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Energy
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May 06, 2024
New EPA Policy Could Increase Criminal Enforcement
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rolled out a new policy intended to foster communication and coordination between its civil and criminal enforcement offices, a move experts say could result in an increase in criminal investigations and cases.
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May 06, 2024
Tribes, Groups Seek 9th Circ. Stay In Power Line Ruling
Two Native American tribes and conservation groups are asking the Ninth Circuit for a stay on an order that allows work to continue on a $10 billion power line, saying that without an emergency injunction, SunZia Transmission LLC will race to finish erecting its remaining towers before an appeal can be resolved.
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May 06, 2024
Cabot Settles Investor Suit Over Groundwater Pollution Claims
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and a class of investors have reached a settlement resolving allegations the company misrepresented its environmental regulatory compliance before faulty gas wells polluted Pennsylvania's water supplies.
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May 06, 2024
Feds' Emissions Subsidy Args Lack Specificity, Says Judge
The U.S. Court of International Trade affirmed the government's analysis on two of three criteria required to label South Korea's emissions credit system a countervailable subsidy, but it said the U.S. Department of Commerce came up short on specificity.
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May 06, 2024
Citgo Retirees' Mortality Table Data Suit Heads To Trial
An Illinois federal judge refused Monday to grant Citgo a win in three retirees' proposed class action accusing the fuel company of shortchanging retirees by using outdated metrics to calculate early retirement payouts, saying the questions that remain are best suited for trial.
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May 06, 2024
Judge Questions Reason For Removing Chem Co. Wage Class
A Pennsylvania federal judge joined chemical company workers Monday in questioning whether the company had plausibly alleged that there were enough people in a proposed class to remove their wage suit from state court.
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May 06, 2024
EPA Finalizes Methane Reporting Regs For Oil And Gas Cos.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized revisions of its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program regulations for the oil and gas sector, the latest step taken by the Biden administration to clamp down on methane emissions from the industry.
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May 06, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
A record $100 million settlement, a fishy Facebook decision, a canceled Amazon delivery and an upended $7.3 billion sale dispute topped the news out of Delaware's Court of Chancery last week. There were also new cases involving Hess, Microsoft and the 2022 World Cup.
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May 06, 2024
Clifford Chance Continues 2024 Growth In New York, Houston
Clifford Chance continued its recent aggressive expansion by growing its Houston and New York offices with two attorneys specializing in energy, taxation and mergers and acquisitions, bringing the firm's lateral hires up to 10 attorneys in 2024.
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May 06, 2024
Texas Says EPA Methane Rule Would Burden Regulators
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's director of the Office of Air told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has grossly underestimated the cost of complying with its expanded methane emissions control requirements, and should therefore pause the rule's implementation.
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May 06, 2024
Gerdau Steel Settles Fathers' Parental Leave Suit In Texas
A suit accusing steel producer Gerdau of not allowing male mill workers to take parental leave will be put to rest after a Texas federal judge signed off on a nationwide deal between the workers and the company.
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May 06, 2024
3 Firms Build $6.2B Take-Private Sale Of Allete Energy Biz
A consortium of buyers led by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners unveiled plans Monday to buy and take private Minnesota-based energy company Allete Inc., in a $6.2 billion deal put together by at least three firms.
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May 06, 2024
Battery Startup Ambri Hits Ch. 11 With Lender Sale Plans
Massachusetts battery developer Ambri Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware with over $50 million in liabilities and a credit bid stalking horse offer from a group of secured noteholders after fundraising efforts last year fell short.
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May 03, 2024
9th Circ. Orders 2nd Look At Stay In PG&E Wildfire Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Friday told a lower court to reconsider its order staying claims PG&E investors brought against officers, directors and others over wildfire liability, saying more factors should have been considered before the stay was granted.
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May 03, 2024
Navajo Ask Biden To Stop Uranium Movement On Tribal Lands
The Navajo Nation's government leaders are calling on President Joe Biden to halt the transport of uranium ore across the tribe's reservation lands, arguing that the practice disregards its laws and threatens its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
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May 03, 2024
Goldman Settles Decade-Old Metal-Rigging Class Action
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has settled a decade-old putative class action claiming the investment bank and others conspired to manipulate platinum and palladium market values, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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May 03, 2024
Bangladesh Ignoring $13.5M Awards, Power Co. Says
A pair of more than two-decade-old arbitral awards worth more than $13.7 million issued against Bangladesh and its power development board have resurfaced in federal court in Washington, D.C., after the power company that won them told the court that the Bangladeshi government continues to evade payment.
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May 03, 2024
Nikola Ends Board Takeover Suit As Ex-CEO's Noms Withdraw
An Arizona federal judge on Thursday agreed to toss Nikola Corp.'s complaint against its former CEO and convicted felon Trevor Milton and several others accusing them of an illegal board takeover by pushing unqualified candidates, after the defendants withdrew their board nominees and the parties amicably resolved the dispute.
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May 03, 2024
Hess-Chevron Merger Hit With Class Disclosure Suit In Del.
A Hess stockholder sued the energy company in Delaware's Court of Chancery over alleged deal disclosure failures in the proposed $53 billion Chevron-Hess merger, adding to a list of complications that include claims by other energy giants to Hess interests.
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May 03, 2024
Honolulu Asks Justices To Affirm State Court Climate Case
Honolulu on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject fossil fuel companies' bid to put an end to its lawsuit alleging they knew for decades about the negative impacts of their products on climate change but concealed the information.
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May 03, 2024
EU OKs Nippon-US Steel Deal As DOJ Causes Delayed Close
The European Commission on Friday indicated via an annotation on its merger review page that it has given Nippon Steel's controversial $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel its unconditional approval, a move that comes just a day after the parties announced the deal would be delayed due to further scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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May 03, 2024
DC Circ. Backs Feds' Puerto Rico Port Expansion Project
The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld the federal government's plans to broaden shipping lanes at Puerto Rico's largest port, rejecting arguments from a trio of environmental groups who accused the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of failing to take the requisite hard look at the dredging project's environmental risks.
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May 03, 2024
Chancery OKs Record-Breaking $100M Pattern Energy Deal
A $100 million settlement ending state and federal court litigation over Pattern Energy Group Inc.'s $6.1 billion go-private sale in 2020 got the nod from Delaware's Court of Chancery on Friday, along with a requested $26 million fee award and two $25,000 incentive awards for the lead shareholder plaintiffs.
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May 03, 2024
Robbins Geller Attys To Take Stand In $8M Sanctions Dispute
A petroleum refiner will put current and former Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP attorneys on the stand May 7 in an extraordinary evidentiary hearing testing what the plaintiffs' lawyers knew about an analyst's now-discredited findings as they pursued since-nixed price-fixing claims.
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May 03, 2024
Texas Rep. Cuellar Charged With Taking Bribes
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife have been indicted on federal charges they accepted bribes from entities in Azerbaijan and Mexico in exchange for political favors, prosecutors said Friday.
Expert Analysis
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Considerations for In-House Counsel Before Testing For PFAS
In 2024, federal and state agencies are expected to introduce a plethora of new rules regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, with private litigation sure to follow — but in-house counsel should first weigh the risks and benefits before companies proactively investigate their historical PFAS use, say attorneys at Stinson.
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Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities
Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.
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In The World Of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends To Note From 2023
Lucian Pera at Adams and Reese and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight identify the top legal ethics trends from 2023 — including issues related to hot documents, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — that lawyers should be aware of to put their best foot forward.
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Analyzing 1 Year Of Comments On FTC's Green Guides
A review of over 7,000 comments submitted in the year since the Federal Trade Commission requested feedback on its Green Guides reveals widespread concern over how the existing guidelines leave room for interpretation, putting businesses in a challenging position when marketing products, say Mark Levy and Emma Lombard at Eckert Seamans.
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Opinion
Animal Rights Are About Saving Nature, And Our Own Future
The climate crisis makes it clear that animal law — conceived of as an ecocentric approach to protecting the most vulnerable nonhumans who depend on the natural environment — is essential to restoring the Earth and safeguarding the future of humanity, says Carter Dillard at the Fair Start Movement.
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How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season
Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2023
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and federal and state courts made 2023 another groundbreaking year for whistleblower litigation and retaliation developments, including the SEC’s massive whistleblower awards, which are likely to continue into 2024 and further incentivize individuals to submit tips, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Still Murky After A Choppy 2023
This year brought several important Clean Water Act jurisdictional developments, including multiple agency rules and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that substantially altered the definition of "waters of the United States," but a new wave of litigation challenges has already begun, with no clear end in sight, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Series
Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.
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Parsing 2023's Energy Markets Enforcement
A review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's and Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently released fiscal year 2023 enforcement reports highlight the significant energy market enforcement activities, litigation pursued and settlements reached by both agencies, as well as their respective strategic goals and focus areas, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Review Of 2023's Most Notable Securities Litigation
There is much to be learned from the most prominent private securities cases of 2023, specifically the Tesla trial, the U.S. Supreme Court's Slack decision and the resolution of Goldman Sachs litigation, but one lesson running through all of them is that there can be rewards at the end of the line for defendants willing to go the distance, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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'Brownfields' Definition Key To Energy Community Tax Credits
As the IRS rolls out guidance for claiming community energy tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, a review of the long-standing statutory definition of "brownfields" reveals that it continues to serve the goal of creating opportunities for investment in abandoned properties, says Louise Dyble at Sheppard Mullin.
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ESG Investing Caught In Culture War Crosshairs In 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, ESG investing remains a raging battleground in the U.S. culture wars, as illustrated by the array of legislative efforts across the country aimed variously at restricting or promoting the use of ESG investing — but it remains to be seen what practical impact, if any, these laws will have, say Amy Roy and Robert Skinner at Ropes & Gray.
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Inside CFTC's Latest Push To Regulate Carbon Markets
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's newly proposed guidance for voluntary carbon credit derivative contracts is among several recent moves it has taken to address climate-related financial risk, and although the guidance is less robust than it could be, it should foster discussion toward a regulatory framework for this market, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.