Environmental

  • April 15, 2024

    Vermont's 3M PFAS Suit Remanded To State Court

    A Vermont federal judge has sent the state's "forever chemicals" suit against 3M Co., E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. and others back to state court, finding that 3M filed its notice of removal too late after learning that the claims concerned a facility that made products for the military.

  • April 15, 2024

    NH Power Plant Co. Can Send Dual-Path Ch. 11 Plan To A Vote

    The operator of a New Hampshire power plant fueled by scrap wood can seek creditors' approval of its Chapter 11 proposal, through which the debtor would either sell its assets or hand ownership of the reorganized business to lenders, a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Food Supplier Sues Ga. City Over $1.5M Wastewater Penalties

    The city of Dawsonville, Georgia, and seven city officials have been sued in Georgia federal court by a food supplier that alleges the city threatened to shut off water and sewage service to its poultry processing plant based on more than $1.5 million in "illegally assessed" wastewater discharge penalties.

  • April 15, 2024

    4th Circ. Upholds W.Va.'s Win In Coal Mine Cleanup Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed a West Virginia federal court's order ending developers' allegations that the state's environmental regulators' reclamation efforts at an old coal mining site constituted illegal dumping, finding the lower court correctly concluded the efforts are exempt from regulations prohibiting open dumps.

  • April 15, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware justices mulled whether one Chancery Court vice chancellor properly voided four company bylaws — just as another vice chancellor voided one more. Fights among Truth Social investors continued, and shareholders launched new cases involving Macy's, United Airlines, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC.

  • April 15, 2024

    Republican AGs Ask 5th Circ. To Knock Out DOL Rule For ESG

    A group of Republican-led states have urged the Fifth Circuit to scrap a U.S. Department of Labor rule allowing retirement advisers to consider social and political issues when choosing investments, arguing that the agency is flouting protections set in stone by federal benefits law.

  • April 15, 2024

    EPA Won't Cut Stationary Combustion Turbines From CAA

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rejected a petition filed by energy industry groups looking to remove stationary combustion turbines from the list of sources subject to regulation for emissions of air toxics.

  • April 15, 2024

    High Court Won't Hear California Tribal Casino Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a bid by an anti-casino advocacy group seeking to overturn a Ninth Circuit decision that dismissed their case after determining that the Ione Band of Miwok Indians is eligible to go forward with its project in California.

  • April 12, 2024

    US, EU Antitrust Officials Agree On Much, Not Sustainability

    The leaders of the U.S. and European antitrust agencies said Friday their views are broadly aligned on many competition policy issues, though they also outlined opposing approaches to companies that want to collaborate on sustainability projects.

  • April 12, 2024

    Chamber Defends SEC Climate Regs From Enviros' Challenge

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to help defend the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against legal challenges environmental groups have brought over its climate disclosure regulations, even after the business group sued the regulator in March to have the rules nixed.

  • April 12, 2024

    Tyco Reaches $750M PFAS Deal In Foam Co. MDL

    Johnson Controls International PLC subsidiary Tyco Fire Products LP on Friday agreed to pay $750 million to settle public water systems' federal claims that some "forever chemicals" they detected in their supplies came from firefighting foam it made.

  • April 12, 2024

    DOI Sews Up Overhaul Of Oil Leasing Regs And Rates

    The U.S. Department of the Interior on Friday finalized its overhaul of decades-old onshore oil and gas leasing regulations and rates with an eye on guiding oil and gas drilling toward already developed public lands.

  • April 12, 2024

    Maine AG Sues Monsanto Over PCB Contamination

    Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey sued Monsanto on Friday seeking to recover damages for the company's alleged contamination of the state's waterways with polychlorinated biphenyls, a dangerous chemical compound known to accumulate and persist in humans and the environment.

  • April 12, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Block Park Plan Over Religious Concerns

    The Fifth Circuit has upheld a lower court's decision ordering the city of San Antonio to allow Native American church members access to a park under renovation for religious ceremonies but declined to enjoin the city's planned tree removal and bird deterrence program.

  • April 12, 2024

    DOJ Must Cut Through Political Noise In US Steel Probe

    The U.S. Department of Justice has its work cut out for it as it conducts a probe of Nippon Steel's planned $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel, a potentially drawn out process that experts say will test the antitrust division's ability to remain objective in the face of immense pressure from President Biden, an influential union, and a concurrent CFIUS review. 

  • April 12, 2024

    Mediation Not Required In River Authority Price Hike Row

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court decision that the San Jacinto River Authority was required to mediate claims with two Houston-area cities over unpaid amounts for groundwater services, writing that contract provisions for alternative dispute resolution "do not serve as limits" on a waiver of governmental immunity.

  • April 12, 2024

    NC Auto Parts Co. Settling Feds' Emissions-Cheating Claims

    The U.S. government and a North Carolina auto parts seller are close to settling a lawsuit alleging the company sold equipment to overwrite vehicle emissions controls, according to a joint motion to stay the litigation so the two sides can finalize a deal.

  • April 12, 2024

    Tribes Look To Overturn Enbridge's Line 5 Mich. Tunnel Permit

    Several tribal nations are asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn and remand a state commission's permit approval that allows Enbridge Energy to build a Line 5 pipeline tunnel project beneath the Straits of Mackinac, arguing that they and others were barred from introducing evidence relevant to the final decision.

  • April 12, 2024

    US Steel Stockholders Greenlight $14.9B Sale To Nippon

    U.S. Steel said Friday that its shareholders have "overwhelmingly" approved the American steel company's nearly $15 billion takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel, a positive development in a deal that's otherwise received a high degree of political and regulatory scrutiny. 

  • April 12, 2024

    Florida Loses Bid To Retain Control Of CWA Permit Program

    A D.C. federal judge on Friday rejected Florida's bid to retain some control over a Clean Water Act permitting program that he recently found was improperly handed off to the state by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • April 12, 2024

    Justices Limit Shareholder Suits Over Corporate Disclosures

    A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that a corporation's failure to disclose certain information about its future business risks, absent any affirmative statement that would make such silence misleading, cannot itself be the basis of a private securities fraud claim.

  • April 11, 2024

    NJ Climate Suit Goes 'Far Beyond' Boundaries, Oil Cos. Say

    Six oil companies and an energy trade group told a judge Thursday that New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is attempting to stretch the state's tort law "far beyond" any manageable boundaries in attempting to hold them liable for allegedly misleading Garden State residents about the climate impacts of fossil fuels.

  • April 11, 2024

    Interior Dept. Finalizes Rule To Strengthen Endangered Species Act

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday announced a final rule it said is intended to increase participation in its voluntary conservation programs, but environmentalists slammed it as "a huge missed opportunity" to improve conditions for wildlife.

  • April 11, 2024

    Pacific Pipeline To Pay Calif. Landowners $70M Over Oil Spill

    A class of landowners urged a California federal judge to sign off on a $70 million deal with Pacific Pipeline Co. to resolve litigation stemming from the rupture of an onshore pipeline that leaked 140,000 gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara, California, according to a motion for settlement approval entered Wednesday.

  • April 11, 2024

    DOI Lowers Fees For Solar, Wind Projects On Public Lands

    The U.S. Department of the Interior unveiled finalized updates to its renewable energy regulations on Thursday that are aimed at promoting the development of solar and wind energy on public lands by lowering the associated fees.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Biden Climate Push Expands With Contractor GHG Focus

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    President Joe Biden's recent announcement that federal agencies will consider contractors' greenhouse gas emissions when making procurement decisions demonstrates his administration's continued interest in using government contracting as a vehicle for reducing climate-related impacts — a theme first established in the early months of his term, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Shifts In EU, UK Emissions Credits: Challenges For Cos.

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    An upcoming deadline to apply for free carbon dioxide emissions allowances in the European Union, and a reduction in the supply of similar allowances in the U.K., are likely to increase competition for allowances, and cause production, supply chain and contract issues for companies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers

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    As shareholder activists take a closer look at the insurance industry, they are pushing insurers to take value-enhancing and climate-related measures — but insurers can prepare by anticipating activist concerns, maintaining robust shareholder engagement, and considering changes in response to the universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • House Bill Could Help Resolve 'Waters Of US' Questions

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    Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House that would restore Clean Water Act protection to areas excluded from it by the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision faces an uphill battle, but could help settle the endless debates over the definition of "waters of the United States," says Richard Leland at Akerman.

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