Practice Areas
Environmental
-
February 22, 2012
Enviros Sue EPA Over Shell's Alaskan Drilling Permits
A coalition of environmental groups launched a suit Tuesday in the Ninth Circuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its decision to allow Royal Dutch Shell PLC to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, challenging one of the first off-shore drilling permits to be issued after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
-
February 22, 2012
Oil Subsidies Will Likely Survive Tax Plan's Shift To Green
President Obama's tax reform proposal, unveiled Wednesday, will encourage investment in clean energy manufacturing, but its attempt to shift energy priorities by slashing billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil and gas companies is more likely to score political points than become law, experts said.
-
February 22, 2012
Freeport-McMoRan To Pay $5.5M For 3 Mine Cleanups
Copper mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Corp. agreed Tuesday to pay $5.5 million to clean up and restore three former mining sites as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of the Interior and New Mexico.
-
February 22, 2012
Nuclear Materials Caused Woman's Breast Cancer: Suit
Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Co. were hit with a personal injury suit Wednesday by a Pennsylvania woman claiming that toxic radioactive emissions from two nuclear materials processing facilities they operated gave her breast cancer.
-
February 22, 2012
Toxic Fly Ash Used In Golf Course Prompts $2B Suit
Hundreds of Virginia plaintiffs are taking a $2 billion swing at regional power company Dominion, which they accused in two lawsuits filed Tuesday of exposing them to toxic fly ash that was used as fill for a golf course built in the middle of their community.
-
February 22, 2012
Power Co. Triumphs In High Court Ruling On Navigable Waters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled PPL Montana LLC doesn't have to pay some $49 million to Montana for operating hydroelectric plants on its riverbeds, unanimously rejecting a state court's ruling that rivers with waterfalls and other "interruptions" were navigable.
-
February 21, 2012
NY Court Upholds Fracking Ban In Town's Row With Anschutz
A New York state judge on Tuesday upheld the town of Dryden's ban on hydrofracturing, rejecting natural gas company Anschutz Exploration Corp.'s contention that the ban is preempted by state laws that prevent regulation of the oil and gas industry on a local level.
-
February 21, 2012
Phosphate Co. Mosaic Settles Fla. Mine Expansion Dispute
The Mosaic Co. has reached a settlement agreement with environmental groups including The Sierra Club that will allow the Minnesota agricultural phosphate producer to continue mining at an extension of the South Fort Meade mine in central Florida, the company said Tuesday.
-
February 21, 2012
EPA's Fla. Water Standards Partially Struck Down
A Florida federal judge on Saturday invalidated the criteria the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses for acceptable nutrient levels in streams, but upheld the agency's standards for lakes and springs, and partially upheld criteria that protect lakes from nutrient pollution from upstream waters.
-
February 21, 2012
Deepwater Rig Worker Settles Injury Claims Against BP, Others
A Deepwater Horizon worker aboard the vessel during the April 2010 Macondo well explosion said Monday that she had settled her injury claims against companies targeted in ensuing multidistrict litigation, including BP PLC, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Energy Services Inc.
-
February 21, 2012
Mont. Landowners' Suit Over Exxon Spill Sent To State Court
A federal judge on Thursday remanded a suit over an ExxonMobil Oil Corp. oil spill into Montana's Yellowstone River, rejecting the oil giant's contention that landowners fraudulently added an Exxon supervisor to the suit to keep it in state court.
-
February 21, 2012
Air Quality Standard Needed Tightening: EPA To DC Circ.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defended its decision to make the national ambient air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide more stringent in response to an energy industry challenge before the D.C. Circuit Tuesday, saying the data clearly shows a risk to public health.
-
February 21, 2012
Exxon Sues La. Attys Over Star Document In Radiation Suits
ExxonMobil Corp. launched a suit Friday that aims to stop two Louisiana plaintiffs firms from continuing to try to enter an allegedly privileged document as evidence in radiation exposure litigation that seeks more than $65 million from the oil giant.
-
February 21, 2012
PG&E Holds On To $89M Award In Nuclear Waste Removal Suit
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected the government's challenge to $4.9 million of the $89 million in damages awarded to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in a contract dispute stemming from the U.S. government's failure to remove spent nuclear fuel.
-
February 21, 2012
Romanian Wind Co.'s Grid Suit Prompts Board Uproar
A subsidiary of Romanian energy giant Eolica Dobrogea AG has sued that country's grid operator and power regulator over an unfinished grid connection for a 600-megawatt wind farm, earning a strong rebuttal from its own board of directors on Tuesday and sparking a search to replace its executive.
-
February 17, 2012
BP Settles With Deepwater Drill Fluid Provider Over Spill
BP PLC said Friday it had settled with M-I LLC over M-I's role in providing drilling fluid and services at the oil well involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, asking the federal judge presiding over the multidistrict litigation to dismiss the claims with prejudice.
-
February 17, 2012
4th Circ. Greenlights $11B Va. Highway Project
The Fourth Circuit on Friday dismissed environmental groups' challenge to an $11.4 billion proposal to widen a major Virginia highway, rejecting claims that state and federal transportation agencies failed to properly consider green alternatives for a 325-mile stretch of Interstate 81.
-
February 17, 2012
House Greenlights Energy Bill To Expand Oil Drilling
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an energy bill Thursday evening that includes several Republican-backed energy proposals, including opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, removing restrictions on offshore oil drilling and jump-starting TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
-
February 17, 2012
Shell Scores BSEE Approval For Oil Spill Plan In Arctic
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on Friday approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.'s oil spill response plan for offshore drilling in the Arctic, saying the company met strict requirements instituted in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill.
-
February 17, 2012
9th Circ. Tosses Enviro Group's Turtle Protection Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday rejected an environmental group's bid to revive a lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of State of failing to properly consider whether foreign fleets harmed sea turtles in the process of capturing shrimp later sold in the U.S.
Expert Analysis
-
A Jolt Of Power For FERC In EPA Reliability Issues
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking comments on proposed procedures for advising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with respect to electric generator reliability issues — even though FERC itself has no statutory authority over generation adequacy and no experience modeling potential impacts from plant shutdowns, says Brian Gish of David Wright Tremaine LLP.
-
'Buy American' And Solar Devices — DOD Clarification
The U.S. Department of Defense's interim rule implementing the "Buy American" requirement for photovoltaic devices being purchased by the DOD should provide greater clarity for contractors regarding the types of products that will satisfy the new requirement, as well as how the requirement will be implemented, say attorneys with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
-
Flying In A New Direction: Migratory Bird Treaty Act
A North Dakota federal court has dismissed misdemeanor criminal charges against three oil and gas companies for violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in a significant opinion that represents the latest in a number of cases that have reinterpreted the act in a manner that does not criminalize the inadvertent "taking" of migratory birds, say Per Ramfjord and Stephen Galloway of Stoel Rives LLP.
-
Law School, Meet Litigation PR ...
The single most important thing law schools can do to manage their reputations in the face of litigation is apply the lessons learned from Wall Street during the recent financial crisis and strive for transparency in all communications. One need only look to Goldman Sachs’ woes or the struggles of Jon Corzine’s MF Global as examples of the catastrophic results of a campaign based on anything but complete honesty, says Spencer Baretz of Hellerman Baretz Communications.
-
Shale Of The Century
Shale gas has revolutionized the U.S. energy market and now looks set to do the same for China. But potentially entrenched opposition from an alliance of environmentalists, Big Coal, Big Nuclear and sidelined gas-producing nations means the road to fracking nirvana is likely to be bumpy, says Jeremy Sheldon of Stephenson Harwood.
-
Waste Not, Risk Not
The disposal of nonmedical solid waste may expose a hospital or other health care facility to potential liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, which may be difficult and/or expensive to resolve. Health care facilities ought to review their practices in order to minimize any risk, says Sheila Woolson of Epstein Becker Green PC.
-
Recent Trends In Green Energy M&A
The financial turmoil that began in the summer of 2011, particularly in Europe, has raised concerns regarding the availability of financing in 2012. Recent discussions at the Infocast green energy mergers and acquisitions conference provide insight on potential financing sources, as well as emerging deal structure trends, says Jonathan Melmed of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
-
Inside The 2nd Circ. Stance In Naranjo And Figueiredo
In Chevron Corp. v. Naranjo and in Figueiredo v. Republic of Peru, the Second Circuit has issued two important rulings regarding the adequacy and enforceability of foreign forums and judgments. In particular, the Figueiredo decision threatens to inject significant uncertainty in arbitral confirmation proceedings, particularly in cases involving sovereign defendants, say James Berger and Charlene Sun of Paul Hastings LLP.
-
Revised Removal Statutes — Possibilities, Pitfalls: Part 2
The Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011 has brought about substantial clarification in the federal removal, jurisdiction and venue statutes. But the act still leaves substantial ambiguity in place when it comes to the scope of these statutes, say Colin Wrabley and Douglas Allen of Reed Smith LLP.
-
Quite An 'Occurrence': Rehearing Steadfast V. AES
The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to rehear a coverage dispute involving the defense of climate-change lawsuits, though it previously had held that historic emissions of greenhouse gases were not a covered “occurrence.” The rehearing is unusual and the case is considered an important bellwether as the first of its kind, says John Nevius of Anderson Kill & Olick PC.