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Project Finance
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April 24, 2024
Feds Plan 12 Offshore Wind Lease Sales Through 2028
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said Wednesday the government will hold up to 12 offshore wind energy lease sales over the next five years now that updated regulations for renewable energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf have become final.
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April 24, 2024
FPL Asks Court To Decertify Class Over Irma Power Outages
Florida Power & Light Co. asked an appeals court Wednesday to undo class certification in a multibillion-dollar suit over extended power outages after Hurricane Irma, arguing that a new law enacted last year requires the plaintiffs to bring their claims before the state's Public Service Commission.
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April 24, 2024
Congress Didn't OK FCC's 'Disparate Impact' Ban, Critics Say
Business groups told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday that the Federal Communications Commission's new rules against discrimination in broadband deployment should be overturned because Congress never intended that the agency use a sweeping "disparate impact" liability standard.
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April 24, 2024
Biden Admin Closes $362M Loan To Texas EV-Wiring Maker
The Biden administration has finalized a $362 million loan to help pay for a Texas automotive-wiring component plant, a move intended to boost the U.S. domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.
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April 23, 2024
Seller Fights Lender Over First Dibs On $3 Million Property
A lender that took possession of a $3 million property in Haslet, Texas, seems to have negotiated the sale of the tract to an unaffiliated party, Texas appeals court justices said during oral arguments in Fort Worth on Tuesday, in a fight over whether the original seller gets right of first refusal after the land went into foreclosure.
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April 22, 2024
FCC Fines AT&T, Internet Co. For Discussing Auction Bids
AT&T Services Inc. and AMG Technology Investment Group LLC have not been able to convince the Federal Communications Commission to kibosh a combined $175,000 in fines for talking to each other during the bidding process for an auction of funds to subsidize infrastructure build-out.
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April 22, 2024
Group Backs Net Neutrality, But Not Fees On Broadband
Despite supporting a planned net neutrality regime, media advocacy group Free Press has argued against using the new rules to impose fees on the broadband industry to support telecommunications subsidies, saying the idea would only harm consumers.
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April 22, 2024
With Power Rules On Deck, EPA Awards $7B In Solar Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it awarded $7 billion in grants to boost residential solar energy development in low-income communities, kicking off a climate change-focused week in which the agency is expected to release pollution control rules for the power sector.
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April 22, 2024
Feds Say $1M Fine Is Fair In Washington Dam Settlement
The federal government says a $1 million fine to settle Clean Water Act violations against a hydroelectric dam operator is fair despite objections from a Washington tribe, arguing that a proposed consent decree should be approved because it meets key goals that help to restore Washington's Puyallup River.
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April 22, 2024
Oregon Judge Won't Delay Youth Climate Trial
An Oregon federal judge denied the U.S. Department of Justice's 14th request to pause a suit filed by young people claiming their rights are being violated by federal policies that are worsening climate change, and also told the Ninth Circuit to reject the agency's latest attempted appeal in the long-running litigation.
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April 19, 2024
NY Nixes Power Deals With Trio Of Offshore Wind Projects
New York officials on Friday said they wouldn't offer power contracts to a trio of offshore wind projects, the latest setback for the Empire State in efforts to make offshore wind a key component of its clean energy future.
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April 19, 2024
Biden Administration Sharply Limits Drilling In Alaska Arctic
The Biden administration on Friday issued new restrictions on oil and gas leasing across vast swathes of Alaska's Arctic while simultaneously ruling out construction of a controversial road state officials proposed to access mining areas in sensitive wilderness.
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April 19, 2024
NY Scraps Proposal Impacting Local Broadband Networks
Public broadband advocates are applauding a budget bill approved by New York's state Legislature that lacks previously proposed language they say would have weakened the state's rollout of locally owned wireless networks.
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April 18, 2024
School, Library Supporters Call FCC Wi-Fi Plan Cost Effective
A trio of school and library groups defended a Federal Communications Commission plan to fund Wi-Fi hot spots in education, saying the conservative Heritage Foundation mischaracterized the initiative as wasteful.
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April 18, 2024
FERC To Reveal Final Grid-Planning Policy Revamp
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it would unveil on May 13 the final version of its long-awaited overhaul of how major electric transmission projects are planned and paid for.
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April 18, 2024
Admiral Balks At Covering Menendez Ally In Pollution Suit
Admiral Insurance Co. is asking a New Jersey federal court for a declaration that it owes no coverage to a businessman who is a co-defendant in U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial in a decade-long suit by Edgewater Borough over contamination at a construction site.
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April 18, 2024
Ariz. Coyotes Deactivated In Deal Giving Utah New NHL Team
The National Hockey League's governing board on Thursday afternoon approved the transfer of the Arizona Coyotes franchise to the owners of the NBA's Utah Jazz and shuttered the Arizona team for now, according to a statement.
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April 17, 2024
States, Biz Groups Back Fight Over DOE Furnace Rules
Eighteen states and several business associations are backing gas utility groups' challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is unlawfully forcing a switch to new appliances.
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April 17, 2024
FERC Won't Rethink Pacific Northwest Gas Project Approval
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday stood by its approval of a controversial TC Energy Corp. pipeline expansion project in the Pacific Northwest opposed by Washington and Oregon officials, but Commissioner Allison Clements said there is significant evidence that the project is not needed.
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April 17, 2024
Longtime Nossaman Infrastructure Pro Joins Norton Rose
Norton Rose Fulbright announced that it has hired an experienced attorney who has spent the last 20 years with Nossaman LLP as the firm's new co-head of its U.S. and North American infrastructure teams.
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April 17, 2024
Ariz. Tribes Lose Bid To Block SunZia Power Line Project
An Arizona federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Native American tribes and environmentalists to block work on SunZia's $10 billion transmission line in a southeastern valley known for its historic and cultural significance, finding that their claims are likely time-barred by a six-year statute of limitations that began in 2015.
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April 16, 2024
DC Circ. Grills EPA On Nixing Refiners' Biofuel Exemptions
A D.C. Circuit panel seemed open Tuesday to petroleum refiners' challenge to federal regulators' denial of their exemptions to federal renewable fuel requirements, as the judges grilled attorneys for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on how federal regulators gauge refineries' compliance costs.
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April 16, 2024
DOE Aims To Wrap LNG Review By Year-End, Granholm Says
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday said her agency hoped to complete the review of its liquefied natural gas export policy by year's end and pushed back on accusations that the current pause of export reviews is permanent.
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April 16, 2024
Broadband Subsidy Backers Seek To Force House Vote
Nearly 300 groups urged Congress to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, but as a bill to do so picked up support from more than half of U.S. House lawmakers, a vote on replenishing the fund remains up in the air.
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April 16, 2024
Virginia Judge Tosses State Broadband Law Challenge
The Association of American Railroads has lost its challenge to a Virginia federal law that gives broadband providers easier access to railroad property and that the group says constitutes illegal taking, after a judge knocked out all the suit's claims for various reasons.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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A 5th Circ. Lesson On Preserving Indemnification Rights
The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert offers an important lesson for creditors and parties to indemnification agreements: If a debtor has indemnified a creditor, the creditor should consider participating in the bankruptcy case to avoid being deemed to have forfeited its indemnification rights, say Dania Slim and Alana Lyman at Pillsbury.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Ruling In La. May Undercut EPA Enviro Justice Efforts
A Louisiana federal court's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely serve as a template for other states to oppose the EPA's use of disparate impact analyses in Title VI civil rights cases aimed at advancing environmental justice policies and investigations, say Jonathan Brightbill and Joshua Brown at Winston & Strawn.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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New Eagle Take Permit Rule Should Help Wind Projects Soar
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recently issued final rule revising the eagle take permit process should help wind energy developers obtain incidental take permits through a more transparent and expedited process, and mitigate the risk of improper take penalties faced by wind projects, says Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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Takeaways From EPA's New Methane Emission Rules
Attorneys at V&E examine two new Clean Air Act rules for the oil and gas industry, explaining how they expand methane and volatile organic compound emission reduction requirements and amplify U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement risks.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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FERC's Updated Settlement Policy Comes With Risks For Cos.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's newly streamlined enforcement settlement policy may increase investigation subjects' regulatory risk, so they should consider measures to protect themselves, such as periodically assessing compliance programs and mitigating any weaknesses, say attorneys at Willkie.
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Wildfire Challenges For Utility Investors: Regs And Financing
For investors in public utilities, wildfire liability considerations include not only regulatory complexities, but also bankruptcy claims resolution, financing judgments and settlements, and how to leverage organizational structures to maximize investment protections, say David Botter and Lisa Schweitzer at Cleary.
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Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.