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Environmental
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March 25, 2024
Texas Judge Extends Stay On Border Wall Funding Order
A Texas federal judge briefly extended a pause on an injunction directing the Biden administration to use funding Congress appropriated to build physical barriers on the Southwest border for that purpose, as the administration asks for clarification of the order, saying it could otherwise make it hard to build anything.
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March 25, 2024
Justices Preserve Obama-Era Forest Monument Expansion
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review two appellate court rulings upholding former President Barack Obama's expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument on the Oregon-California border.
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March 22, 2024
Power Line's Refuge Crossing To Stay On Hold For Now
A Wisconsin federal judge on Friday extended an order temporarily blocking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from executing a land swap that would allow the nearly completed Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage transmission line to cross part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
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March 22, 2024
Real Estate Authority: NAR, Climate, Data Center Dollars
Law360 Real Estate Authority covers the most important real estate deals, litigation, policies and trends. Catch up on this week's key developments by state — as well as on how the National Association of Realtors could shift broker fees, what the country's patchwork of climate action plans means for real estate, and why private equity is hot on data centers.
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March 22, 2024
Youths Ask 9th Circ. To Allow Climate Trial To Proceed
Youth plaintiffs called on the Ninth Circuit to once again reject the U.S. government's renewed attempt to block a trial that's set to proceed in Oregon federal court over government policies they claim have exacerbated climate change and imperiled their futures.
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March 22, 2024
Dril-Quip Investor Alleges Merger Will Entrench Board
A shareholder of oil drilling equipment company Dril-Quip Inc. hit its directors with a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they added unreasonable provisions to the terms of its merger with Innovex Downhole Solutions Inc. to disenfranchise shareholders.
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March 22, 2024
5th Circ. Lifts SEC Climate Rule Stay After 8th Circ. Lottery Win
The Fifth Circuit on Friday lifted a temporary block on the implementation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new emissions reporting requirements, following the selection of the Eighth Circuit as the venue for consolidated proceedings of the various suits about the agency's controversial rules.
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March 22, 2024
EPA Clean Cars Rule Charts Auto Industry Transformation
The Biden administration's strictest-ever regulations curbing tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks deliberately aim to re-energize a U.S. auto industry transformation toward electric vehicles in the face of lower consumer demand, an increasingly antagonistic political climate and almost certain legal challenges, experts say.
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March 22, 2024
Boston Soccer Stadium Project Gets Green Light From Judge
A plan by the city of Boston to turn a stadium inside historic Franklin Park over to a professional women's soccer team can continue moving forward, after a judge on Friday denied a requested injunction to halt it.
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March 22, 2024
5th Circ. Axes EPA's PFAS Enforcement Against Plastic Co.
The Fifth Circuit threw out two enforcement actions against a Texas plastic-container manufacturer that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused of creating perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in its manufacturing process, saying the agency exceeded its statutory authority.
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March 22, 2024
Feds Ask 9th Circ. To Save Logging Project In Grizzly Area
The federal government asked the Ninth Circuit on Friday to overturn a Montana federal judge's decision halting a large logging operation in the Kootenai National Forest over concerns about the project's effect on grizzly bears and old-growth trees.
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March 22, 2024
Ind. Factory Adds To Historic $112M Bad Faith Coverage Win
A flooded factory building that was awarded $112 million in a historic bad faith win added to its victory Friday when an Indiana federal court denied its insurers' requests for a new trial and granted the factory more than $7 million in costs and interest.
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March 22, 2024
Feds Can't Explain Away Flawed LNG Rule, DC Circ. Told
Conservation groups and a dozen-plus states are urging the D.C. Circuit to throw out a rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by rail, saying the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration glossed over safety, environmental justice and climate concerns, and now asks for deference it doesn't deserve.
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March 22, 2024
IRS Opens Bonus Energy Credits To More Offshore Wind Sites
The Internal Revenue Service unveiled guidance Friday that would allow more parts of offshore wind facilities to qualify for the bonus production and investment tax credits that provide incentives for clean energy projects being built in so-called energy communities.
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March 22, 2024
Push For Camp Lejeune Jury Trials Seen As Long Shot
The legal strategy to secure jury trials in the massive Camp Lejeune water contamination case hangs on a single phrase in a special law stating "nothing" shall impair such trials, but the plaintiffs' gambit is a long shot because Congress didn't go far enough in creating a framework for such trials against the government.
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March 22, 2024
Colo. Water District Illegally Doubled Tax Rate, Panel Says
A water conservancy district violated the Colorado Constitution when it doubled its property tax rate without voter approval, a state appeals court ruled, reversing a lower court's decision against a proposed class of property owners.
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March 22, 2024
DLA Piper Welcomes Energy Attorney To Philly Office
A transactional attorney specializing in advising clients on renewable energy and sustainability projects has moved her practice from Allen & Overy LLP to DLA Piper's Philadelphia office.
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March 21, 2024
FERC Upholds, Clarifies Grid Connection Policy Rewrite
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission affirmed and clarified revised policies finalized last summer that govern how new power projects connect to transmission lines during its monthly meeting Thursday, coinciding with a U.S. Senate committee hearing on President Joe Biden's recent FERC nominations.
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March 21, 2024
6th Circ. Skeptical Of Enbridge's Late Pipeline Suit Transfer
A Sixth Circuit panel questioned how Enbridge Energy LP could move a lawsuit seeking to shut down one of its pipelines to federal court more than two years after it was filed, pressing the company Thursday to justify missing the 30-day cutoff for removals.
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March 21, 2024
DC Circ. Mulls Reach Of EPA's Boiler Emission Limits
A D.C. Circuit panel on Thursday questioned the backward reach of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's updated emissions standards for industrial boilers while appearing amenable to federal regulators' choice of data used to calculate the pollution limits.
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March 21, 2024
Feds Defend Congressional Authority To Reduce HFCs
The EPA is urging the D.C. Circuit to reject coolant industry challenges to a gradual reduction of climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons, arguing it had a congressional mandate to establish the phase-out and correctly excluded recent years' chemical imports from future quota calculations.
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March 21, 2024
Alaska Fails To Remove ESA Protections For Ringed Seals
An Alaska federal judge on Wednesday rejected the state's effort to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for Arctic ringed seals.
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March 21, 2024
Cos. Push For Held-Up Power Line Through Wildlife Refuge
Power companies and the U.S. government are asking a Wisconsin federal judge to reject conservation groups' bid to block a land swap allowing the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line to cross the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, with the judge putting any execution of the deal temporarily on hold in advance of a Friday hearing.
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March 21, 2024
Exxon Wants Mass. Oil Purchase Docs In Greenwashing Suit
The Massachusetts attorney general's office told a judge Thursday that Exxon Mobil Corp. is attempting to relitigate already-barred defenses in an alleged "greenwashing" case by seeking documents from at least a dozen state agencies, including ones concerning decisions by those agencies to purchase the energy company's products.
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March 21, 2024
DOL Urges 5th Circ. To Back Biden Admin. ESG Investing Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Fifth Circuit on Thursday to uphold a rule allowing retirement advisers to consider social issues such as climate change when choosing investments, arguing that conservative states challenging the rule haven't shown it defies federal benefits law.
Expert Analysis
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How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes
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.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
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.
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Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'
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.
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A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023
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.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
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.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
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.
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Biden Climate Push Expands With Contractor GHG Focus
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.
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Key Shifts In EU, UK Emissions Credits: Challenges For Cos.
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.
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How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers
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.
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House Bill Could Help Resolve 'Waters Of US' Questions
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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Calif. Climate Disclosure Laws: Next Steps For Companies
A trio of new climate disclosure laws in California will impose far-reaching corporate reporting requirements — so companies doing business in the state must immediately begin working to substantiate their climate claims and update marketing materials, and consider getting involved in rulemaking that will shape the legislation's impact, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Working With Emergency Services: Tips For Frontline Attys
The best version of a first responder-crisis lawyer relationship involves one where the first responder can trust the attorney enough to give them all the details, knowing they will exercise discretion in how much they release to the public, say Lauren Brogdon at Haynes Boone, Rick Crawford at the Los Angeles Fire Department and Christopher Sapienza at the Yonkers Police Department.
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California's Offshore Turbine Plans Face Stiff Headwinds
To realize its innovative plans for floating offshore wind farms, California will face numerous challenges as companies investing in the industry will be looking for permitting transparency, predictable timelines, and meaningful coordination between jurisdictions, agencies, and stakeholders, say David Smith and David McGrath at Manatt.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS
After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.