ownership arrangements.
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March 07, 2024
$285M Panama Canal Case Must Be Reviewed, Justices Told
A contractor enlisted on a multibillion-dollar project to widen the Panama Canal is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to ignore an "open conflict" among lower courts over the vacatur standard for evident partiality, as the justices get ready to issue a certiorari decision that will likely come later this month.
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March 07, 2024
DC Circ. Mulls Groundwater In Coal Ash Closure Fight
A D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday seemed wary of an energy industry coalition's claim that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency illegally strengthened regulations to clean up coal ash waste impoundments by stretching regulatory definitions to cover facilities in contact with groundwater.
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March 07, 2024
Energy Cos. Still Have Work To Do In Final SEC Climate Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's scaled-back climate change disclosure rule unquestionably lightens the compliance load for energy companies, but they still have plenty of work to satisfy the agency's requirements, attorneys say.
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March 07, 2024
Va. Senate Leaves Proposed NBA, NHL Arena Out Of Budget
The plan to build a $2 billion sports and entertainment complex to house the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals in the northern Virginia suburbs was derailed on Thursday, when it was left out of the upcoming budget approved by the state Senate's Finance and Appropriations Committee, leaving questions about if or when the project will be revived.
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March 07, 2024
White House Moves To End Highway 'Buy America' Waivers
The Biden administration on Thursday proposed eliminating waivers to domestic production requirements for items used in federal highway building.
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March 07, 2024
CenturyLink Cut From Suit Blaming Utilities For Road Delays
The city of Sammamish, Washington, has quietly dropped CenturyLink from a state court lawsuit accusing it, Comcast and other companies of causing millions of dollars in roadwork delays by failing to move their infrastructure in a timely manner.
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March 07, 2024
FERC Wrong To Give Iowa Grid Project Perk, DC Circ. Told
A coalition of four industrial and commercial energy consumers has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly gave out an abandonment incentive for an Iowa transmission project currently hanging in the balance following a March 2023 Iowa Supreme Court ruling.
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March 07, 2024
MTA Says NJ Had Chances For Input On NY Congestion Pricing
The Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority are urging a New Jersey federal judge to rule in favor of New York's congestion pricing plan in a suit by the Garden State, calling the neighboring state's claim that it did not have enough opportunity for input on the plan "revisionist history" and accusing the Garden State of attacking the plan solely in the public arena.
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March 07, 2024
Baker Botts Adds Stoel Rives Energy Finance Partner In DC
Baker Botts LLP has added a partner from Stoel Rives LLP, who joins the firm in Washington, D.C., to continue his practice focused on advising private lenders and multilateral development banks in a range of energy-related transactional matters, the firm recently announced.
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March 06, 2024
Exxon Kicks Off Arbitration Over Guyana Offshore Oil Project
ExxonMobil has initiated arbitration in order to retain its right of first refusal over Hess Corp.'s stake in a lucrative oil block off Guyana's Atlantic coast, an Exxon spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday.
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March 06, 2024
Enviro Groups Say Colo. Trail Will Increase Cancer Risks
A D.C. federal judge strained to square two directly conflicting assertions in an ongoing challenge to a Fish and Wildlife Service trail in Colorado Wednesday, one from environmental and health groups claiming that plutonium from the site was certain to cause rare and deadly illnesses to trail-goers and nearby residents, and another from the federal government claiming that the trace levels of plutonium near a former-weapons plant were well below thresholds for concern.
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March 06, 2024
FCC To Explore 'Amnesty' For Rural Deployment Defaults
The Federal Communications Commission has asked the public for its views on a proposal to release internet service providers from some obligations to deploy rural broadband under FCC subsidy programs so that affected communities can still obtain federal funding.
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March 06, 2024
Cruz Wants FCC Subsidy System Turned Over To Congress
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Wednesday floated a plan to convert the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy system for low-income telecom services to direct congressional control, citing spiraling costs.
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March 06, 2024
Judge Won't Revisit Contempt Order In Gold Mine Control Suit
A Colorado federal judge refused Tuesday to reconsider or amend his 2022 contempt order sanctioning mineral exploration company DynaResource in a decade-old arbitration dispute over control of a Mexican gold mine, finding that DynaResource's arguments are untimely and "at best" tangentially related to the arbitration award.
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March 06, 2024
DLA Piper Adds Environmental Credit Atty To NY Energy Team
DLA Piper has hired an energy attorney whose specialties include environmental credits, advising clients on energy regulatory matters and working with a range of carbon-specific investment structures, the firm announced Tuesday.
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March 05, 2024
Settlement Gets 'Tire Spinning' EB-5 Fraud Suit Unstuck
Winter thawed in a Florida courthouse on Tuesday when the last remaining defendant in a nearly decade-long $50 million investment fraud suit agreed to settle the case, surprising the judge and opposing counsel after refusing for years to strike a deal.
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March 05, 2024
Court Has No Cause To Deny Casino Land Request, Tribe Says
A Michigan tribe urged the D.C. Circuit to reverse a lower court's ruling blocking it from acquiring land for two casino developments, arguing there's no dispute it bought the land to generate gaming revenue and that the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized its endeavor.
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March 05, 2024
DC Circ. Leery Of Challenges To Nuke Waste Storage Site
A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday didn't appear convinced by challenges to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of a temporary nuclear waste storage site in New Mexico.
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March 05, 2024
Rochester, NY, Denied Early Win In SEC's $119M Bond Suit
A New York federal judge has declined to grant early wins to the city of Rochester, New York; its former finance director; and an advisory firm named in a suit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleging they misled investors in a $119 million bond offering.
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March 05, 2024
Senate Dem Sees Votes For Broadband Discount Funding
A key Democratic senator said late Tuesday he sees momentum growing on Capitol Hill for at least a short-term funding renewal for the embattled Affordable Connectivity Program.
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March 05, 2024
8th Circ. Affirms Ax Of Tribe's Drilling Approval Challenge
The Eighth Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of the Interior's approval of eight drilling applications on Tuesday, rejecting the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation's argument the drilling sites violated a tribal "setback" regulation barring drilling within 1,000 feet of Lake Sakakawea.
Expert Analysis
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Corporate Compliance Lessons From FirstEnergy Scandal
Fallout from a massive bribery scheme involving Ohio electric utility FirstEnergy and state officeholders — including the recent sentencing of two defendants — has critical corporate governance takeaways for companies and individuals seeking to influence government policymaking, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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Offshore Wind Auction Results Portend Difficulties In Gulf
Results of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's recent auction of the Gulf of Mexico lease areas tell different stories about the future of offshore wind in the U.S., with the Gulf’s low interest suggesting uncertainty and the Mid-Atlantic’s strong interest suggesting a promising market, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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Regulators Must Get Creative To Keep Groundwater Flowing
Even as populations have boomed in Sun Belt states like Arizona, California and Texas, groundwater levels have diminished due to drought and overuse — so regulators must explore options including pumping limits, groundwater replenishment and wastewater reuse to ensure future supplies for residential and commercial needs, says Jeffrey Davis at Integral Consulting.
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Issues To Watch As Biochar Carbon Project Demand Heats Up
Entities considering financing, constructing or operating biochar projects should evaluate the increasing demand for biochar as a soil amendment, the potential to generate revenue from carbon credits and produce other byproducts, and a variety of legal hurdles in this rapidly emerging market, say Mackenzie Schoonmaker and Astrika Adams at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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Industry Takeaways From OMB's Final Buy America Guidance
The Office of Management and Budget's recently released guidance on "Buy America" requirements for federal infrastructure projects provides clarity in certain areas but fails to address troublesome inconsistencies with state laws and international trade agreements, so manufacturers and suppliers will need to tread carefully as agencies implement the changes, say Amy Hoang and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth Shaw.
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New 'Waters' Rule May Speed Projects, Spawn More Litigation
The Biden administration's new rule defining "waters of the United States" in accordance with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision will remove federal protection for some wetlands — which could both enable more development and lead to more legal challenges for projects, says Marcia Greenblatt at Integral Consulting.
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The Basics Of Being A Knowledge Management Attorney
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Michael Lehet at Ogletree Deakins discusses the role of knowledge management attorneys at law firms, the common tasks they perform and practical tips for lawyers who may be considering becoming one.
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Rising Interest Rates Bring Risk For Construction Contractors
With rising interest rates causing many construction projects to be slowed or halted, it's important for general contractors to implement safeguard measures against the risk of significant financial losses caused by owner-driven schedule modifications, says Kevin Riexinger at Gfeller Laurie.
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How Focus On Congruency Affects Corporate Political Activity
Congruency — whether the contributions made by a company-sponsored political action committee align with the corporation's public statements on issues of social responsibility — is undoubtedly the next frontier in the battle over corporate political activity, despite the limited success of shareholder proposals on the issue, says Carol Laham at Wiley.
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Mont. Kids' Climate Decision Reflects 3 Enviro Trends
A Montana district court's recent ruling in Held v. Montana represents a rare win for activist plaintiffs seeking to use rights-based theories to address climate change concerns — and calls attention to three environmental trends that are increasingly influencing climate litigation and policy, says J. Michael Showalter at ArentFox Schiff.
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To Hire And Keep Top Talent, Think Beyond Compensation
Firms seeking to appeal to sophisticated clients and top-level partners should promote mentorship, ensure that attorneys from diverse backgrounds feel valued, and clarify policies about at-home work, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.
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Strategies For Enforcing Arbitral Awards Against Sovereigns
When a large project or investment in a foreign country is unexpectedly expropriated by a new government, companies often prevail in arbitration — but if the sovereign refuses to pay up, collecting the arbitral award may require persistence, creativity, and a mixture of hard and soft approaches, say Gabe Bluestone and Jeff Newton at OmniBridgeway.