Practice Areas
Environmental
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January 27, 2012
EPA Says Palm Oil Falls Short Of Renewable Fuels Standard
Biofuels made from palm oil fail to meet a renewable fuels standard because of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report released Friday.
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January 27, 2012
Pa. Lawmakers Object To Gas Drilling Bill Provisions
A group of nine Republican state senators on Wednesday expressed their opposition to a provision in a bill that might prevent municipalities from enforcing their own standards regarding drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation.
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January 27, 2012
New Calif. Air Rules Require More Zero-Emission Cars
California will require automakers to sell more than a million zero-emission vehicles, including battery-powered electric cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars, by the year 2025, as part of new emissions rules adopted Friday by the state's air regulator.
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January 27, 2012
McGuireWoods Snags K&L Gates Insurance, Environment Pro
McGuireWoods LLP has snagged an insurance and environmental litigation specialist from K&L Gates LLP, expanding the commercial litigation department in its Pittsburgh office, the firm said Friday.
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January 27, 2012
Chevron Defends Brazil Cleanup As Spill Charges Loom
Chevron Corp. said Friday that it had fully complied with Brazilian laws after an oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, responding to reports that Chevron and its managers were facing criminal charges in addition to an $11 billion civil suit.
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January 27, 2012
Developer, Native Tribe Team Up For $100M Wind Farm
Idaho-based renewable energy company Exergy Development Group will build a wind farm on tribal land in Maine, a $100 million deal believed to be the nation's first to allow Native Americans majority ownership of a utility-connected project, the parties said Friday.
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January 27, 2012
EU Shale Gas Rules Effective For Now, Study Shows
European Union law is effective in regulating current shale gas exploration but will likely need revision to account for environmental impacts as European drilling companies’ operations begin to look more like those in the United States, according to an EU-commissioned study released Friday.
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January 27, 2012
IFC, UK Pour $153M Into PE Fund For Green Projects
The International Finance Corp. and the U.K. have agreed to invest about $153.5 million into a private equity fund for eco-minded companies in emerging markets, Washington-based IFC announced Friday.
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January 27, 2012
Wis. Assembly Passes Bill To Clear Path For $2B Iron Mine
A Florida company's bid to build a $2 billion open-pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin received a boost Thursday after the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Assembly passed a bill that would relax iron mining permitting requirements over the objections of conservationists.
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January 27, 2012
Foes Of $5.5B Oil Sands Deal Brace For Scrutiny
Canada's charities and nonprofits are bracing for scrutiny as the country's pro-oil-sands government accuses them of using foreign money to sabotage plans for Enbridge Inc.'s $5.5 billion oil sands pipeline, which has just begun a 16-month public review.
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January 27, 2012
DOE Shouldn't Manage Nuclear Waste, Panel Says
A presidential panel said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Energy should relinquish its responsibility for managing the nation's nuclear waste to an independent body, contending that the agency was not stable enough to oversee the efforts.
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January 26, 2012
Group Can't Retee Enviro Claims In Parkland Suit: 6th Circ.
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday partially upheld a lower court's ruling against Benton Harbor, Mich., residents fighting the National Park Service over the construction of a golf course on parkland, finding some of their environmental claims moot with the course already completed.
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January 26, 2012
MidAmerican Energy Regains Bid For Iowa Nuclear Plant
Power provider MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. gained ground Thursday in its bid to build a nuclear plant in Iowa after the state legislature revived a bill backing the multibillion-dollar project.
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January 26, 2012
BP On Hook For Some Deepwater Claims Against Transocean
The federal judge handling multidistrict litigation over the Deepwater Horizon disaster ruled Thursday that BP PLC must cover some oil-spill-related compensatory damages against Transocean Ltd., even if they involved negligence or strict liability on Transocean’s part.
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January 26, 2012
Mexico Appeals WTO Ruling In Dolphin-Safe Tuna Dispute
Mexico on Wednesday appealed a recent World Trade Organization panel ruling that U.S. dolphin-safe tuna labeling rules did not discriminate against products from Mexico even though they were found to be overly trade-restrictive.
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January 26, 2012
FirstEnergy To Shutter 6 Plants Over New EPA Rules
Citing the burden of new federal regulations concerning airborne pollutants, FirstEnergy Corp. announced Thursday that it will close six coal-fired power plants before September.
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January 26, 2012
Wells Fargo, Enfinity Kick Off $100 Million Solar Fund
European renewable energy developer Enfinity NV's North American unit has launched a $100 million renewable energy fund backed by financial giant Wells Fargo & Co., the firms said Wednesday.
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January 26, 2012
US Floats New Plan For Natural Forest Land Management
The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday released its latest vision for modernizing land management plans that govern the 193-million-acre National Forest System, saying the new framework would save time and cost less than under the 30-year-old procedures currently in place.
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January 26, 2012
9th Circ. Should Block EPA's Nanosilver Approval: NRDC
The National Resources Defense Council asked the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of use of nanosilver in textiles, saying the agency doesn't yet have the legally required data about its potentially harmful effects on humans and wildlife.
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January 26, 2012
Judge Fines Ship Owner, Operator $2.4M For Illegal Dumping
A Maryland federal judge on Wednesday ordered two shipping companies to pay a total $2.4 million after they pled guilty to four felony counts associated with multiple deliberate releases, over a period of nine months, of waste oil and plastic garbage into the ocean from a cargo ship.
Expert Analysis
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Aftershock Of Earth-Shaking Fracking Concerns
Environmentalists have used recent earthquakes in Ohio to call for broader federal regulation on hydraulic fracturing and drilling moratoriums. It is critical to make clear that the facts of this case pertain only to underground injection of wastewater and not the hydraulic fracturing process itself, say Eric Waeckerlin and Michele Hallowell of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.
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Drilling Out The Weak Spots In Auditor Requirements
In September 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a proposed rule that will have the effect of impeding an operator’s ability to comply with safety and environmental management system auditing requirements in Outer Continental Shelf drilling. The oil and gas industry ought to take the lead in proposing guidance for filling gaps in the proposed rule, say Stephanie Salek, Jonathan Henry and Kelsey Desloover of King & Spalding LLP.
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The Nonoccurrence Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Emitters of greenhouse gases now more than ever need to be keenly aware of the exact terms of their insurance coverage policy, as insurers will be able to use the Virginia Supreme Court's recent decision in AES Corp. v. Steadfast Insurance Co. to argue that greenhouse gas emissions do not constitute an occurrence under a standard general liability policy, say Joseph Jean and Kimberly Diamond of Lowenstein Sandler PC.
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Winds Of Change In South Africa
The year 2011 looks set to have been a breakthrough year for South Africa, now that its renewables program is up and running after a long road filled with twists and turns. Going forward, the country's energy sector seems poised to make a significant shift from an overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, says Clint Steyn of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
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Challenging Local Bans On Shale Gas Drilling
As the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation finishes its environmental review of shale-gas drilling in the state, opponents are refocusing their efforts at the local level to ban hydraulic fracturing. We expect these laws are just the first of a series of efforts to ban or heavily restrict drilling, say Thomas Warth and Thomas Paul of Hiscock & Barclay LLP.
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2012 Predictions For TSCA Reform And EPA Initiatives
Environmental issues are often used to make clear distinctions between the two major political parties in the U.S., and that is especially true during a presidential election year. We offer our thoughts on what may be headed our way in 2012 with regard to reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act and chemical management initiatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, say Lynn Bergeson, James Aidala and Charles Auer of Bergeson & Campbell PC.
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Navigating Calif.’s New 33% RPS Law
The California Public Utilities Commission has approved implementation of key provisions of the state’s 33 Percent Renewable Portfolio Standards law, which will have a profound impact on future RPS procurement and investment in the state, say Dian Grueneich and Cara Goldenberg of Morrison & Foerster LLP.
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Bird's-Eye View: Wind And Solar Projects On BLM Land
The rights-of-way granted by the Bureau of Land Management for solar and wind projects differ from privately granted real estate interests in several important respects. The lender concerns in this area generally fall into four categories, says Scott Bank of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
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State Law Split: Transactions Assigning Insurance Rights
Two recent cases — Continental Ins. Co. v. Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. and Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Commerce & Industry Ins. Co. — highlight the importance of the question of which state’s law applies to an assignment of rights under insurance policies, which is especially relevant in transactions involving companies with long-tail liabilities such as environmental and asbestos claims, say attorneys with Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
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Broadening The Field Of Acceptable Expert Witnesses
There are many pitfalls in using the same expert witnesses over and over again. In choosing an expert, you should look to someone who has had real-life experience in the area that requires the expert testimony, which does not always mean the person with the most academic degrees, says Donald Chance Mark of Fafinski Mark & Johnson PC.