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Project Finance
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January 18, 2024
Green Group Backs Mich. In Pipeline Challenge Venue Spat
An environmental policy and law center is backing the Michigan attorney general in her appeal of Enbridge Energy's removal to federal court of a state lawsuit seeking to shut down a pipeline that crosses through the state's water, saying it undermines the role of states to protect their interest in natural resources.
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January 18, 2024
Grid Planning Policy Overhaul Is Imminent, FERC Chair Says
As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission begins 2024, its chairman said the agency's long-awaited overhaul of how major electric transmission projects are planned and paid for is nearing the finish line.
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January 18, 2024
More New Yorkers Jump Into Congestion Pricing Fray
Another group of New Yorkers, including several city councilmembers, have joined the legal battle to halt congestion pricing, alleging in a new federal lawsuit Thursday that New York City's plan to charge all drivers a fee to enter midtown Manhattan would harm local businesses and exacerbate health risks for vulnerable residents.
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January 18, 2024
US Sanctions Emirati Shipper For Oil Price Cap Violations
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday sanctioned a United Arab Emirates-based owner of a ship that transported Russian crude oil above a $60 per barrel price cap, marking the department's first oil price cap enforcement action of the new year.
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January 18, 2024
Judge Denies Bid To Halt 'Cop City' Over Pollution Claims
A Georgia federal judge is refusing to block Atlanta's construction of a controversial law enforcement training facility dubbed "Cop City" over claims it's polluting a local stream, holding that the city has put forward enough evidence for now to suggest it is complying with permit terms.
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January 17, 2024
Construction Co. To Pay $2.3M Over Solar Farm CWA Claims
Swinerton Builders will pay $2.3 million to settle claims it breached the Clean Water Act and the environmental protection laws of Illinois and Alabama when it illegally expelled stormwater into waterways while constructing renewable energy project sites throughout the U.S. over five years, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
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January 17, 2024
DOJ Asks 4th Circ. For Another Shot After Bid-Rigging Flip
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Fourth Circuit to reconsider a panel's ruling that overturned a former Contech executive's bid-rigging conviction, saying the panel was wrong to focus on a supplier relationship between Contech and a competing contractor.
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January 17, 2024
Brazilian Co. Seeks $73M Award Chinese Co. Wants Tossed
A Brazilian renewable energy company is asking a New York federal court to confirm a $73 million arbitral award it won against a Chinese company in a solar panel supply dispute, a month after the Chinese company moved to have the award vacated.
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January 17, 2024
Broadband Groups Want Fewer Historic Preservation Hurdles
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has made it easier to get historical preservation checks done for telecommunications projects on federal lands, but two telecom trade groups say it's time to extend that flexibility to any broadband projects that use federal funds.
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January 17, 2024
Foley Hoag Attys Scolded For Delay In Peruvian Highway Case
Foley Hoag attorneys representing the city of Lima, Peru, cannot delay proceedings in an arbitration enforcement case, a D.C. federal judge has ruled, chastising the attorneys for failing to resolve the issue underlying the requested pause weeks ago.
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January 17, 2024
Mayors Call On Congress To Renew FCC Broadband Subsidy
Dozens of mayors are pressing lawmakers to replenish the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program, which the agency has begun winding down as funds run low.
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January 17, 2024
Dechert Hires Longtime Eversheds Sutherland Partner In DC
Dechert LLP has hired a former Eversheds Sutherland partner who spent the past two decades there working with investment companies and their boards of directors on a range of financial matters, the firm announced.
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January 16, 2024
Mont. High Court Won't Halt Kids' Win In Climate Suit
A Montana state court's ruling that invalidated laws barring the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in permitting decisions will stay in place, after the state's high court on Tuesday rejected the Montana attorney general's request for relief from and a stay of the ruling.
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January 16, 2024
DC Circ. Signals Mining Dereg Ruling Will Be Text-Based
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday appeared amenable to an environmental coalition's 15-year-old challenge to a Bush-era regulation that removed limits on how much nonmineral public land can be used for secondary mining operations.
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January 16, 2024
Osage Nation Asks FCC Again For 'Eligible' Telecom Status
The Osage Nation of Oklahoma needs the Federal Communications Commission to designate it as an eligible telecommunications carrier so that the permitting process for laying 27 miles of fiber optic cables can go smoother, it has told the agency.
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January 16, 2024
NJ Rips Feds, NYC Over 'Unconstitutional' Congestion Pricing
New Jersey said Tuesday that New York's plan to charge all drivers a fee to enter midtown Manhattan unlawfully discriminates against lower-income Garden State drivers, as it sought permission to add two plaintiffs to its federal lawsuit seeking to block New York's congestion pricing plan.
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January 16, 2024
Viasat Opposes Revisiting FCC Denial Of Starlink Rural Funds
Satellite giant Viasat has urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject a Virginia resident's push for the agency to reconsider denying more than $885 million in rural support to the Starlink satellite broadband service.
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January 16, 2024
US, Fla. Ask Court To Not Block Permit Decisions
The federal government and Florida are urging a D.C. federal judge to reject a request by conservation groups for a preliminary injunction that would block the Sunshine State from issuing Clean Water Act permits to two large mixed-use development projects, calling it an unwarranted bid to upend ongoing permit applications and review processes.
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January 16, 2024
Feds Say LNG-By-Rail Rule Was Done By The Book
The federal government has told the D.C. Circuit that it lawfully crafted a rule permitting bulk rail transport of liquefied natural gas in the last year of the Trump administration, even though the Biden administration has suspended the rule and is working on amending it.
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January 12, 2024
FCC Telecom Subsidy Nearing High Court Showdown
The federal subsidy system that helps pay for rural telecom services and low-income phone discounts could soon face a reckoning before the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to a quartet of near-identical legal challenges to the fees imposed on service providers to raise the funds.
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January 12, 2024
EPA, Blue States Jump To Defend Expanded Water Power Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked a Louisiana federal judge Friday not to block its rule broadening states' and tribes' power to veto projects like pipelines, export terminals and dams over water quality concerns — a power being challenged by a group of red states and industry groups.
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January 12, 2024
EPA Unveils Methane Emissions Fee For Oil & Gas Sector
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed an Inflation Reduction Act-mandated fee that certain oil and gas companies must pay if their methane emissions exceed certain thresholds starting this year.
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January 12, 2024
Tax Bonus Rules Create A Clean Energy Contracting Crunch
Labor and U.S. manufacturing requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act have inserted another pressure point into deals between clean energy developers and the firms they hire to build their projects given how significantly those requirements can boost, or reduce, the value of their projects' tax credits.
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January 12, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Chevron Deference, Corp. Filings
The U.S. Supreme Court will be closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and will begin a short oral argument week Tuesday, during which the justices will consider overturning Chevron deference, a decades-old doctrine that instructs courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
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January 12, 2024
New Climate Cost Estimate A Bullseye On EPA Methane Rule
Woven into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent rule strengthening methane emissions regulations is a new, more expensive estimate of the gas's harm to society, giving some states and other opponents a chance to sue over the metric's use in policymaking.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
High Court's Ethics Statement Places Justices Above The Law
The U.S. Supreme Court justices' disappointing statement on the court's ethics principles and practices reveals that not only are they satisfied with a status quo in which they are bound by fewer ethics rules than other federal judges, but also that they've twisted the few rules that do apply to them, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.
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G7 Russia Restrictions May Further Complicate Compliance
New sanctions and export controls announced at the G7 summit targeting parties that help Russia circumvent existing restrictions signal continued multilateral commitment to intensifying economic pressure on Russia, and underscore the increasing compliance challenges for companies that pursue Russia-related opportunities, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Assessing The Reach Of 9th Circuit's Natural Gas Ruling
The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in California Restaurant Association v. Berkeley, affirming that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts certain state and local natural gas bans, may chill other efforts to limit usage of natural gas and raises important questions for utility companies, natural gas consumers and policymakers to consider, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.
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Opinion
Time For Law Schools To Rethink Unsung Role Of Adjuncts
As law schools prepare for the fall 2023 semester, administrators should reevaluate the role of the underappreciated, indispensable adjunct, and consider 16 concrete actions to improve the adjuncts' teaching experience, overall happiness and feeling of belonging, say T. Markus Funk at Perkins Coie, Andrew Boutros at Dechert and Eugene Volokh at UCLA.
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Opinion
Mexican Law Amendment Could Stifle Mining Activity
A recent amendment to Mexico's mining law endorses a series of drastic changes, including reduction of the duration of mining concessions and establishment of a public bidding process, which could result in costly burdens for both domestic and foreign investors, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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Justices Curb Fraud Theories, But That May Not Deter Feds
The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions last week in Ciminelli v. U.S. and Percoco v. U.S. are the latest in a line of rulings aiming to limit the wire fraud statute’s application to state public corruption cases, but federal prosecutors will probably continue pursuing such cases using different charging language and other laws, says Alison Anderson at Boies Schiller.
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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Tips For In-House Legal Leaders In A Challenging Economy
Amid today's economic and geopolitical uncertainty, in-house legal teams are running lean and facing increased scrutiny and unique issues, but can step up and find innovative ways to manage outcomes and capitalize on good business opportunities, says Tim Parilla at LinkSquares.
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Polarized ESG Debate Badly Serves The Public, Corporations
The debate over ESG is rife with maximalist positions and a lack of clarity, distracting companies and the public from the fundamental risks and opportunities at the heart of the movement, say Emily Leitch at Shearman and Evan Slavitt at Paper Excellence.
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What Associates Need To Know Before Switching Law Firms
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
The days of staying at the same firm for the duration of one's career are mostly a thing of the past as lateral moves by lawyers are commonplace, but there are several obstacles that associates should consider before making a move, say attorneys at HWG.
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Guidance Adds Clarity To Energy Communities Bonus Credits
Recent IRS guidance on the Inflation Reduction Act's changes to tax credits for renewable energy projects offers much-needed pointers for developers and financing parties, and should allow them to more comfortably incorporate special bonus credits for projects in energy communities into their transactions, say Jorge Medina and Ira Aghai at Shearman.
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A Case For Sharing Mediation Statements With Counterparties
In light of a potential growing mediation trend of only submitting statements to the mediator, litigants should think critically about the pros and cons of exchanging statements with opposing parties as it could boost the chances of reaching a settlement, says Arthur Eidelhoch at Eidelhoch Mediation.
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Biden's Enviro Justice Focus Brings New Business Risks
A recent executive order from President Joe Biden continues the administration's whole-of-government approach toward environmental justice, and its focus on transparency may increase the risk of permit challenges, enforcement actions and citizen suits, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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EB-5 Reform Continues To Weigh Heavily On Participants
Recent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance helps clarify aspects of the 2022 EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act, which increased oversight of EB-5 regional centers, but does not end the industry's continuing state of uncertainty, says Robert Divine at Baker Donelson.
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Preparing For Legal Scrutiny Of Data Retention Policies
Two recent cases involving Google and Meta should serve as a call to action for companies to ensure their data retention policies are updated and properly implemented to the degree of being able to withstand judicial scrutiny, especially as more data is generated by emerging technologies, say Jack Kallus and Labeed Choudhry at Kaufman Dolowich.