Environmental

Expert Analysis

• FERC Has Options If Court Pulls Pipeline Certificates

  

  The D.C. Circuit recently denied petitions for rehearing filed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a group of pipeline companies, and might soon vacate FERC’s orders authorizing the Florida Southeast Connection pipelines. FERC and the pipeline operators face the question of how and whether the pipelines could keep operating without certificates, says Randall Rich of Pierce Atwood LLP.

• 3 Lessons From Sinovel's Trade Secret Theft Conviction

  

  One of the key takeaways from a Wisconsin federal court's recent decision in U.S. v. Sinovel Wind Group is that the most serious threats to a company’s trade secrets can often be internal rather than external, says Justus Getty of Duane Morris LLP.

• Cannabis’ CEQA Challenge

  

  Regulating cannabis raises California Environmental Quality Act review obligations of unprecedented scale. Focusing primarily on commercial cannabis cultivation, Tyler Welti of Venable LLP looks at some emerging CEQA risks facing both cannabis businesses seeking permits and public agencies seeking to permit or ban commercial cannabis.

• West Coast 'Super Tort' PCB Suits Have Staying Power

  

  Increasingly, municipalities and states are pursuing public nuisance theories against product manufacturers and distributors. Actions filed by West Coast municipalities and states over the past three years against polychlorinated biphenyl manufacturer Monsanto continue to progress through the courts, say Gary Smith and Casey Clausen of Beveridge & Diamond PC.

• 10 Tips For Working With IT To Preserve Data

  

  Increasingly, when courts impose a “legal hold” they require legal supervision of the preservation process, meaning lawyers must rely heavily on information technology professionals to execute the mechanics. John Tredennick of Catalyst Repository Systems and Alon Israely of TotalDiscovery offer insights on how legal and IT can work together to make the process more efficient and fulfill the company’s legal obligations.

• Protecting Privilege In Litigation Financing Negotiations

  

  Multiple courts have held that discoverable material from negotiations with a litigation funder, when executed properly, can be attorney work product and immune from disclosure in the later litigation. The recent Acceleration Bay decision is indicative of what happens when difficult facts conflict with best practices, says Eric Robinson of Stevens & Lee PC.

• How Tax Reform Affects Gov't Environmental Enforcement

  

  The 2017 tax reform law casts into doubt the federal income tax deductibility of costs companies incur in connection with government settlements and court orders. This new provision applies to all settlements of any kind with any government entity, say Timothy Webster and Thomas Yancey of Sidley Austin LLP.

• TSCA Regulatory Action Raises Retailers' Litigation Risk

  

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a final rule regulating formaldehyde in consumer products under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and is now evaluating other chemicals. There may be increased litigation after such regulatory action — even in the absence of noncompliance — so manufacturers and retailers should stay alert, say Alexandra Cunningham and Merideth Daly of Hunton & Williams LLP.

• Why Machine Learning Should Matter To Lawyers

  

  Legal leaders who want to meet their clients' expanding expectations should start moving their documents to future-ready document management solutions now if they want to stay competitive in the next few years, says Dan Puterbaugh of Adobe Systems Inc.

• Roundup

  EPA In The Trump Era

  

  In this series, former EPA general counsels and agency members discuss some of the most significant recent developments at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and what they mean for the future of U.S. environmental law.