Environmental
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January 15, 2019
Shutdown Draining Tribes, National Parks, Dem Panel Told
A Democratic committee heard testimony Tuesday about the ongoing federal shutdown, with House Democrats blaming President Donald Trump for the shutdown and hearing testimony detailing the shutdown's worsening impact on Native Americans and public lands.
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January 15, 2019
€128M Award Against Spain Can Be Enforced, Court Hears
London based asset manager Eiser Infrastructure Ltd. argued Monday that a D.C. federal court has no authority to independently determine whether Spain consented to arbitrate a dispute over renewable energy subsidies, and, as such, can enforce a €128 million ($146 million) arbitral award against the country.
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January 15, 2019
Kasowitz Tells DC Circ. That Chem Cos. Hid Dangers
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP told the D.C. Circuit on Monday that a lower court got it wrong when it tossed the firm's suit accusing four chemical companies of violating the Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to tell the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about a chemical's alleged danger.
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January 15, 2019
Gov't Hits Tetra Tech With FCA Suit Over Navy Cleanup Work
The federal government has accused a Tetra Tech unit of billing the U.S. Navy for radiation remediation services at a former Navy shipyard in San Francisco that it did not actually perform, in violation of the False Claims Act.
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January 15, 2019
4th Circ. Backs Va. Water Permit For $5B Pipeline
A Fourth Circuit panel has rejected a petition by a coalition of environmental groups that challenged Virginia’s decision to issue a Clean Water Act certification for the $5 billion Atlantic Coast gas pipeline, saying the state did not act arbitrarily and ignore the project’s risks.
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January 15, 2019
Senate Tax Panel Head Open To Renewing Credits For 1 Year
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee told reporters Tuesday that he would be open to retroactively renewing expired tax credits that were included in legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives for a one-year period.
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January 15, 2019
CWA Shift Pushes Calif., States Toward Stricter Water Regs
California is close to finalizing new protections for its wetlands in response to the Trump administration's proposal to redefine which waters are subject to federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction, leading the way for like-minded states that could use their considerable authority to counteract a new definition they see as inadequate.
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January 15, 2019
Boston Harbor Blasting Project Stalled After Eversource Balks
A planned blasting project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Boston Harbor was stalled Tuesday just a day before it was set to begin after Eversource Energy made a pitch to a federal judge that the blasting could impact a power cable it has to install on a court-ordered timeline.
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January 15, 2019
Golf Course Urges 7th Circ. To Make GE Clean Up Water
An Illinois federal judge who found that General Electric Co. created imminent and substantial endangerment by contaminating 500 million gallons of drinking water was wrong not to also order the company to clean up its mess, a golf course told the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday.
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January 14, 2019
Tribes, Enviros Ask DC Circ. To Can FCC Small-Cell Order
Tribal and environmental groups are urging the D.C. Circuit to vacate a Federal Communication Commission order designed to speed up 5G infrastructure rollout by exempting small cell fixtures from certain historical and environmental regulatory reviews.
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January 14, 2019
EPA Right To Nix Houston, Dallas Air Controls, Texas Says
Green groups are too late to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s revocation of certain ozone limits and pollution control requirements for the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas, the Texas attorney general and industry groups have told the Fifth Circuit.
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January 14, 2019
'National Emergency' Would Be Rife With Legal Challenges
President Donald Trump would face a tangle of property, contract and environmental obstacles if he followed through on his proposal to circumvent Congress and authorize the building of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border by declaring a national emergency, experts say.
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January 14, 2019
Don't Confirm EPA Head During Gov't Shutdown, Enviros Say
Nine environmental and left-leaning groups on Friday urged Republican Senate leaders to halt the confirmation process to promote acting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler to permanent status while the government is still shut down.
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January 14, 2019
Ill. Residents Ask For Class Cert. In Oil Spill Row
Two Illinois residents have asked a federal judge to certify a class of about 4,400 households located near the site of a 4,200-gallon crude oil spill from a pipeline built by Plains All American Pipeline LP, asserting that a common event linked the similar claims.
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January 14, 2019
NJ Takes PennEast Pipeline Land Grab Fight To 3rd Circ.
New Jersey officials on Friday said they would appeal to the Third Circuit a New Jersey federal judge's ruling that developers of the $1 billion PennEast gas pipeline can immediately seize more than 100 Garden State properties, including state-owned land, along the project's route.
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January 14, 2019
Shell Sues Coke To Recover Costs In Calif. Plant Cleanup Row
Shell Oil Co. has filed suit against BCI Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles and a variety of other entities seeking to recover cleanup costs related to a site that was once home to a synthetic rubber plant in Torrance, California, saying that others must contribute to costs related to the remediation of soil contamination.
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January 14, 2019
Colo. High Court Rejects Climate-Based Drilling Restriction
In a high-profile ruling Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court said the state agency that issues oil and gas permits could not enact a rule that would have barred permits for projects that would contribute to climate change or negatively impact public health.
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January 11, 2019
The Firms That Dominated In 2018
Law360's top four Firms of the Year notched a combined 32 Practice Group of the Year awards after successfully securing wins in bet-the-company matters and closing high-profile, big-ticket deals for clients throughout 2018.
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January 11, 2019
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 congratulates the winners of its 2018 Practice Group of the Year awards, which honor the law firms behind the litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry in the past year.
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January 11, 2019
Dems Question EPA On Wheeler Confirmation Hearing Prep
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and fellow Democrats have questioned whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has directed employees to work on acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler's confirmation hearing to be the agency's permanent head despite the agency’s shutdown plan mandating that only certain employees continue to work.
Expert Analysis
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Why AFAs Are Key To The Future Of Legal Practice
Alternative fee agreements can help align law firm and client interests, increase efficiency and eliminate corporate extortion, among other benefits. They are the best thing to happen to the practice of law in decades, says Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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What To Expect In Environmental Law In 2019
From a business perspective, the environmental law developments that are likely to have the most immediate domestic consequences in the coming year are air- and water-related litigation and regulations, say attorneys with Reed Smith LLP.
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Series
Judging A Book: Barron Reviews 'The Clamor Of Lawyers'
Can lawyers lead a revolution? According to "The Clamor of Lawyers: The American Revolution and Crisis in the Legal Profession" — a slim but elegant volume by Peter Charles Hoffer and Williamjames Hull Hoffer — they can and they did, says First Circuit Judge David Barron.
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Constitutional Challenges To Pipeline Takings Face Obstacles
In a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, the plaintiffs in Berkley v. Mountain Valley Pipeline claim the Natural Gas Act does not preclude district court review of constitutional objections to the law. However, their arguments are at odds with Supreme Court precedent, says Clay Massey of Alston & Bird LLP.
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Opinion
The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 2
Lawyer-directed nonrecourse litigation funding is more likely to protect a lawyer's exercise of independent professional judgment than traditional means of litigation finance, and furthermore enables worthwhile cases that otherwise could not be funded, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.
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Opinion
The Case For Lawyer-Directed Litigation Funding In NY: Part 1
Contrary to what the New York City Bar Association concluded in an ethics opinion last year, lawyer-directed nonrecourse commercial litigation funding does not violate New York rules on sharing fees with nonlawyers, say Peter Jarvis and Trisha Thompson of Holland & Knight LLP.
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How Coast Guard Reauthorization Affects Maritime Sector
The Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, signed into law last month, modifies regulation of commercial vessel discharges, reauthorizes multiple maritime agencies, and makes important changes to safety and antitrust regulations, say attorneys and government affairs advisers with K&L Gates LLP.
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7 Questions To Add To Your Lateral Partner Questionnaire
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Law firms should redesign the vetting process for lateral candidates so it directly addresses sexual harassment and assault issues, says Howard Rosenberg of Decipher.
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Opinion
Only Congress Can Fix The Waters Of The US Whirlpool
If anything is clear amid the ongoing chaos of competing Clean Water Act judicial decisions and agency actions, it's that Congress should have acted long ago, says Jeff Porter of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC.
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Q&A
A Chat With Reed Smith Chief Marketing Officer Sadie Baron
In this monthly series, Amanda Brady of Major Lindsey & Africa interviews management from top law firms about the increasingly competitive business environment. Here we feature Sadie Baron, chief marketing officer at Reed Smith LLP.