Environmental

  • March 28, 2024

    Va. Landowners Return To Supreme Court In FERC Challenge

    Virginia residents with property being condemned for the Mountain Valley Pipeline are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a D.C. Circuit decision dismissing their suit challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's eminent domain authority, and its ability to delegate that authority to private companies.

  • March 28, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • March 27, 2024

    BlackRock's Non-ESG Funds Have Green Agenda, Miss. Says

    Mississippi's secretary of state announced Wednesday that it intends to fine BlackRock multiple millions of dollars, alleging the asset manager has repeatedly made false and misleading statements about its involvement in "pushing" environmental, social and corporate governance factors on portfolio companies.

  • March 27, 2024

    Tribes Want Climate Change Row With Oil Cos. In State Court

    Two Native American tribes urged a Washington federal court to remand their consolidated case against ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 back to state court, arguing they've only asserted state-law causes of action.

  • March 27, 2024

    BLM Finalizes Methane Venting And Flaring Rule

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday announced its final rule meant to cut the amount of methane released at energy production facilities by reducing leaks and tightening limits on a process known as flaring.

  • March 27, 2024

    FERC Finds Fans And Foes Of Wall Street's Utility Ownership

    The deadline has just passed for initial comments on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's reexamination of its policy for allowing financial firms to own electric utilities. Here's a recap of what FERC is contemplating and the initial feedback the agency has received from players throughout the U.S. power sector.

  • March 27, 2024

    Navajo Sue Feds Over Withheld Forestry Program Funds

    The Navajo Nation claims the U.S. Department of the Interior unlawfully withheld more than a million dollars in funding for its contracted forestry management program, telling a D.C. federal judge the department should be forced to provide the money and accept the funding agreements proposed by the nation.

  • March 27, 2024

    9th Circ. Rejects Rust-Oleum's Bid To Sink Class Cert.

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld the certification of a class of Rust-Oleum customers who are suing the company for allegedly greenwashing its degreaser products with the terms "non-toxic" and "Earth friendly."

  • March 27, 2024

    DOE, Holtec Ink $1.5B Loan To Restart Mich. Nuclear Plant

    The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday unveiled an up to $1.52 billion loan to Holtec Palisades aimed at financing a first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant restoration project for the previously shuttered Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert Township, Michigan.

  • March 27, 2024

    Boston Strikes Novel Deal To Contract For Offshore Wind

    Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday announced a novel deal between the city and energy company Avangrid Inc. to purchase up to 15 megawatts of wind-generated electricity from the company, contingent on Avangrid winning a multistate bidding process for new offshore development.

  • March 27, 2024

    Illegally Stored Oil Waste Threatens Ohio River, AG Suit Says

    The Ohio attorney general wants a state court to force the removal of tons of oil and gas industry waste illegally stored near the Ohio River that threatens to contaminate nearby drinking water sources.

  • March 27, 2024

    Feds Want Suit Over Spillway's Dolphin Harm Tossed

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is asking a Mississippi federal judge to throw out a lawsuit claiming it harmed bottlenose dolphins by keeping a massive flood control spillway above New Orleans open for months and sending some 10.5 trillion gallons of polluted freshwater into the Mississippi Sound.

  • March 27, 2024

    Dykema-Led CPS Energy Buying Texas Gas Assets For $785M

    Dykema Gossett PLLC-advised CPS Energy has agreed to buy a Texas power generation portfolio from Talen Energy Corp. for $785 million, the companies said Wednesday.

  • March 26, 2024

    EPA Pressed On Cost, Strength Of Slaughterhouse Water Rule

    Meat and poultry industry groups and environmentalists are clashing over how strict the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality regulations for slaughtering, processing and rendering facilities should be, while local regulators urged a focus on feasibility.

  • March 26, 2024

    Jackson Paints Abortion Clash As Microcosm Of Bigger Brawl

    A war of words Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court over access to abortion medication marked a climactic moment after a lengthy legal slugfest. But probing questions from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson illustrated that the main event for reproductive rights was also simply a single round in a much larger fight over the government's regulatory powers.

  • March 26, 2024

    8th Circ. Urged To Freeze SEC Climate Rules Once More

    An energy company suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its recently finalized climate disclosure rules urged the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday to stay the implementation of the rules, after a stay granted by the Fifth Circuit was recently lifted following the consolidation of various related lawsuits.

  • March 26, 2024

    Pennsylvania, Crypto Miner Sued Over Enviro Contamination

    A Pennsylvania environmental group sued the Keystone State and a crypto-mining company Tuesday in Philadelphia County Court accusing the state of failing to protect its residents from the company's purported six million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

  • March 26, 2024

    Enviro Orgs Sue To Block Expansion Of NY's Biggest Landfill

    Environmental groups, businesses and residents are asking a New York state judge to order regulators to address noxious odors coming from a landfill near Seneca Falls and prevent regulators from approving a proposed expansion that would allow the state's largest landfill to operate beyond 2025.

  • March 26, 2024

    SPAC Investors Misled In $1.35B Stem Deal, Del. Suit Says

    A former stockholder of a blank-check company that merged with intelligent energy storage business Stem Inc. filed a proposed class action in Delaware's Court of Chancery Tuesday, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment in connection with the April 2021 merger.

  • March 26, 2024

    Conagra Can't Sink Sustainable Fishing False Ad Suit

    An Illinois federal judge trimmed but refused to toss a proposed class action claiming Conagra Brands Inc. deceptively labels its seafood products as sustainable when the fish is sourced with methods harmful to oceans, saying the customers have sufficiently alleged the phrase "Good for the Environment" is deceptive.

  • March 26, 2024

    Ski Resort Corp. Says Sheep Used As Pretext To Ruin Project

    Ski resort corporation The Vail Corp. told the Colorado Court of Appeals Monday to revive its workforce housing project after the town of Vail allegedly gave into local opposition against the project and used a local bighorn sheep herd as pretext to condemn the 23.3 acres of land that the ski resort corporation planned to use for the project.

  • March 26, 2024

    NY Urges 2nd Circ. To Deny Tribe's Eel Fishing Challenge

    The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation called on the Second Circuit to uphold a lower court's rejection of the Unkechaug Indian Nation's challenge to the agency's regulations on eel harvests, saying contrary to the tribe's arguments, they're not preempted by any federal treaty or statute.

  • March 26, 2024

    Fishers Say Tire Cos. Can't Escape Salmon ESA Suit

    Fishing groups are fighting tire companies' attempt to dismiss an Endangered Species Act suit over the use of a rubber additive known as 6PPD, which harms salmon, telling a California federal judge the companies are trying to delay accountability.

  • March 26, 2024

    BP, Chevron And Others Hit With Climate Change Suit In Pa.

    Bucks County in Pennsylvania has sued BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and other major oil companies for allegedly deceiving the public about the dangers of fossil fuel pollution, claiming that climate change has caused increasingly severe weather leading to property damage in the county.

  • March 26, 2024

    Boeing Can't Exit Wash. Worker's Birth Defect Suit

    A Washington state judge has declined to throw out a lawsuit accusing Boeing of exposing a factory worker to chemicals that caused birth defects in his child, after casting doubt last month on the company's assertion it had no legal duty to protect employees' future children from foreseeable harm.

Expert Analysis

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

    Author Photo

    The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

  • Take AG James' Suit Over Enviro Claims As A Warning

    Author Photo

    New York Attorney General Letitia James' recent suit against JBS USA Food Co. over allegedly misleading claims about its goal to reach net zero by 2040 indicates that challenges to green claims are likely to continue, and that companies should think twice about ignoring National Advertising Division recommendations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future

    Author Photo

    Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Del. Supreme Court Insurance Ruling Aids In Defining 'Claim'

    Author Photo

    The recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in Zurich v. Syngenta, finding that a presuit letter did not constitute a claim for insurance purposes, sets out a three-factor test to help policyholders distinguish when a demand rises to the level of a claim, says Lara Langeneckert at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial

    Author Photo

    Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • How Fieldwood Ch. 11 Ruling Bolsters Section 363 Confidence

    Author Photo

    The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 cases, which clarified that challenges to integral aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Section 363(m) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, should bolster the confidence of prospective purchasers in these sales, say attorneys at V&E.

  • Opinion

    Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining

    Author Photo

    Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year

    Author Photo

    As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.

  • New Eagle Take Permit Rule Should Help Wind Projects Soar

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recently issued final rule revising the eagle take permit process should help wind energy developers obtain incidental take permits through a more transparent and expedited process, and mitigate the risk of improper take penalties faced by wind projects, says Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.

  • 2 Issues For Venture-Backed Climate Tech Startups To Avoid

    Author Photo

    As climate tech startups become more common, poor equity dilution management and stacked seed financing are two common pitfalls that apply more acutely to climate tech startups than to the broader venture-backed startup space, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

    Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • Takeaways From EPA's New Methane Emission Rules

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at V&E examine two new Clean Air Act rules for the oil and gas industry, explaining how they expand methane and volatile organic compound emission reduction requirements and amplify U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement risks.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!