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Energy
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March 11, 2024
Canadian Oil Driller Seeks US Recognition Of Reorg Filings
A Canadian operator of Wyoming oil and gas wells Monday asked a Delaware court to recognize its Canadian insolvency proceedings, saying it is out of cash, $92 million in debt and seeking a buyer after years of production problems.
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March 11, 2024
Utah Counties Ask Justices To Rein In NEPA Requirements
A coalition of seven Utah counties urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit's decision revoking federal approval of a rail line to transport crude oil from Utah, saying the justices must provide clarity on a circuit split over the required scope of a federal agency's environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.
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March 11, 2024
FERC Says Nixing Power Market Revision Was Right Move
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday defended its rejection of a regional grid operator's revision of its capacity market rules due to competition worries, telling the D.C. Circuit that utility giant Entergy Inc. has no basis to challenge the decision.
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March 11, 2024
Biden DOT Budget Targets Aviation Safety, Private Jet Use
The Biden administration is seeking to impose new fees on private jet users, boost aviation industry hiring and accelerate transit, highway and other infrastructure projects under a $109.3 billion budget request for the U.S. Department of Transportation that the White House unveiled Monday.
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March 11, 2024
Corps Says Groups Can't Show Dredging Permit Was Flawed
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an Enbridge Inc. unit told the Fifth Circuit that several groups challenging a permit issued for dredging and construction for the expansion of a major oil terminal on Texas's Gulf Coast may want a different outcome but can't show any permitting decisions were flawed.
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March 11, 2024
Kirkland, Latham Guide $35B EQT-Equitrans Gas Merger
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-guided EQT Corp. and Latham & Watkins LLP-backed Equitrans Midstream Corp. said Monday they have agreed to merge, creating a $35 billion natural gas giant that will be "well positioned to be a globally competitive American energy leader."
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March 08, 2024
Inside The Climactic Clash Over Skyrocketing MDL Caseloads
A seven-year showdown over the nation's swelling docket of ultra-high-stakes consumer suits is hurtling toward its moment of truth, as a judicial oversight panel weighs impassioned input from big-name attorneys and judges endorsing everything from sweeping overhauls to the tiniest of tweaks.
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March 08, 2024
La. Judge Won't Halt Clean Water Rule Favoring States, Tribes
A Louisiana federal judge has rejected red states' and industry groups' effort to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new clean water rule that broadens states' and tribes' power to veto projects like pipelines, export terminals and dams over water quality concerns.
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March 08, 2024
SEC's Climate Regs Face Multipronged Courtroom Attack
The future of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's long-awaited corporate climate disclosure regulations is up in the air as the agency stares down lawsuits challenging its authority to promulgate the rules, with even more parties threatening to force the agency to defend its decision in court for years.
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March 08, 2024
Gerdau Steel Denied Fathers Parental Leave, Ex-Workers Say
Male steel mill workers for Gerdau were not allowed to take parental leave when their children were born unlike their female co-workers who were granted maternity leave, in violation of federal equal pay law, according to a proposed collective action filed in Texas federal court.
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March 08, 2024
Allegiance Coal Spars With Ch. 11 Lender Over $1.8M Fees
A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Friday declined to rule on a petition from mining company Allegiance Coal USA to toss its debtor-in-possession lender's adversary proceeding demanding $1.8 million in fees, allowing more time to determine whether the fees have priority over the rest of the debtor's obligations.
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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
Texas Challenges EPA Methane Rule 'Overreach'
Texas on Friday sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over sweeping methane emissions control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure that include the first-ever requirements for existing sources.
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March 08, 2024
Mich. Justices Punt On Time Limits For Ballot Petition Drives
The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal from fracking opponents whose proposed ban didn't make the ballot because many gathered signatures were too old, though one justice said the court should have ruled on whether those time limits pass muster.
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March 08, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen Barclays initiate legal proceedings against top Russian private bank JSC Alfa-Bank; Lex Greensill, founder of the collapsed Greensill Capital, suing the U.K.'s Department for Business and Trade; Wikipedia's parent company hit with a libel claim; and a sports journalism teacher filing a data protection claim against Manchester United FC. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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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
Chemours Internal Review Reveals Violations By Top Execs
Chemical giant Chemours announced on Wednesday that an internal investigation revealed that three executives engaged in unethical financial practices to boost their incentive compensation.
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March 07, 2024
Tesla Can Force Individual Arbitration In EV Mileage Fight
A California federal judge on Thursday ruled that Tesla can force individual arbitration in two proposed class actions alleging the carmaker falsely advertised inflated mileage ranges for its electric vehicles, but stayed the suit in case an arbitrator determines that certain relief is barred under Tesla's arbitration agreement.
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March 07, 2024
Petition Watch: Student Athletes, Oil Spills & Preemption
The U.S. Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions for review each term, but only a few make the news. Here, Law360 looks at four petitions filed in the past three weeks that you might've missed: questions over whether student athletes have a business interest in being eligible to play college sports, how much oil is needed to qualify as an oil spill, whether an exemption to the Fourth Amendment applies to artificial intelligence and whether consumers can sue drug companies under state law for violating federal regulations.
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March 07, 2024
Judges Say Facing Threats And Vitriol Now Part Of The Job
Federal judges spoke Thursday about the challenges of the profession in the 21st century, describing how they've either received threats or know of warnings against colleagues, with one jurist saying she received 11 death threats during her first three months on the bench.
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March 07, 2024
Xcel Energy Says It May Be To Blame For Texas Wildfire
Xcel Energy Inc. said Thursday that its facilities may have been involved in igniting one of the massive wildfires ravaging the Texas Panhandle, though it said it disputes the notion that it was negligent in maintaining and operating its infrastructure.
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March 07, 2024
Tesla's $6M Solar Roof Deal OK'd After Objector Backs Down
A California federal judge on Thursday approved Tesla's $6.08 million class action settlement and class counsel's $1.5 million fee request resolving allegations Tesla deceptively raised prices of its solar roof tile system after a class member dropped her sole objection mid-hearing upon learning she'll receive $17,000 under the settlement.
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March 07, 2024
Southern Peaks Awarded $42.5M Over Peruvian Copper Deal
Peruvian copper producer Southern Peaks Mining LP said it has won a multi-million-dollar arbitral award favoring its management subsidiary due to breaches of a sale and purchase agreement with Singaporean commodity trading company Trafigura Beheer BV over the acquisition of a mine.
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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
Wells Fargo, Goldman Escape Some Climate Proxy Proposals
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. may exclude from their upcoming proxy statements shareholder proposals calling for reports on their clients' climate change commitments, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange staff, which also wouldn't let Wells Fargo or Texas Instruments Inc. escape including separate labor and human rights-related proposals.
Expert Analysis
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Info Exchanges Must Stay Inside Now-Invisible Antitrust Lines
While the antitrust agencies recently withdrew long-standing enforcement policy statements for being "overly permissive" on information exchanges, we should not assume that all information exchanges are inherently suspect — they are still permissible if carefully constructed and vigorously managed, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
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In Ga., Promptness Is Key To Setting Aside Default Judgments
The Georgia Court of Appeals' recent vacating of a lower court's decision to set aside a default judgment against Samsung Electronics America is a reminder of the processes and arguments provided by Georgia's statutes for challenging default judgments — including the importance of responding quickly, says Katy Robertson at Swift Currie.
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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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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.