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Environmental
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April 19, 2024
EPA Says 2 'Forever Chemicals' Are Hazardous Substances
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday officially declared two "forever chemicals" to be hazardous materials under federal law, which could bring a host of consequences for Superfund site cleanups and development projects.
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April 19, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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April 18, 2024
Nuke Power Plant Owner Says NY Can't Bar Water Discharges
The owner of the shuttered Indian Point nuclear power plant sued the state of New York on Thursday, alleging a law banning discharges of radioactive materials into the Hudson River unlawfully infringes on the federal government's authority.
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April 18, 2024
4th Circ. Vacates Enviro Win In Mining Co. Permit Ruling
The special receiver for a defunct mining company can transfer mining permits for a site formerly owned by Patriot Coal Corp., the Fourth Circuit ruled, finding that a West Virginia federal judge interpreted a consent decree providing for mine shutdown and cleanup too broadly.
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April 18, 2024
Electronics Co. Says Insurer Cut $34.9M In Asbestos Coverage
A Philadelphia electronics company that inherited asbestos liability from a company it acquired told a Pennsylvania federal court that an insurer is wrongfully preventing it from accessing over $34.9 million in coverage to deal with the claims.
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April 18, 2024
BLM Prioritizes Conservation On Federal Land In Final Rule
The Biden administration finalized a rule Thursday that prioritizes the conservation of federal lands through new initiatives like leasing frameworks that center on restoration and mitigation.
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April 18, 2024
Enbridge Says Feds' Pipeline Brief Aids Michigan Case
Enbridge Energy has said the U.S. government's recent brief to the Seventh Circuit in separate litigation over its Line 5 pipeline backs its challenge against Michigan over the state's attempts to shutter the project, arguing the federal government has a strong interest in ensuring that trade and diplomatic relations with Canada aren't affected.
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April 18, 2024
25 States Urge DC Circ. To Block EPA Auto Emissions Rules
Twenty-five Republican-led states on Thursday called for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks and vans through 2032.
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April 18, 2024
FERC To Reveal Final Grid-Planning Policy Revamp
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it would unveil on May 13 the final version of its long-awaited overhaul of how major electric transmission projects are planned and paid for.
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April 18, 2024
Gulf Oil Terminal Sale Spurs Environmental Settlement Talks
The recent sale of a Gulf Oil shoreline terminal in New Haven, Connecticut, is poised to advance settlement talks in an environmental lawsuit challenging the facility's preparedness for the alleged effects of global warming, according to a federal court hearing held Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Pomerantz To Rep Investors In AT&T Lead Cable Class Action
A New Jersey federal judge approved Pomerantz LLP as the lead counsel for a proposed investor class action alleging AT&T lied about its effort to be environmentally conscious while contributing to the installation of toxic lead cables, with the New York City Public Pension Funds serving as lead plaintiff.
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April 18, 2024
Admiral Balks At Covering Menendez Ally In Pollution Suit
Admiral Insurance Co. is asking a New Jersey federal court for a declaration that it owes no coverage to a businessman who is a co-defendant in U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial in a decade-long suit by Edgewater Borough over contamination at a construction site.
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April 18, 2024
Maui County Sued Over Wildfire Landfill Debris Storage
Maui County has been slapped with a lawsuit in Hawaii federal court alleging it relied on a deficient, 28-year-old environmental impact statement when taking over a nearly 20-acre parcel of land to house debris from last year's massive wildfires, in violation of the Hawaii Environmental Protection Act.
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April 18, 2024
Coast Guard's Dredging Barge Approval Upheld At 5th Circ.
The U.S. Coast Guard properly certified a dredging vessel with foreign-made components to work in the Houston Shipping Channel, according to a Fifth Circuit panel ruling that the maritime service deserved court deference to interpret its own regulations.
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April 17, 2024
Trial-Ready Paraquat MDL Cases Tossed After Testimony Axed
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday threw out the first group of trial-ready cases over the herbicide paraquat, agreeing with Syngenta and Chevron that the plaintiffs' expert testimony must be excluded and finding that the cases fail without that testimony.
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April 17, 2024
PG&E Sued For $225 Million Dixie Fire Forest Damage
Owners of the Collins Almanor Forest in Northern California have slapped PG&E with a complaint alleging that they incurred more than $225 million in damage after the Dixie Fire ripped through approximately 55,000 acres of their forest lands in July 2021.
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April 17, 2024
Tribal Groups Say Final Fish Harvesting Rule Violates NEPA
Two Alaskan tribal organizations are asking a federal court to vacate a final groundfish harvest rule for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, arguing that it fails to account for the rapid and unprecedented shifts in their ecosystems caused by climate change over the past two decades.
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April 17, 2024
Ga. Jury Finds Supplier At Fault For Botched Herbicide Job
An Atlanta federal jury on Wednesday found a company hired to thin out woods on a rural Georgia property and a subcontractor brought in to spray the property with herbicide were responsible for wrecking a developer's plans for turning the location into a quail hunting retreat.
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April 17, 2024
Hawaii AG Releases Timeline Of Deadly Lahaina Wildfire
Hawaii's attorney general on Wednesday released findings from the first report of a three-part investigation into how state and county governments responded to the wildfires that ignited on the island of Maui last year, decimating the historic town of Lahaina and leaving more than 100 people dead.
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April 17, 2024
Tesla Gets PTAB To Wipe Out Vehicle Charging Patent
Tesla has persuaded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate all claims of a Charge Fusion Technologies electrical charging patent, the latest development in a larger legal battle between the parties.
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April 17, 2024
Gov't Officials Urge Global Cooperation On Taxing Wealth
Global cooperation on taxing the wealthiest individuals and companies is necessary to address climate change and create social justice, government officials from Brazil, France and Nigeria said Wednesday at the International Monetary Fund's spring meeting.
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April 17, 2024
Republican AGs Petition EPA To Drop Enviro Justice Initiative
Attorneys general from 23 primarily Republican-led states on Tuesday demanded that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency roll back civil rights regulations that prohibit actions that may unintentionally affect racial groups in different ways.
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April 17, 2024
States, Biz Groups Back Fight Over DOE Furnace Rules
Eighteen states and several business associations are backing gas utility groups' challenge to the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is unlawfully forcing a switch to new appliances.
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April 17, 2024
Florida Pleads With Judge To Stay Water Permit Ruling
Florida called on a D.C. federal judge to pause his ruling vacating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of the state's application to assume control of a Clean Water Act permitting program, amid its D.C. Circuit appeal.
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April 17, 2024
Reps. Want To Exempt Water Utilities From PFAS Liability
A bipartisan duo of congressional lawmakers is pushing a bill that would exempt some public water systems, municipalities and other entities from liability for violations of federal "forever chemical" regulations.
Expert Analysis
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Series
ESG Around The World: Singapore
Singapore is keen to establish itself as a leading international financial center and a key player in the sustainable finance ecosystem, and key initiatives led by its government and other regulatory bodies have helped the Asian nation progress from its initially guarded attitude toward ESG investment and reporting, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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Series
Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.
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Green Tech And IP From Obama Through Biden: What's Next?
J. Douglas Miller and Matthew Dills at Shumaker consider how positions on the environment have shifted along with the last three U.S. presidential administrations, how these shifts have affected investment in sustainable green technologies and intellectual property strategies, and how the future might look.
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What US-Canada Critical Minerals Collab Means For Cos.
Recent announcements from U.S. and Canadian officials indicate closer collaboration between the two governments on procurement of critical minerals for electric vehicles and other advanced technology — and companies on both sides of the border may have access to new opportunities as a result, say John Lushetsky, Matthew Simpson and Paul Dickerson at Mintz Levin.
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Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct
The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.
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High Court's Chevron Review May Be A Crypto Game-Changer
The outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court's review of the Chevron doctrine in its pending Loper v. Raimondo case will potentially usher in a paradigm shift in cryptocurrency regulation, challenging agency authority and raising hopes for a recalibrated approach that favors judicial interpretation, says Sylvia Favretto at Mysten Labs.
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How New Expert Rules Are Already Changing Court Decisions
Though not formally effective until last week, some courts have been relying for several years on amended federal rules clarifying judges’ gatekeeping role, so counsel should be prepared to justify their expert witnesses’ methodologies and expect additional motion practice on expert testimony admissibility, say Colleen Kenney and Daniel Kelly at Sidley.
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IRA Monetization Energizes Clean Power Tax Credit Market
Recent large sales of clean energy production tax credits reflect an environment in which the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions for monetizing such credits via direct transfer — bypassing slow, costly tax equity transactions — offer opportunities for both developers and investors, says Andrew Eastman at Husch Blackwell.
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Opinion
Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave
To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.
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Business Takeaways From Biden's Global Labor Rights Memo
President Joe Biden's recent memorandum on protecting worker rights is one of the most expansive statements the administration has made regarding international labor rights policy, and reflects several points of which businesses should take note, including the government’s interest in working with the private sector on these issues and a notable focus on the transition to clean energy, say Tom Plotkin and Pegah Nabili at Covington.
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Superfund Site Reopenings Carry Insured Risk, Opportunity
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's reported plans to reopen certain Superfund sites citing the presence of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances raise notable liability concerns, but may also present unique opportunities for policyholders under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, say attorneys at Haynes and Boone.
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Legal Lessons From Past World Cups To Keep In Mind For '26
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand set new standards for sustainability, human rights and sponsorship — and with those new standards come new challenges for those involved in the planning of the 2026 World Cup in North America, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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New Regs Will Strengthen Voluntary Carbon Offset Market
Voluntary carbon offsets are a vital tool for organizations seeking to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions — and recent efforts by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the state of California and others are essential to enhancing the reliability and authenticity of carbon credits, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Series
Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.