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Environmental
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May 23, 2013
Texas Appeals Court Upholds Keystone XL Land Grab
A Texas appeals court on Thursday removed a hurdle to TransCanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL Pipeline, rejecting a landowner’s argument that the company should have been forced to prove it qualified as a common carrier before it was given access to private property.
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May 23, 2013
No Future For Climate Change Torts, Attys Say
With the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit recently pulling the plug on suits blaming energy companies for spewing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming and extreme weather, attorneys say the pursuit of climate change tort litigation is approaching a dead end, leaving legislation and regulation as the only viable outlets to tackle the issue.
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May 22, 2013
FERC Nixes Permit For Tidal Energy Project On NJ River
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday denied a preliminary permit for a tidal energy project proposed for New Jersey’s Manasquan River, after ruling the applicant, Natural Currents Energy Services LLC, had failed to follow regulatory guidelines in its exploration of a prior, nearly identical project.
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May 22, 2013
Refiners Reach $4M Deal To Settle Mich. Cleanup Suit
Chem-Serve Corp. and Dearborn Refining Co. have agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suit over hazardous substances spilled or abandoned at waste oil sites in Michigan, according to a judgment filed Wednesday.
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May 22, 2013
Pa. Fracking Wastewater Plants Agree To $30M Upgrades
A western Pennsylvania operator of plants that treat fracking wastewater will pay as much as $30 million to upgrade the facilities to meet more stringent environmental standards under a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday.
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May 22, 2013
Miami-Dade OKs $1.6B In Sewer Improvements
Miami-Dade County will spend $1.6 billion over the next 15 years to upgrade its aging, stressed sewer system under a settlement with federal and state environmental agencies approved by the county commissioners Tuesday.
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May 22, 2013
Patton Boggs Partner Must Testify in $19B Chevron RICO Suit
A New York federal judge Tuesday ordered a Patton Boggs LLP partner to give a deposition in a dispute over a $19.2 billion Ecuadorean pollution judgment against Chevron Corp. and refused to limit it to subjects related to documents he ordered the firm to turn over.
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May 22, 2013
EPA, 4 Cos. Strike Deal To Study NJ Superfund Site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has inked an agreement requiring four chemical, manufacturing and wood treatment companies to pay for a study to determine contamination levels and cleanup strategies at the Standard Chlorine Chemical Co. Inc. Superfund site in Kearny, N.J., the agency said Wednesday.
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May 21, 2013
Calif. Appeals Court Backs Plans For Desalination Plant
A California appeals court on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s finding that the Marin Municipal Water District certified a substandard environmental impact report for its proposed seawater desalination plant, upending an initial win for an environmental group that had challenged the project.
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May 21, 2013
BP, La. Fend Off Deepwater Berm Claims In 5th Circ.
A group of commercial oyster harvesters suing BP PLC, Louisiana and several contractors over alleged damages from berms built in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster was dealt serious setbacks on Monday by the Fifth Circuit and a Louisiana federal court.
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May 20, 2013
Ex-BP Exec Gets Obstruction Charge Thrown Out
A Louisiana federal judge on Monday dropped an obstruction charge from the indictment of the former BP PLC executive who was second-in-command during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, finding the government didn’t allege he knew of the congressional investigation he was charged with obstructing.
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May 20, 2013
Agencies Deserve Deference On Jurisdiction, Justices Say
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that courts should apply a deferential standard of review toward a federal agency's definition of its own jurisdiction, siding with the Federal Communications Commission in a fight with local government agencies over zoning rules for wireless facilities.
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May 17, 2013
CH2M Can't Get Additional Fees For $2.7B Cleanup, DOE Says
A review conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy over a $2.7 billion contract awarded to a CH2M Hill company for environmental cleanup of the Idaho National Laboratory nuclear research facility site has found that the contractor isn't entitled to additional fees based on the contract's nontarget work.
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May 17, 2013
9th Circ. Allows Expert Testimony In Pepsi Toxic Tort
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday overturned the exclusion of expert testimony made on behalf of two women suing PepsiAmericas Inc. and others over their alleged exposure to toxic chemicals from a chrome-plating plant, ruling it was better left for consideration at trial.
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May 17, 2013
Enviro Group Loses Challenge To EPA Permit Regulation
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Thursday axed the National Wildlife Federation's Administrative Procedure Act suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency challenging a regulation governing some water discharge permits, finding the group had not pointed to a final agency action that applied the regulation.
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May 16, 2013
NRG Unit Owed Defense In Air Pollution Suit, 5th Circ. Says
The Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that Illinois Union Insurance Co. has a duty to defend NRG Energy Inc.'s Louisiana unit in an underlying suit launched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over alleged toxic emissions in violation of the Clean Air Act.
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May 16, 2013
US Can Mention Ex-BP Engineer's Deleted Texts In Spill Trial
The U.S. government will be allowed to reference deleted text messages that it never recovered during the trial of a BP PLC engineer accused of destroying evidence in the frantic first days of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a Louisiana federal judge ruled Thursday.
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May 16, 2013
Honeywell Dodges Enviros' Claims That It Botched Cleanup
A New York federal judge on Wednesday tossed a suit accusing Honeywell International Inc. of exposing upstate residents to dangerous chemicals after botching a government-mandated water pollution cleanup, saying the court can't prevent Honeywell from pumping the polluted sediment to their neighborhood.
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May 16, 2013
Tribe's Floodwater Damage Case Sinks In 11th Circ.
The Eleventh Circuit ruled Wednesday that the federal government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers properly managed the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control in the Everglades, rejecting a challenge claiming Indian tribal lands suffered from excessive floodwater diversions.
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May 16, 2013
NYC Judge Runs Over Bloomberg's 'Taxi Of Tomorrow' Plan
A trial judge on Wednesday nixed New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to replace the city's taxi fleet with a dedicated model built by Nissan North America Inc. because there was no option for hacks to purchase hybrids, a decision that vindicated drivers who claimed the plan amounted to a "monopoly contract."
Expert Analysis
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How To Avoid The Dirty Side Of Clean Energy
Recent news reports on the RusHydro embezzlement, a U.S. Virgin Islands senator's arrest and the Italian mafia infiltration suggest that the not-so-clean side of the clean energy sector may come under greater scrutiny around the world. These reports should serve as a sobering reminder for companies of the risks and consequences of international corruption, say attorneys with Covington & Burling LLP.
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The Starstruck Medical Causation Trend
In the technical sense, medical causation answers whether an accused substance brought about some alleged disease. But rarely are the central causal allegations in major toxic torts purely courtroom affairs — publicity and politics now drive the litigation, with plaintiff verdicts begetting more publicity, says James Sabovich of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
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An Opportunity To Limit Prop 65 Abuse
The long-awaited proposed reforms to California's Proposition 65 are welcome and needed as they would greatly reduce the number of frivolous Prop. 65 lawsuits and alleviate the defense costs for manufacturers, says Mark Johnson of Alston & Bird LLP.
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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The Oil And Gas Operator's Texas Advantage
The interpretation by the Supreme Court of Texas in Reeder v. Wood County Energy LLC grants vast protection to oil and gas operators, but by doing so, it is perceived by some as muddling the differences between tort and contract law, says Michael Bolton and Kate Kalanick of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
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Know Your Risks Before Going Green In Construction
Although there are benefits to “going green” in the construction, development and operation of buildings, there are also risks unique to green building that will test the boundaries of coverage under typical liability insurance policies, say attorneys with Sedgwick LLP.
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4th Circ. Weighs In On Bona Fide Purchaser Defense
The Fourth Circuit recently issued a ruling in PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston that may limit the availability of the bona fide prospective purchaser defense. By narrowly construing one of the elements of the BFPP defense, the court has underscored the importance of strict compliance with all requirements of the defense, say attorneys with K&L Gates LLP.
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Get Ready For Stricter RMP Enforcement
The recent $4 million settlement by Tyson Foods Inc. represents one of the largest penalties for a stand-alone risk management program enforcement case since the provision was added to the Clean Air Act in 1990. This case also exemplifies the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s increasing focus on RMP compliance and its intention to seek ever-larger penalties for RMP violations, say attorneys with Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP.
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Another Challenge To Calif. Cap-And-Trade Law
The California Air Resources Board has again been sued over its implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act in Morning Star Packing Co., et al. v. CARB, which resembles an earlier action brought by the California Chamber of Commerce. Petitioners of both cases face the difficult challenge of convincing the court to derail a massive regulatory scheme that is now well underway, say attorneys with Marten Law PLLC.
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The Who, What And Why Of Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnerships have been used in a wide range of sectors to provide public services, from power plants and railroads to hospitals and sanitation plants. Yet there are a variety of potential contractual arrangements and the financing of a PPP can be complex, say Maryam Khosharay and Herbert Glaser of Haynes and Boone LLP.