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Energy
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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
Voltage Gets Win From ITC Judge In Solar Patent Fight
The U.S. International Trade Commission has found that Shoals Technologies Group failed to meet an important element necessary to continue with its fight against Voltage over a patent relating to solar technology.
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March 07, 2024
5th Circ. Backs Chevron Win In White Ex-Worker's Bias Suit
The Fifth Circuit declined to reinstate a white former employee's lawsuit accusing a Chevron Corp. subsidiary of firing him to advance its race equity goals, saying he failed to push back on the company's argument that he was fired for repeatedly using the N-word.
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March 07, 2024
Deals Rumor Mill: Reddit, Cisco, LeBron James-PGA Tour
Reddit's IPO could fetch a $6.5 billion valuation, European antitrust regulators are likely to approve Cisco's $28 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Plunk, and LeBron James is among parties interested in investing up to $3 billion combined to support the PGA Tour. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.
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March 07, 2024
6th Circ. Sends Oilfield Workers' OT Suit Back To Lower Court
It should be up to a jury to sort out whether oilfield technicians' duties led to their irregular hours, the Sixth Circuit said, reversing an Ohio federal court's ruling in favor of the technicians in a wage dispute centering on an overtime exemption that applies to workers with fluctuating hours.
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March 07, 2024
Oil Co. Worker Says He Was Fired For Reporting Threats
A seven-year employee of National Oilwell Varco LP alleges that the company fired him after reporting that another worker made discriminatory comments toward him, including one instance in which he threatened him with a knife.
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March 07, 2024
Spain's Iberdrola Lobs $2.5B Bid For Rest Of Avangrid
Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola SA has proposed to take its portfolio company, sustainable energy company Avangrid, private by purchasing the remaining issued and outstanding shares it does not already own in a $2.48 billion deal, according to Thursday statements from the parties.
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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 07, 2024
EV Charging Co. Hits Ch. 11 With Plan For Lender Takeover
Electric vehicle charging company Charge Enterprises Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday in Delaware bankruptcy court with $48.7 million in debt, saying it plans to hand control of the company to lenders following a dispute with an investment adviser.
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March 06, 2024
Top Calif. Antitrust Atty Says Criminal Cases On The Horizon
California is poised to start prosecuting criminal antitrust cases under a Golden State law that is "broader" than federal law, a senior assistant attorney general for the California Department of Justice said Wednesday at a San Francisco conference.
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March 06, 2024
Red State AGs Sue SEC Over 'Illegal' Climate Disclosure Regs
The attorneys general of West Virginia and Georgia are heading a coalition of 10 Republican-led states in asking the Eleventh Circuit to review the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's adoption Wednesday of climate reporting standards requiring some of the nation's largest companies to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.
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March 06, 2024
Ex-Oil Exec. Michael Reger Dukes It Out With Dorsey Attys
Michael Reger, a co-founder and former executive of now-defunct oil transloading company Dakota Plains Holdings Inc., is trading blows in Minnesota state court with his onetime legal counsel from Dorsey & Whitney LLP, with the firm saying Reger's malpractice complaint is just an attempt to skip his bill following a stock fraud suit.
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March 06, 2024
Norfolk Southern Can't Shift Cleanup Costs To Tank Car Cos.
Norfolk Southern cannot dump environmental cleanup costs on seven tank car owners and shipping customers with rail cars transporting chemicals and hazardous materials on the train that derailed in East Palestine last year, an Ohio federal judge said Wednesday.
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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
M&A Values Getting Boost Amid Election-Year Scramble
The value of U.S. mergers and acquisitions as of Wednesday has doubled year over year, as economic concerns subside and deal-makers scramble to get deals done in an election year, but middle-market transaction activity isn't panning out as some had hoped.
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March 06, 2024
50 Lawmakers Urge FTC To Probe Oil And Gas Consolidations
A group of 50 lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a recent string of mergers and acquisitions in the oil industry, saying this "longstanding consolidation trend" threatens to reduce choice and competition across the supply chain, suppress wages and make gas at the pump more expensive.
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March 06, 2024
NTSB Chief Says Boeing Isn't Sharing Info In Blowout Probe
The National Transportation Safety Board's chief told a Senate panel Wednesday that The Boeing Co. still hasn't provided information about the door plug that blew off a 737 Max 9 jet two months ago, fueling troubling new questions as Boeing faces multiple probes into its safety culture and quality control.
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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
PacifiCorp Must Pay $42.4M To Oregon Fire Victims, Jury Says
A Portland jury said Tuesday that electric power company PacifiCorp must pay $42.4 million to compensate another 10 victims of devastating Labor Day fires that burned in Oregon in 2020, with thousands more class members awaiting potential trials.
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March 06, 2024
Red States Challenge EPA's Particulate Matter Standards
A coalition of 24 Republican-led states filed a petition before the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday urging the court to upend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently announced final rule tightening federal standards for fine particulate matter pollution.
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March 06, 2024
Feds Pledge $72M For Tribes To Close Electrification Gaps
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said the Biden administration is awarding $72 million in a first round of funding to help Native American tribes electrify more homes in their communities.
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March 06, 2024
3rd Circ. Bristles At Exxon Ignoring OSHA Whistleblower Order
A Third Circuit panel on Wednesday seemed exasperated with ExxonMobil's refusal to reinstate two fired whistleblowers despite an Occupational Safety and Health Administration order to do so, repeatedly grilling the energy company's counsel to come up with a good reason for flouting the directive.
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March 06, 2024
Epic Tesla Fee Bid May Blaze Extraordinary Chancery Path
An unprecedented $5 billion-plus stock-based fee award sought by class attorneys who recently short-circuited Tesla CEO Elon Musk's 12-step, $51 billion compensation package has set up an equally unprecedented test for Delaware Court of Chancery fee guidelines and a potential award one law expert described as "dynastic wealth."
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March 06, 2024
Power Co. Can't Escape Explosion Fraud Claim
An infrastructure supply company can't toss a fraud claim brought by an industrial company's insurers in a suit seeking to recoup $18.7 million in damages for a manufacturing facility explosion, an Ohio federal court ruled, finding that the carriers can bring both a breach of contract claim and a fraud claim.
Expert Analysis
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Self-Disclosure Lessons From Exemplary Corp. Resolutions
With scant examples of corporate resolutions in the wake of U.S. Department of Justice self-disclosure policy changes last fall, companies may glean helpful insights from three recent declination letters, as well as other governmental self-reporting regimes, say Lindsey Collins and Kate Rumsey at Sheppard Mullin.
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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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Bid Protest Spotlight: Unfair Advantage, Buy American Waiver
In this month's bid protest roundup, James Tucker at MoFo offers takeaways on one decision that considers unfair proposal development advantages in the context of an employee's access to nonpublic information in a prior federal government position, and another decision that reconsiders a contract award based on an inadequately supported waiver of Buy American Act restrictions.
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2 High Court Cases Could Upend Administrative Law Bedrock
Next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding two cases likely to change the nature and shape of agency-facing litigation in perpetuity, and while one will clarify or overturn Chevron, far more is at stake in the other, say Dan Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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Prevailing Wage Rules Complicate Inflation Act Tax Incentives
Nicole Elliott and Timothy Taylor at Holland & Knight discuss the intersection between tax and labor newly created by the Inflation Reduction Act, and focus on aspects of recent U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of the Treasury rules that may catch tax-incentive seekers off guard.
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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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Texas Produced Water Ruling Helps Clarify Oil, Gas Leases
A Texas state appeals court's recent opinion in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating, holding that the mineral lessee under an oil and gas lease owns the water extracted during oil and gas production, is a first step toward clarity on an issue that has divided the midstream industry, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Pa. Case Highlights Complexity Of Oil And Gas Leases
A Pennsylvania state court's recent decision in Douglas Equipment Inc. v. EQT Production Co. is a reminder that oil and gas leases are rather strange creatures — morphing from something akin to a traditional surface lease to a mineral property conveyance the moment oil and gas is produced, says Christopher Rogers at Frost Brown.
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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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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.