Environmental

  • March 29, 2024

    Atty Called A Flight Risk In $1.3 Billion Tax Fraud Case

    An attorney serving a 23-year prison sentence for tax fraud in a $1.3 billion conservation easement scheme is a flight risk and should remain in federal custody while he waits for his appeal, the government told a Georgia federal court Friday.

  • March 29, 2024

    EPA Sets New Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions Regulations

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it is finalizing new greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, dump trucks, public utility trucks and buses.

  • March 28, 2024

    Calif. Looks To Sink Chamber's Climate Disclosure Challenge

    The state of California says a challenge by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to its recently enacted corporate climate disclosure laws should be tossed, arguing the groups cannot sue since enforcement of the law has not begun and the groups cannot plead an injury.

  • March 28, 2024

    Kauai Groups, Hawaii Settle Suit Over Hydro Project Review

    Two West Kauai community groups say they've reached an agreement with the state of Hawaii and a utility to settle their suit over the environmental review for a hydroelectric development that threatened to divert large amounts of water from the Waimea River watershed.

  • March 28, 2024

    Fruit Grower Cleared To Leave Ch. 11 With $43M Exit Loan

    California stone fruit producer Prima Wawona is set to wind down its packing and distribution division, hand ownership of the reorganized company to creditors and leave bankruptcy after a Delaware bankruptcy judge agreed to approve its Chapter 11 plan Thursday.

  • March 28, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: WeWork, Reading FC, Pet Food Co.

    Ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann looks to buy the company back, Chiron Sports Group is in talks to buy Reading Football Club, and the private equity firms Advent and CVC eye a pet food company. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • March 28, 2024

    Enviro Groups Prepare To Defend EPA Particulate Matter Rule

    A coalition of six health and environmental organizations has moved to intervene before the D.C. Circuit in response to challenges brought by industry groups and Republican-led states seeking to upend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final rule tightening federal standards for fine particulate matter pollution.

  • March 28, 2024

    5th Circ. Nixes License For NM Nuke Storage Site

    The Fifth Circuit wiped out the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's license for a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in New Mexico, citing its August 2023 ruling finding the agency lacks authority to license a separate facility in Texas.

  • March 28, 2024

    Texas Wins Court Bid To Vacate Feds' Highway GHG Rule

    A Texas federal judge has dealt the Biden administration a blow by vacating a new Federal Highway Administration rule requiring states to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from federally funded highway projects, saying Congress never gave the agency that authority.

  • March 28, 2024

    Biden Admin Finalizes Rollback Of Trump-Era ESA Rules

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service on Thursday finalized three rules that strengthen Endangered Species Act protections for plants and animals by rolling back or revising three Trump-era regulations.

  • March 28, 2024

    Va. Landowners Return To Supreme Court In FERC Challenge

    Virginia residents with property being condemned for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision dismissing their suit challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's eminent domain authority, and its ability to delegate that authority to private companies.

  • March 28, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • March 27, 2024

    BlackRock's Non-ESG Funds Have Green Agenda, Miss. Says

    Mississippi's secretary of state announced Wednesday that it intends to fine BlackRock multiple millions of dollars, alleging the asset manager has repeatedly made false and misleading statements about its involvement in "pushing" environmental, social and corporate governance factors on portfolio companies.

  • March 27, 2024

    Tribes Want Climate Change Row With Oil Cos. In State Court

    Two Native American tribes urged a Washington federal court to remand their consolidated case against ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 back to state court, arguing they've only asserted state-law causes of action.

  • March 27, 2024

    BLM Finalizes Methane Venting And Flaring Rule

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday announced its final rule meant to cut the amount of methane released at energy production facilities by reducing leaks and tightening limits on a process known as flaring.

  • March 27, 2024

    FERC Finds Fans And Foes Of Wall Street's Utility Ownership

    The deadline has just passed for initial comments on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's reexamination of its policy for allowing financial firms to own electric utilities. Here's a recap of what FERC is contemplating and the initial feedback the agency has received from players throughout the U.S. power sector.

  • March 27, 2024

    Navajo Sue Feds Over Withheld Forestry Program Funds

    The Navajo Nation claims the U.S. Department of the Interior unlawfully withheld more than a million dollars in funding for its contracted forestry management program, telling a D.C. federal judge the department should be forced to provide the money and accept the funding agreements proposed by the nation.

  • March 27, 2024

    9th Circ. Rejects Rust-Oleum's Bid To Sink Class Cert.

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the certification of a class of Rust-Oleum customers who are suing the company for allegedly greenwashing its degreaser products with the terms "non-toxic" and "Earth friendly."

  • March 27, 2024

    DOE, Holtec Ink $1.5B Loan To Restart Mich. Nuclear Plant

    The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday unveiled an up to $1.52 billion loan to Holtec Palisades aimed at financing a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant restoration project for the previously shuttered Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert Township, Michigan.

  • March 27, 2024

    Boston Strikes Novel Deal To Contract For Offshore Wind

    Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday announced a novel deal between the city and energy company Avangrid Inc. to purchase up to 15 megawatts of wind-generated electricity from the company, contingent on Avangrid winning a multistate bidding process for new offshore development.

  • March 27, 2024

    Illegally Stored Oil Waste Threatens Ohio River, AG Suit Says

    The Ohio attorney general wants a state court to force the removal of tons of oil and gas industry waste illegally stored near the Ohio River that threatens to contaminate nearby drinking water sources.

  • March 27, 2024

    Feds Want Suit Over Spillway's Dolphin Harm Tossed

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is asking a Mississippi federal judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming it harmed bottlenose dolphins by keeping a massive flood control spillway above New Orleans open for months and sending some 10.5 trillion gallons of polluted freshwater into the Mississippi Sound.

  • March 27, 2024

    Dykema-Led CPS Energy Buying Texas Gas Assets For $785M

    Dykema Gossett PLLC-advised CPS Energy has agreed to buy a Texas power generation portfolio from Talen Energy Corp. for $785 million, the companies said Wednesday.

  • March 26, 2024

    EPA Pressed On Cost, Strength Of Slaughterhouse Water Rule

    Meat and poultry industry groups and environmentalists are clashing over how strict the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality regulations for slaughtering, processing and rendering facilities should be, while local regulators urged a focus on feasibility.

  • March 26, 2024

    Jackson Paints Abortion Clash As Microcosm Of Bigger Brawl

    A war of words Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court over access to abortion medication marked a climactic moment after a lengthy legal slugfest. But probing questions from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson illustrated that the main event for reproductive rights was also simply a single round in a much larger fight over the government's regulatory powers.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    A Telecom Attorney's Defense Of The Chevron Doctrine

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    The Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to federal regulators, is under attack in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — and while most telecom attorneys likely agree that the Federal Communications Commission is guilty of overrelying on it, the problem is not the doctrine itself, says Carl Northrop at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • SEC Whistleblower Action Spotlights Risks For Private Cos.

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent whistleblower action against Monolith Resources holds important implications for private companies, who could face unprecedented regulatory scrutiny amid the agency's efforts to beef up environmental, social and governance reporting and enforcement, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups

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    Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Mo. Solar Projects Need Clarity On Enterprise Zone Tax Relief

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    In Missouri, enhanced enterprise zones offer tax abatements that could offset the cost of solar project infrastructure, but developers must be willing to navigate uncertainty about whether the project is classified as real property, say Lizzy McEntire and Anna Kimbrell at Husch Blackwell.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • What To Expect After Colo. Nixes Special Standing Rules

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    Two recent Colorado Supreme Court decisions have abandoned a test to preclude standing in lawsuits challenging government decisions brought by subordinate government entities, which will likely lead to an admixture of results, including opening the door to additional legal challenges between government entities, says John Crisham at Crisham & Holman.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes

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    With social media’s ability to seize upon an issue and spin it into a specifically designed narrative, it is more critical than ever that a litigation communications strategy be part of trial planning to manage the impact of legal action on a company's reputation, say Sean Murphy and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

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