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Environmental
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April 09, 2024
Equitrans Hit With $1.1M Pollution Penalties In Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection unveiled more than $1.1 million in civil penalties against Equitrans Midstream Partners LP on Tuesday for violations related to the company's uncontrolled gas release from its Rager Mountain natural gas storage field in Cambria County.
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April 09, 2024
9th Circ. Open To Reviving Calif. Cannabis Abatement Fight
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday appeared open to reviving a proposed class action alleging that Humboldt County's abatement fines for unlicensed cannabis growing structures is an unconstitutional "dragnet scheme," with two judges suggesting the magistrate judge inappropriately resolved material factual disputes against the property owners at the pleading stage.
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April 09, 2024
4th Circ. Tosses Duty To Defend Case Over Oil Co.'s Objection
The Fourth Circuit said Tuesday that a West Virginia oil and gas company lacked standing to continue an appeal that was originally brought by a green grower, which had sought coverage from its insurer for an underlying $4 million land use dispute with the extractor.
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April 09, 2024
FTC Pressures Global Partners, Gulf Oil Into Reducing Deal
The Federal Trade Commission took credit Tuesday for raising antitrust concerns spurring the late-February reduction of Global Partners LP's purchase of Northeast U.S. gas terminals from Gulf Oil, cut from five terminals with a $273 million price tag to four terminals and a $212.3 million payment.
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April 09, 2024
Tech M&A Reigns Supreme In Q1 After Rare Hiccup In Q4
The technology sector logged the greatest total value of global mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of 2024, following a rare quarter that saw the industry fall out of the top spot and into third place, data from Dealogic shows.
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April 09, 2024
House GOP To Air Measure Rejecting SEC Climate Rule
The U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday morning addressing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rules, where a leading Republican member of the committee is expected to put forth a resolution that would nullify the rules.
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April 09, 2024
47 Members Of Congress Urge DC Circ. To Ax EPA Smog Plan
Nearly 50 members of Congress called on the D.C. Circuit to strike down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to reduce smog-forming emissions in several states, arguing that the agency is infringing on states' authority to establish how they achieve federal air quality standards.
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April 09, 2024
EPA Reaches $1.4M Deal With Chemical Co. Over Plant Fire
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said that it had recently reached a settlement with Houston-based Sasol Chemicals LLC over a 2022 chemical plant explosion in Westlake, Louisiana, over which the company agreed to pay more than $1.4 million in civil penalties and fix violations.
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April 09, 2024
Feds Want To Push Back Complex Camp Lejeune Cases
The federal government has asked the North Carolina court overseeing litigation concerning contaminated water at Camp Lejeune to first try cases brought by former residents of the Marine base who allege they have developed only one disease from the water and try more complicated cases later.
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April 09, 2024
EPA Outlines New Ways To Destroy, Dispose Of PFAS
Waste managers, government regulators and the public should use methods such as underground injection to destroy or dispose of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and PFAS materials, guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.
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April 09, 2024
Hogan Lovells Adds Baker Botts Enviro Litigators In DC, SF
Hogan Lovells announced Tuesday it has hired three environmental crisis and white collar attorneys from Baker Botts LLP to bolster efforts to steer clients through criminal environmental and workplace safety investigations and other matters.
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April 09, 2024
16 States Seek To Defend EPA Particulate Matter Rule
A coalition of 16 states, New York City and Washington, D.C., has pushed to intervene before the D.C. Circuit in defense of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final rule tightening federal standards for fine particulate matter pollution, as it faces challenges from industry groups and Republican-led states.
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April 09, 2024
Climate Inaction Violates Human Rights Law, ECHR Rules
The European Court of Human Rights found on Tuesday that the Swiss government was at fault over failures to tackle global warming, one of three major decisions on climate change that could affect litigation in the future.
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April 09, 2024
California Can Set Own Emissions Standards, DC Circ. Says
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program, rejecting challenges filed by red states and industry groups.
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April 09, 2024
Norfolk Southern Settles Train Derailment Suits For $600M
Norfolk Southern Corp. has agreed to settle the consolidated class action claims brought against it over its tragic train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, for $600 million, according to a joint motion filed in federal court Tuesday.
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April 09, 2024
EPA Finalizes Rule Cutting Cancer-Causing Emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized restrictions on cancer-causing emissions including ethylene oxide and chloroprene from chemical plants that the agency says will reduce nearby vulnerable populations' risk of cancer and other health problems.
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April 08, 2024
W.Va. Blocks Citi, HSBC, Others Over Fossil Fuel 'Boycotts'
West Virginia's state treasurer announced Monday that Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC, TD Bank NA and The Northern Trust Co. are ineligible for state banking contracts, finding they boycott fossil fuel companies under a Mountain State law, while two other banks escaped such a designation.
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April 08, 2024
7th Circ. Won't Demolish Obama Center Approval
Federal agencies properly reviewed the environmental impacts of building the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park, the Seventh Circuit ruled Monday, once again rejecting opponents' attempts to stop construction of the campus set to open in 2026.
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April 08, 2024
Idaho Land Deal Would Sustain Legacy Of Pollution, Tribes Say
A group of Idaho tribes is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court ruling granting a partial win in their challenge to a land transfer for a fertilizer plant's expansion, arguing that if allowed to go forward, it would continue a decadeslong legacy of contamination for their communities.
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April 08, 2024
Miss. Residents Defend Jackson Water Contamination Claims
A group of Jackson, Mississippi, residents are asking a federal judge to preserve their second amended proposed class action against the mostly Black city over a water treatment plant shutdown that left more than 150,000 people without access to clean water.
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April 08, 2024
Texas School District Not Immune In Arbitration Row
A Texas school district isn't immune from a lawsuit by its insurers seeking to appoint an umpire in a $10 million hurricane damage dispute, a New York federal court ruled Monday, finding the district doesn't meet the standards set under the 11th Amendment.
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April 08, 2024
Southwest Gas Unit Centuri Eyes Spinoff Through $242M IPO
Southwest Gas Holdings Inc.'s infrastructure services unit Centuri Holdings Inc. on Monday unveiled terms for an estimated $242 million initial public offering that would lead to Centuri becoming a standalone public company, represented by Morrison Foerster LLP and underwriters' counsel Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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April 08, 2024
DOI Sued Over Absent Western Gray Wolf Protections
Ten environmental groups have slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in Montana federal court challenging the agency's finding that gray wolves in the Western U.S. do not warrant listing as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
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April 08, 2024
Group Says US Oil-Drilling Policy Harms Protected Species
An environmental group sued the U.S. government Monday in District of Columbia federal court, accusing it of violating the Endangered Species Act and alleging that top officials are not adequately protecting threatened animals from offshore oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico.
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April 08, 2024
Tribes Say Army Corps Mistakes Their Claims In 5th Circ. Row
Two Native American tribes and a conservation group have told the Fifth Circuit that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and an Enbridge Inc. unit have intentionally mischaracterized their claims in litigation seeking to challenge the agency's permit authorization for a major oil terminal on Texas' Gulf Coast.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Analyzing The Legal Ripples Of The EPA's PFAS Regulation
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes major moves on its pledge to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the developing body of PFAS regulation will lead to an increase in litigation, and personal injury and product liability claims, say attorneys at Gordon & Rees.
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Why Public Cos. Should Also Comply With SEC's Names Rule
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's updated Names Rule specifically clarifies that funds must consider ESG factors in their investment strategies if their names so imply, public companies should also heed the message and conduct business consistent with the way they market or advertise themselves, says Spencer Feldman at Olshan Frome.
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Insurers Should Prepare For 'Black Swan' Climate Disasters
As rapid climate change results in increased risk of casualties and property loss from rare, severe weather events, the insurance industry should take five crucial steps toward evolving and continuing operations, including advanced analytic techniques and investments in alternative energy sources, say Stephen Brown and Irena Maier at Wilson Elser.
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Series
ESG Around The World: The UK
Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.