Environmental

  • April 15, 2025

    Colorado Judge Tosses Counties' Suit Over $25M Tax Transfer

    A Colorado state judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by seven counties challenging the transfer of $25 million from a state fund aimed at offsetting the impacts of extractive industries, finding in an order that the state Legislature had full authority to move the dollars.

  • April 15, 2025

    Simpson Thacher Advises On $2.2B Cross-Border Power Deal

    Simpson Thacher is advising Canada's Capital Power Corp. on its planned $2.2 billion acquisition of two U.S. natural gas power plants, marking the energy firm's strategic entry into North America's so-called PJM market.

  • April 15, 2025

    DC Circ. Zaps FERC Fight Over Grain Belt Express Line

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday said Illinois landowners, farmers and residents fighting the $7 billion Grain Belt Express high-voltage transmission project lack standing to challenge a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order that amended its negotiated rate authority.

  • April 14, 2025

    SEC Clears Green Impact Exchange To Enter Market In 2026

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday cleared a proposal by Green Impact Exchange to launch the first sustainability focused national securities exchange, scheduled to begin operating in 2026.

  • April 14, 2025

    Judge Says Barretts Needs Independence To Resolve Ch. 11

    A Texas bankruptcy judge on Monday said he would have to consider ways to increase Barretts Minerals Inc.'s perceived independence from its parent company if he agrees to allow the talc miner to stay in Chapter 11.

  • April 14, 2025

    Allianz Unit Challenges Augusta Golf Club's $2.4M Award

    Allianz SE subsidiary Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. on Friday asked a federal judge to strike down a $2.4 million storm damage appraisal in favor of an Augusta, Georgia, golf club that the insurer said goes far beyond what it agreed to cover.

  • April 14, 2025

    Monsanto's 11th Trial Kicks Off In Seattle Over School PCBs

    Nearly two dozen people told a Washington state jury Monday that they were slowly sickened by Monsanto-made toxins, becoming the largest group yet to try their PCB personal injury claims together in a series of PCB personal injury suits connected to a Washington school.

  • April 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives Suit Over Calif. Refinery's Pollution

    A Ninth Circuit panel revived part of a class action that neighbors of a Torrance, California, refinery brought against Exxon Mobil Corp. and Torrance Refining Co. over its pollution, holding that a lower court misconstrued the scope of a trespass claim.

  • April 14, 2025

    Calif. Board Says SpaceX Suit Should Be Grounded For Good

    The California Coastal Commission moved Friday for another dismissal of SpaceX's suit alleging the commission wrongly tried to block its plan to increase rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, saying because the commission's opposition was overridden by the U.S. Air Force, no harm was caused.

  • April 14, 2025

    Feds Push To End Alaska Tribe's Gold Mine Permit Challenge

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a gold mine developer are asking a federal court for permission to move for early dismissal of an Alaskan tribe's remaining claim against an open-pit gold mine near the Yukon border, saying its amended lawsuit doesn't fare better than the original.

  • April 14, 2025

    Trump Admin Moves To Weaken Migratory Bird Protections

    The top lawyer at the U.S. Department of the Interior says the federal government lacks the power to prosecute companies that inadvertently kill federally protected migratory birds, a legal position the department took during the first Trump administration but which was overturned by a federal court in 2020.

  • April 14, 2025

    Enviro Groups Sue Trump Admin Over Webpage Removals

    Environmental and science organizations, including the Sierra Club, filed suit on Monday in D.C. federal court over the Trump administration's removal of federal agency webpages that provided critical information concerning the environment, saying agencies removed the webpages without explanation, leaving the organizations unable to access sources they've long relied on.

  • April 14, 2025

    FTC Joins DOJ In Targeting Anticompetitive Regulations

    The Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry Monday to look into reducing regulations that are hindering competition, following a similar move by the U.S. Department of Justice last month.

  • April 14, 2025

    Green Group Urges Update On Gulf Oil Well Risks

    The Center for Biological Diversity has urged a D.C. federal court to order government agencies to update their assessment of derelict offshore oil and gas facilities along the southern coast, saying the stalled decommissioning of aging infrastructure is creating a greater likelihood of an environmental disaster.

  • April 14, 2025

    Chemical Co. Owes $11M In Unpaid Pine Oil Bills, Suit Says

    Arbor Renewables, a manufacturer of pine-based chemicals, was hit with a lawsuit Friday alleging that it owes over $11 million in unpaid invoices to a Georgia-based consumer packaging maker.

  • April 14, 2025

    Colorado Oil Co. Says Hefty Penalties Are Unlawful Taking

    An ailing oil and gas company asked a federal judge Friday to block Colorado orders requiring it to halt some operations and pay $8 million in penalties, arguing that they amount to an unconstitutional taking of its property without compensation.

  • April 14, 2025

    NJ High Court Advances DuPont Appeal In $1B Pollution Suit

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will allow Chemours and E.I. du Pont de Nemours to appeal a trial court's ruling that a small New Jersey town has standing to bring its $1 billion pollution suit, according to a recent order.

  • April 14, 2025

    1st Circ. Can't Hear Class Suit Coverage Row, Oil Co. Says

    A heating oil company urged the First Circuit to toss an appeal its insurers filed following a ruling that they must continue defending the company and several executives in a class action over alleged damage caused by oil containing elevated levels of biodiesel, saying the court doesn't currently have jurisdiction.

  • April 14, 2025

    Four State Govs. Call On EPA To Increase Biofuel Targets

    Governors of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to boost the amount of biofuel blended into fuel supplies as a way to help meet the Trump administration's domestic energy goals and strengthen investment in agriculture and rural communities.

  • April 11, 2025

    Boeing Birth Defect Cases Paused Until Wash. Appeals Ruling

    Lawsuits seeking to hold Boeing liable for birth defects sustained by children of the company's factory workers were put on hold, after a Washington state judge ruled that an appeals court must first decide if companies have a duty of care for the "not-yet-conceived offspring" of their employees.

  • April 11, 2025

    3M Fights 4th Circ. Bid To Undo Removal Of PFAS Suits

    Lawsuits accusing 3M Inc. of "forever chemical" contamination of Maryland and South Carolina waterways should be kept in federal court, the company has argued, urging the Fourth Circuit to decline the states' request for full panel review.

  • April 11, 2025

    DOJ Torches Biden-Era Enviro Justice Deal With Alabama

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday terminated a groundbreaking civil rights law-based environmental justice settlement intended to improve water infrastructure in a low-income Black community in Alabama, calling it another step in the Trump administration's effort to eliminate anti-discrimination initiatives.

  • April 11, 2025

    FTC Starts Process That May Nix Chevron, Exxon Deal Limits

    The Federal Trade Commission took the first steps Friday toward potentially lifting bans on the CEOs of Hess and Pioneer Natural Resources serving on the boards of Chevron and Exxon, respectively, under agreements assailed by the FTC's Republican leadership who want to permit the Chevron-Hess and Exxon-Pioneer mergers without those restrictions.

  • April 11, 2025

    7th Circ. Asks For Ill. Justices' Input On Pollution Exclusion

    A Seventh Circuit panel considering whether an insurer for Sterigenics and its former parent company could avoid paying $150 million in legal costs for defending the company from a torrent of pollution suits has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to weigh in on how to apply a pollution exclusion in the relevant policy.

  • April 11, 2025

    EV Charging Biz Sues Over Alleged Seattle Station IP Theft

    An electric-vehicle charging network has launched a lawsuit in Seattle federal court accusing a number of Washington state residents of conspiring to rip equipment from its charging stations in order to resell it on the streets, while also lifting the company's trade secrets.

Expert Analysis

  • How Trial Attys Can Wield Amended Federal Evidence Rules

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    Trial lawyers should assess recent amendments to four Federal Rules of Evidence and a newly enacted rule on illustrative aids to determine how to best use the rules to enhance pretrial discovery and trial strategy, says Stewart Edelstein, former litigation chair at Cohen & Wolf.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

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    General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • Identifying Deepfakes During Evidence Collection, Discovery

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys must familiarize themselves with the tools used to create and detect deepfakes — media manipulated by artificial intelligence to convincingly mimic real people and events — as well as best practices for keeping this fabricated evidence out of court, says Bijan Ghom at Saxton & Stump.

  • Expect Continued Momentum For Nuclear Power In 2025

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    With increasing electricity demand, growing interest in carbon-free energy and recent policy initiatives favoring atomic power, the future is looking bright for the U.S. nuclear energy industry — and the imminent switch of administrations in Washington is unlikely to change that, say attorneys at Venable.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

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    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • The Securities Litigation Trends That Will Matter Most In 2025

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    2025 is shaping up to be a significant year for securities litigation, as plaintiffs and defendants alike navigate shifting standards for omission theories of liability, class certification, risk disclosure claims and more, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • What To Watch For In The 2025 Benefits Landscape

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    While planning for 2025, retirement plan sponsors and service providers should set their focus on phased implementation deadlines under both Secure 1.0 and 2.0, an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and the fate of several U.S. Department of Labor regulations, says Allie Itami at Lathrop GPM.

  • How White Collar Enforcement May Shift In Trump's 2nd Term

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    After President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the administration’s emphasis on immigration laws, drug offenses and violent crime will likely reduce the focus on white collar crime overall, but certain areas within the white collar world may see increased activity, say attorneys at Keker Van Nest.

  • COP29 Offers Pathway To A Global Carbon Market

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    COP29, the recently concluded United Nations climate conference, represented a breakthrough in the establishment of standards for a global carbon market — and voluntary carbon market participants in the U.S. and elsewhere can enhance the value of their projects by aligning them with these standards, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • 2024 Has Been A Momentous Year For ESG

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    Significant developments in the environmental, social and governance landscape this year include new legislation, evolving global frameworks, continued litigation and enforcement actions, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that has already affected how lower courts have viewed some ESG challenges, say attorneys at Katten.

  • Advancing Storage-Integrated Power Generation In Turkey

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    Recent proposals by energy regulators in Turkey have laid the groundwork for further development of electricity generation plants with integrated energy storage facilities — offering opportunities for project developers and investors, and a possible model for U.S. regulators, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

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