Environmental

  • March 26, 2024

    Greens Sue NRC Over Delayed Diablo Canyon Inspections

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated federal law when it rejected community and environmental groups' request for a public hearing over allegedly outdated inspections at Diablo Canyon, California's last remaining nuclear power plant, the groups told the Ninth Circuit on Monday.

  • March 26, 2024

    Air Force Says Flight Training Isn't Affecting Enviros' Mission

    The U.S. Air Force told an Oregon federal court that environmental groups' challenge to expanded warfighter training is based on how the plan would impact local noise levels and animal habitats, and not how the plan was affecting them personally.

  • March 26, 2024

    US EV Subsidies Discriminatory, China Tells WTO

    Domestic production rules for U.S. electric vehicles to qualify for subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act are discriminatory, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday, announcing it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization.

  • March 26, 2024

    K&L Gates Adds Ex-Suncor Atty To Energy Team In Seattle

    K&L Gates LLP has announced it is expanding its environment, land and natural resources practice capabilities in Seattle with the addition of a seasoned partner with two decades of diverse environmental policy experience including private practice, in-house and government work.

  • March 25, 2024

    4th Circ. Sides With Trump Jr. In Ex-Coal CEO's Libel Suit

    A Fourth Circuit panel on Monday upheld Donald Trump Jr.'s win against former coal company CEO and U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship's defamation suit, saying there's no evidence Trump Jr. acted with actual malice when he called Blankenship a "felon" — instead of a person convicted of a federal misdemeanor — on social media.

  • March 25, 2024

    Full 10th Circ. Stands By Revival Of Valero Pipeline Leak Suit

    The full Tenth Circuit refused to budge from a panel's February decision that partly revived an Oklahoma cattle ranch's lawsuit seeking to hold Valero Energy Corp. liable for a pipeline leak that allegedly contaminated the ranch property.

  • March 25, 2024

    Wild Horses Can't Drag Ga., Feds Into Enviro Suit, Judge Told

    U.S. and Georgia government officials have again asked a Peach State federal court to throw out claims they illegally neglected feral horses on Cumberland Island, arguing a revised lawsuit from conservation groups still can't show they are responsible for damage committed by the animals.

  • March 25, 2024

    NOAA Allots $60M To Help Columbia River Salmon

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it plans to allocate $60 million of Inflation Reduction Act funding to pay for overdue maintenance and repairs at hatchery facilities in the Columbia River Basin, which will further tribal priorities and help address climate change impacts facing salmon and steelhead populations.

  • March 25, 2024

    BLM Adhered To Law In Granting Oil Lease Sales, Judge Rules

    A D.C. federal judge has ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management in litigation brought by environmental groups seeking to challenge six oil and gas leases in the western United States, saying the agency did all that it was required to under the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the lease sales.

  • March 25, 2024

    EPA Takes Heat Over Latest Renewable Fuel Regs

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest renewable fuel blending requirements took a legal beating from all sides Friday, with refiners, biofuel producers and environmentalists urging the D.C. Circuit to send the agency back to the drawing board.

  • March 25, 2024

    High Court Won't Review Texas Oil Spill Liability Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider if a mixture of petroleum and chemicals is considered "oil" under federal oil spill law and rejected companies' attempt to revive their suit against a storage terminal operator for polluting the Houston Ship Channel.

  • March 25, 2024

    Plaintiffs' Attys Found Not Violating Soliciting Rules In OT Suit

    Current and former employees of a Pennsylvania coal company earned conditional certification and did not violate soliciting rules for a collective action accusing management of violating overtime rules by not compensating time spent attending to gear before and after shifts, a federal judge ruled.

  • March 25, 2024

    Black La. Residents Ask 5th Circ. To Revive Pollution Suit

    Black Louisianans are asking the Fifth Circuit to revive their lawsuit that alleges St. James Parish's government and the state Legislature intentionally approved harmful petrochemical facilities in predominantly Black districts and protected predominantly white districts from those facilities.

  • March 25, 2024

    'Bridgegate' Atty Among Pair Of New Arnold & Porter Partners

    Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP has expanded its partner ranks with a former prosecutor in the "Bridgegate" case and a onetime environmental law practice leader at another firm moving to its New Jersey, New York and Boston offices, the firm announced Monday.

  • March 25, 2024

    Texas Judge Extends Stay On Border Wall Funding Order

    A Texas federal judge briefly extended a pause on an injunction directing the Biden administration to use funding Congress appropriated to build physical barriers on the Southwest border for that purpose, as the administration asks for clarification of the order, saying it could otherwise make it hard to build anything.

  • March 25, 2024

    Justices Preserve Obama-Era Forest Monument Expansion

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review two appellate court rulings upholding former President Barack Obama's expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument on the Oregon-California border.

  • March 22, 2024

    Power Line's Refuge Crossing To Stay On Hold For Now

    A Wisconsin federal judge on Friday extended an order temporarily blocking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from executing a land swap that would allow the nearly completed Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage transmission line to cross part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

  • March 22, 2024

    Real Estate Authority: NAR, Climate, Data Center Dollars

    Law360 Real Estate Authority covers the most important real estate deals, litigation, policies and trends. Catch up on this week's key developments by state — as well as on how the National Association of Realtors could shift broker fees, what the country's patchwork of climate action plans means for real estate, and why private equity is hot on data centers.

  • March 22, 2024

    Youths Ask 9th Circ. To Allow Climate Trial To Proceed

    Youth plaintiffs called on the Ninth Circuit to once again reject the U.S. government's renewed attempt to block a trial that's set to proceed in Oregon federal court over government policies they claim have exacerbated climate change and imperiled their futures.

  • March 22, 2024

    Dril-Quip Investor Alleges Merger Will Entrench Board

    A shareholder of oil drilling equipment company Dril-Quip Inc. hit its directors with a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they added unreasonable provisions to the terms of its merger with Innovex Downhole Solutions Inc. to disenfranchise shareholders.

  • March 22, 2024

    5th Circ. Lifts SEC Climate Rule Stay After 8th Circ. Lottery Win

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday lifted a temporary block on the implementation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new emissions reporting requirements, following the selection of the Eighth Circuit as the venue for consolidated proceedings of the various suits about the agency's controversial rules.

  • March 22, 2024

    EPA Clean Cars Rule Charts Auto Industry Transformation

    The Biden administration's strictest-ever regulations curbing tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks deliberately aim to re-energize a U.S. auto industry transformation toward electric vehicles in the face of lower consumer demand, an increasingly antagonistic political climate and almost certain legal challenges, experts say.

  • March 22, 2024

    Boston Soccer Stadium Project Gets Green Light From Judge

    A plan by the city of Boston to turn a stadium inside historic Franklin Park over to a professional women's soccer team can continue moving forward, after a judge on Friday denied a requested injunction to halt it.

  • March 22, 2024

    5th Circ. Axes EPA's PFAS Enforcement Against Plastic Co.

    The Fifth Circuit threw out two enforcement actions against a Texas plastic-container manufacturer that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused of creating perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in its manufacturing process, saying the agency exceeded its statutory authority.

  • March 22, 2024

    Feds Ask 9th Circ. To Save Logging Project In Grizzly Area

    The federal government asked the Ninth Circuit on Friday to overturn a Montana federal judge's decision halting a large logging operation in the Kootenai National Forest over concerns about the project's effect on grizzly bears and old-growth trees.

Expert Analysis

  • What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups

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    Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Mo. Solar Projects Need Clarity On Enterprise Zone Tax Relief

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    In Missouri, enhanced enterprise zones offer tax abatements that could offset the cost of solar project infrastructure, but developers must be willing to navigate uncertainty about whether the project is classified as real property, say Lizzy McEntire and Anna Kimbrell at Husch Blackwell.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • What To Expect After Colo. Nixes Special Standing Rules

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    Two recent Colorado Supreme Court decisions have abandoned a test to preclude standing in lawsuits challenging government decisions brought by subordinate government entities, which will likely lead to an admixture of results, including opening the door to additional legal challenges between government entities, says John Crisham at Crisham & Holman.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: South Korea

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    Numerous ESG trends have materialized in South Korea in the past three years, with impacts ranging from greenwashing prevention and carbon neutrality measures to workplace harassment and board diversity initiatives, say Chang Wook Min and Hyun Chan Jung at Jipyong.

  • How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes

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    With social media’s ability to seize upon an issue and spin it into a specifically designed narrative, it is more critical than ever that a litigation communications strategy be part of trial planning to manage the impact of legal action on a company's reputation, say Sean Murphy and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Look At Successful Bid Protests In FY 2023

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    Attorneys at Sheppard Mullin look beyond the statistics in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s recent annual report on bid protests, sharing their insights about nine categories of sustained protests, gained from reading every fiscal year 2023 decision in which the protester had a positive result.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Biden Climate Push Expands With Contractor GHG Focus

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    President Joe Biden's recent announcement that federal agencies will consider contractors' greenhouse gas emissions when making procurement decisions demonstrates his administration's continued interest in using government contracting as a vehicle for reducing climate-related impacts — a theme first established in the early months of his term, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Key Shifts In EU, UK Emissions Credits: Challenges For Cos.

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    An upcoming deadline to apply for free carbon dioxide emissions allowances in the European Union, and a reduction in the supply of similar allowances in the U.K., are likely to increase competition for allowances, and cause production, supply chain and contract issues for companies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • How Shareholder Activists Are Targeting Insurers

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    As shareholder activists take a closer look at the insurance industry, they are pushing insurers to take value-enhancing and climate-related measures — but insurers can prepare by anticipating activist concerns, maintaining robust shareholder engagement, and considering changes in response to the universal proxy rules, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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