Environmental

  • August 18, 2026

    Ga. High Court Sidesteps Key Question In Bio-Lab Fire Case

    Whether Georgia residents who say they were exposed to harmful substances because of a 2024 fire at chlorine manufacturer Bio-Lab's factory can seek medical monitoring in their proposed class action is a question that should be answered in federal court, the Georgia Supreme Court said Tuesday.

  • August 18, 2026

    EU Guidance Lays Out Cost Adjustments For Carbon Levy

    The European Union's carbon import levy on emissions-intensive goods such as aluminum and cement will allow importers to reduce the cost of the levy to mirror carbon allowances granted to EU producers based on benchmark values, according to guidance from the bloc's executive.

  • August 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Says Statute Mandates Central Valley Contract Switch

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday ruled the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had no duty to complete environmental reviews before it converted dozens of water service contracts for the Central Valley Project in California in a process intended to help fund storage improvements.

  • August 17, 2026

    CBP Halts Big Bend Wall Work As New Suit Challenges Plan

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday it is halting border wall construction at Big Bend National Park while Commissioner Rodney Scott conducts an on-the-ground evaluation.

  • August 17, 2026

    Judge Says Everglades Site Closure Moots Atty Access Suit

    A Florida federal court has dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit alleging that state and federal officials unconstitutionally prevented noncitizens held at an Everglades immigrant detention center from accessing counsel, finding the lawsuit moot in light of the facility's closure.

  • August 17, 2026

    3 Firms Steer Madison Air On $5.4B Airflow Tech Biz Deal

    Madison Air Solutions Corp. said on Monday it has agreed to acquire German airflow technology maker ebm-papst at an enterprise value of $5.4 billion, with three law firms steering Madison on the planned expansion of its presence in the European ventilation market.

  • August 17, 2026

    NOAA Sued Over Longline Fishing Permit Reviews

    Environmental groups have asked a California federal judge to overturn a decision by an agency under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue permits exempting two vessels from a longline fishing prohibition in waters off the state's coast, arguing a shoddy analysis downplayed the risks to protected sea turtles, whales and seals.

  • August 17, 2026

    O'Melveny Hires Career Pillsbury Environmental Atty In DC

    O'Melveny & Myers LLP has hired an environmental lawyer from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, who spent the entirety of his over 20-year legal career at his previous firm representing clients in related corporate transactions, compliance audits and more, the firm announced Monday.

  • August 17, 2026

    Trump Monument Cuts Spur Disputed Utah Mining Claims

    Tribal nations and environmental groups are urging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reject mining claims on two Utah national monuments, arguing that operations can't begin until 60 days after the president removed federal protections for more than 90% of the monuments' lands.

  • August 14, 2026

    Solar Rival Is Filching Shoals' Customers, Exec Tells Jury

    A solar components company has lost customers to a rival supplier selling what one executive described as a suspiciously similar electrical connection system being marketed at a fraction of the price, a federal jury in North Carolina heard Friday on the first day of testimony in a patent infringement trial.

  • August 14, 2026

    Tribe's Bid To Halt Ariz. Border Wall Construction Denied

    A D.C. federal judge said the Tohono O'odham Nation was unlikely to succeed in blocking construction of a border wall near its Arizona reservation, finding Friday that a century-old federal reservation likely already covers the contested strip of land and denying the tribe's request for a preliminary injunction.

  • August 14, 2026

    Insurer Denies $10M Duty To Recycler In Lead Exposure Case

    An insurance company is arguing it has no obligation to cover any part of a $279 million insurance pool that battery recycler Gopher Resource LLC promised to people who filed a class action claiming they suffered lead poisoning from the company's smelter.

  • August 14, 2026

    Data Center Backlash Fogs Finance Picture For New Projects

    How is the backlash against data centers — from public protests in red towns and blue cities to moratoriums on large projects to primary wins for anti-data center candidates — affecting lenders' approach? Here, Law360 takes a close look.

  • August 14, 2026

    Colo. Resident Says Energy Panel Dodged Open Meeting Law

    An advisory group created by the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission is barring the public from attending meetings and refusing to turn over public records, a Denver resident has claimed in Colorado state court.

  • August 14, 2026

    SEC Staff Halt Responses To Proxy Proposal Exclusion Bids

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday made permanent a previous decision to step back from responding to companies' bids to exclude shareholder proposals from their ballots, following comments from the agency's chairman that the most recent proxy season saw none of the "dire predictions" some had forecast after the retreat.

  • August 14, 2026

    Ex-Marathon Worker Says AI Caught Her Bosses' Gender Bias

    A Marathon Engineering environmental scientist has sued her former employer in New Jersey state court, alleging she was fired due to her gender, after an AI assistant that recorded her termination meeting sent her a transcript showing that one of her supervisors said he hoped to replace her with a "relatively strapping young man."

  • August 14, 2026

    Calif. Tribe Failed To Show Harm Over 40-Acre Land Transfer

    A California tribe can't block the U.S. Department of the Interior from transferring 40 acres into trust for a fellow tribe's casino project, a D.C. district court judge has determined, saying action on the contested land isn't imminent and there's no demonstrable irreparable harm.

  • August 14, 2026

    IRS Expands Carbon Capture Tax Credit's Safe Harbor

    A safe harbor for the carbon sequestration tax credit's reporting requirements will apply to a method that uses carbon oxide used as a tertiary injectant in qualified oil and gas extraction projects, the IRS announced Friday, expanding earlier guidance for the incentive.

  • August 14, 2026

    Trump Asks Justices To Raze Block On Ballroom Construction

    President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to lift a ban on construction of a new White House ballroom, arguing a federal judge who ordered the work to stop overstepped his authority by vetoing national security officials' determinations that the ballroom is "vitally required." 

  • August 13, 2026

    Del. Water Supplier Sues 9 Cos. Over PFAS

    A Delaware water supplier hit nine companies with a suit in state court alleging that they released forever chemicals into the watersheds that supply water to tens of thousands of residents, seeking to recoup at least $34.6 million for the cost of ensuring safe drinking water.

  • August 13, 2026

    Calif. Judge OKs $57M Deal On Former Navy Site's Cleanup

    A California federal judge has approved a $57 million settlement between the U.S. government and Tetra Tech EC Inc., resolving claims that the company billed the Navy for radiation cleanup work at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard that it never performed.

  • August 13, 2026

    5th Circ. Nixes Fed Approval For Offshore Oil Export Port

    A Fifth Circuit panel overturned a license approval for a deepwater port off Texas, ruling that the Trump administration failed to properly consider how a pipeline serving the offshore crude oil export facility would intersect a pipeline for another approved port.

  • August 13, 2026

    Split 11th Circ. Backs IRS $1M Value For Contested Easement

    A split Eleventh Circuit panel affirmed a decision to slash three Georgia landowners' conservation easement value from $18 million to $1 million Thursday, saying the U.S. Tax Court didn't need to determine the property's best use because the parties already agreed on that use.

  • August 13, 2026

    DHS Defends Building New ICE Facility In Silicon Valley

    The federal government fired back in California federal court Wednesday against a bid by California and Santa Clara County to block a planned ICE office and temporary holding facility in Silicon Valley, arguing that the project's alleged environmental, health and safety impacts are speculative and unsupported.

  • August 13, 2026

    Arizona, Tribes Sign Deal To Offset Coal Economy Losses

    Arizona, the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation have signed an agreement that aims to boost economic growth for tribal communities that lost thousands of jobs and millions in revenue after major coal mining companies stopped or scaled back operations in the Four Corners region.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Regulatory Gaps May Fuel FCA Enforcement Action

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    The intersection of artificial intelligence and False Claims Act enforcement presents legal risk for government contractors across several industries, particularly in the absence of a federal regulatory framework explicitly governing its development and use, say attorneys at O’Melveny.

  • AI Agents Will Test The Bounds Of Expert Witness Rules

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    Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence does not address whether a testifying expert must be human, but as the rule’s amended admissibility framework intersects with the accelerating capabilities of agentic AI, courts may be forced to confront whether AI-generated expertise fits within existing evidentiary doctrine, says Steven Cordero at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Reel Justice: 'Project Hail Mary' Can Aid Cross-Examination

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    In the new science fiction film, "Project Hail Mary," a character understood that survival depended on eliminating ambiguity — a useful lesson that trial lawyers can implement by asking statements that are delivered in the form of a question during cross-examination, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • AI-Proofing Class Action Notices From Pro Se Objection Surge

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    Class action practitioners should prepare for a likely surge in artificial intelligence-enabled pro se objections by implementing several practical strategies to navigate this shift, says Britany Wessan at Almeida Law Group.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Md. Justices' State Climate Tort Ban May Shape National Path

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    The Maryland Supreme Court’s recent ruling that federal law preempted state-level deceptive marketing tort claims brought by several municipalities could offer the U.S. Supreme Court a road map to use in the pending Suncor Energy v. Boulder County case to exclude states from the business of regulating global emissions, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

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    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

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