Environmental

  • February 09, 2024

    Biden Admin. Seeks Suppliers For Major Clean Energy Deals

    The Biden administration is looking for contractors to provide clean electricity to civilian and defense agencies in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest states for what it says will be one of the federal government's "largest-ever clean electricity purchases."

  • February 09, 2024

    Green Construction Co. Gets Ch. 15 Nod For Canadian Case

    Canadian construction materials maker Nexii Building Solutions Inc. received Chapter 15 recognition of its foreign reorganization proceedings from a Delaware bankruptcy judge Friday as it looks to sell its assets and pay down debt under the supervision of a Canadian court.

  • February 09, 2024

    EPA Denial Of LA's Soot Plan Moots Enviro Groups' Suit

    Environmental groups have dropped a federal lawsuit claiming that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was dragging its heels on approving an air pollution plan for Los Angeles and determining whether Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, officially met particulate air quality standards back in 2021.

  • February 09, 2024

    DOI Accused Of Delaying Coal Mine Enviromental Review

    Signal Peak Energy has slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in D.C. federal court accusing the agency of unlawfully delaying an environmental impact statement needed for the approval of its expansion of the Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana.

  • February 09, 2024

    Apache Investors Get Class Cert. In Suit Over Natural Gas Play

    A group of Apache Corp. investors received class certification in their suit against the Houston oil and gas company on Friday, with a Texas magistrate judge saying there's enough evidence the company misrepresented a specific natural gas play to go forward with a lawsuit.

  • February 09, 2024

    Xcel Wants Trial Moved From Where Colo. Wildfire Raged

    Xcel Energy wants to move litigation over a 2021 wildfire to a county away from where the fire occurred, arguing the widespread trauma caused by the fire in Boulder County, Colorado, would make it too difficult to find impartial jurors.

  • February 09, 2024

    Flint Shouldn't Be 'Yardstick' In Water Cases, 6th Circ. Told

    Children accusing a small Michigan city of botching its response to lead contamination in drinking water told the Sixth Circuit on Thursday their case has been unfairly measured against the Flint water crisis.

  • February 09, 2024

    FERC Gets Full-Time Chair, But Another Exit Fuels Uncertainty

    President Joe Biden on Friday formally removed the "acting" designation from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Willie Phillips, the same day fellow Commissioner Allison Clements confirmed she won't seek another term, which could potentially leave FERC without enough members to fully function.

  • February 09, 2024

    Ore. Dam Can Be Reviewed In 5 Years, Judge Says

    An Oregon federal district court judge handed down a five-year pause on a decades-old lawsuit over the Columbia River System dams' hydropower practices, saying a stay best serves the orderly course of justice in litigation that's rife with complex issues.

  • February 09, 2024

    Feds Ask 9th Circ. To Pull Plug On Ore. Kids' Climate Case

    The federal government is urging the Ninth Circuit to overturn an Oregon federal judge's decision to greenlight a trial for a lawsuit filed by young plaintiffs who say current energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change.

  • February 09, 2024

    Bad Faith Claim Rejected Again In Hurricane Ida Coverage Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge again refused to find that the insurer of a suburban New Orleans commercial property acted in bad faith in denying to cover $220,000 in damage Hurricane Ida allegedly caused in 2021.

  • February 09, 2024

    Environmental Group Of The Year: Hunton

    Attorneys with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP won a hard-fought contest over the future of a controversial West Virginia gas pipeline, got a Trump-era regulation reinstated at the Ninth Circuit and shepherded a major Florida mine through permitting, earning the firm a place among Law360's 2023 Environmental Groups of the Year.

  • February 08, 2024

    Manchin Says Biden Admin Mishandled LNG Pause

    Sen. Joe Manchin expressed his dismay at the Biden administration's late-January announcement to pause liquified natural gas export permit approvals, telling David Turk, the deputy secretary of energy, in a hearing on Thursday that the administration should have turned to the Senate for discussion before making the decision.

  • February 08, 2024

    Exxon Told Climate Proposal Suit Threatens Investor Rights

    The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is urging Exxon to abandon a lawsuit launched against two activist investors who tried to push for a shareholder vote on a climate proposal that has since been withdrawn.

  • February 08, 2024

    Wash. Judge Says Tribes Can't Seek Cultural Damages

    A Washington federal judge said the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation can't seek millions of dollars of cultural resource damages over discharges from a Teck Resources Ltd. unit's smelter in Trail, British Columbia, holding that such damages can't be recovered under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

  • February 08, 2024

    $1B DuPont Deal Gets Final OK In Firefighting Foam MDL

    A South Carolina federal judge on Thursday granted final approval to a $1.18 billion settlement involving chemical companies DuPont, Chemours and Corteva over drinking water polluted by so-called forever chemicals, dismissing objections raised by three Washington cities and the North Texas Municipal Water District, among others.

  • February 08, 2024

    DuPont Spinoffs Can't Escape PFAS Suit In NC

    The North Carolina Business Court ruled Wednesday that spinoff companies of DuPont have to pay up if the legacy business is found liable for contaminating the environment with "forever chemicals" in a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general.

  • February 08, 2024

    NJ, Ft. Lee Mayor Fail To Merge NY Congestion Pricing Suits

    A federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid to consolidate two lawsuits — one filed by New Jersey, the other by the mayor of a Garden State town — seeking to halt New York City's congestion pricing toll plan, ruling that the suits make similar claims but seek different remedies.

  • February 08, 2024

    Pomerantz Beats 5 Other Firms To Lead SolarEdge Investor Suit

    A New York federal judge has appointed Pomerantz LLP to serve as lead counsel in a proposed shareholder class action claiming that SolarEdge Technologies Inc. failed to disclose information to investors about decreasing European sales, beating out five other firms that sought to lead the suit.

  • February 08, 2024

    Industry Stuck With $37M Bill To Fund EPA Chemicals Work

    Chemical companies will have to cover 25% of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's costs related to implementing 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act — to the tune of $37 million — under a final rule announced Thursday.

  • February 08, 2024

    House Energy And Commerce Chair Says She'll Retire

    U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees several federal agencies including telecommunications, energy and environmental regulators, announced on Thursday she won't seek reelection.

  • February 08, 2024

    NTSB Accused Of Withholding Derailed Train Parts

    Rail car leasing firm GATX Corp. and chemical firm OxyVinyls LP asked an Ohio federal judge to force the National Transportation Safety Board to let them examine parts from the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine last year, claiming the agency is holding out on them.

  • February 08, 2024

    New Eagle Rule Aims To Expand Clean Power, Protect Birds

    Federal wildlife regulators on Thursday put out streamlined permitting for wind farms, power lines and other projects that unintentionally kill, injure and disturb bald and golden eagles, a move welcomed by clean power and conservation groups.

  • February 08, 2024

    Wash. Tribes Sue Chevron, Others Over Climate Impacts

    A pair of western Washington tribes claim ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 have lied to consumers about the harmful climate impacts of their fossil fuel products, imperiling their lands and resources and citizens' health, according to complaints removed to federal court by Chevron.

  • February 08, 2024

    Monsanto Fights $2.25B Verdict After Philly Roundup Trial

    Monsanto is fighting a Philadelphia jury's explosive $2.25 billion rebuke of its Roundup weedkiller in a cancer lawsuit, claiming that the judge overseeing the case made a strong string of unfair rulings such as allowing "inflammatory" testimony and "abusive" cross-examination.

Expert Analysis

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Opinion

    3 Ways Justices' Disclosure Defenses Miss The Ethical Point

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    The rule-bound interpretation of financial disclosures preferred by U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — demonstrated in their respective statements defending their failure to disclose gifts from billionaires — show that they do not understand the ethical aspects of the public's concern, says Jim Moliterno at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

  • Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent announcement of civil penalties against 10 microcap companies for violations of Regulation A+ shows that as the SEC continues to expand its enforcement efforts, its focus remains on protecting investors of all sizes — including those investing in the historically less-scrutinized Reg A+ issuers, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Generator, Utility Challenges After FERC Connection Revamp

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    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recently issued Order No. 2023 requires major changes to the process by which power generators connect to transmission providers, and while it should help better integrate new renewable energy sources, many generators and utilities will face challenges during the transition, say Eric Runge and Margaret Czepiel at Day Pitney.

  • Pending 6th Circ. Ruling Has Broad Class Action Implications

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    If the Sixth Circuit decides in FirstEnergy Corp. Securities Litigation to treat alleged half-truths as omissions for the purposes of class certification, public companies would be exposed to near-automatic class certification in nearly every securities case and would face steeper evidentiary hurdles at the merits stages, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Mitigating Risk In US Liquefied Natural Gas Contracts

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    Recent increases in demand for liquefied natural gas in both European and Asian markets will present logistical, economic and legal challenges for suppliers, which will need to mitigate risks posed by both short-term and long-term contracts, says C. Thomas Kruse at Arnold & Porter.

  • Ohio Rulings Are Cautionary Tales For Attorneys In Crisis

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    Two recent decisions from Ohio state courts provide a sobering reminder that a counsel’s personal emergencies will not always suffice to alter court deadlines or excuse procedural missteps, and that prompt communication and documentation are crucial in the Buckeye State and beyond, says L. Bradfield Hughes at Porter Wright.

  • EPA Focus On Lead Could Heighten Private Litigation Risk

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    As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues a series of initiatives aimed at reducing lead exposure, including last month's proposal to strengthen removal requirements for lead-based paint, the risks of private suits from citizens groups over lead contamination grow, say Jonathan Brightbill and Madalyn Brown Feiger at Winston & Strawn.

  • Caregiver Flexibility Is Crucial For Atty Engagement, Retention

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    As the battle for top talent continues post-pandemic, many firms are attempting to attract employees with progressive hybrid working environments — and supporting caregivers before, during and after an extended leave is a critically important way to retain top talent, says Manar Morales at The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.

  • MoCRA Will Give Cosmetics Litigation A Makeover

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    Many provisions of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act go into effect at the end of this year — so cosmetics companies must understand how the law presents both benefits and challenges, especially with regard to litigation, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Investors Should Prepare For Possible EU Energy Treaty Exit

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    Following the European Commission’s recent call for the European Union and Euratom to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, investors in the energy sector should assess the legal structure of their existing investments and consider restructuring to ensure adequate protections, says Philipp Kurek at Kirkland.

  • If Justices End Chevron Deference, Auer Could Be Next Target

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court decides next term to overrule its Chevron v. NRDC decision, it may open the door for a similar review of the Auer deference — the principle that a government agency can interpret, through application, ambiguous agency regulations, says Sohan Dasgupta at Taft Stettinius.

  • How High Court Is Assessing Tribal Law Questions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's four rulings on tribal issues from this term show that Justice Neil Gorsuch's extensive experience in federal Native American law brings helpful experience to the court but does not necessarily guarantee favorable outcomes for tribal interests, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • Even Without US, Deep-Sea Mining Rules Likely To Prevail

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    While the U.S. was absent from the International Seabed Authority's recent meeting in Jamaica, and has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, it seems increasingly clear that the ISA's forthcoming deep-sea mining regime will become a global framework of reference, say Louise Woods and Elena Guillet at V&E.

  • In-Office Engagement Is Essential To Associate Development

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    As law firms develop return-to-office policies that allow hybrid work arrangements, they should incorporate the specific types of in-person engagement likely to help associates develop attributes common among successful firm leaders, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

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