Environmental

  • April 22, 2024

    Prosecutors, Pols And Partners Among Pa. AG Hopefuls

    Two district attorneys, two state lawmakers and partners from Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP and Curtin & Heefner LLP are among the attorneys hoping voters will give them a shot at succeeding Michelle Henry as Pennsylvania's attorney general.

  • April 22, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week, Delaware's Chancery Court news included a Tesla announcement about moving to Texas, a midcase appeal of Tripadvisor's move to Nevada, and United Airlines' escape from a stockholder suit. Disputes about board entrenchment, squeeze-out mergers, co-founder fallouts and deadly ice cream moved ahead.

  • April 22, 2024

    Latham-Led GEF Capital Closes $325M Climate-Focused Fund

    Latham & Watkins LLP-advised climate change- and pollution mitigation-focused private equity firm GEF Capital Partners on Monday announced that it clinched its second climate solutions fund above target with $325 million in tow.

  • April 19, 2024

    Real Estate Authority: Small Bank Loans, ULI, Lunar Housing

    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 the rising regulatory focus on small-bank commercial real estate loans, takeaways from the Urban Land Institute's Resilience Summit, and an architect's guide to lunar housing.

  • April 19, 2024

    DOI Bans New Mining Claims On 4,200 Acres Of NM Land

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has closed down any new mining claims for the next 50 years on 4,200 acres in Sandoval County, New Mexico, in an effort to protect the area with significant cultural ties to two Native American tribes.

  • April 19, 2024

    Flint Class Urges Approval Of $25M Water Firm Settlement

    A proposed class of 45,000 Flint, Michigan, property owners, businesses and adult residents on Friday urged a Michigan federal court to give the go-ahead to a $25 million settlement with Veolia North America, the last remaining engineering defendant in sprawling litigation over the city's water crisis.

  • April 19, 2024

    Enviro Groups Say Federal Plan Threatens At-Risk Bats

    A coalition of environmental groups sued the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday in North Carolina federal court alleging that a plan to allow logging in the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests will harm endangered bats on the brink of extinction.

  • April 19, 2024

    NY Nixes Power Deals With Trio Of Offshore Wind Projects

    New York officials on Friday said they wouldn't offer power contracts to a trio of offshore wind projects, the latest setback for the Empire State in efforts to make offshore wind a key component of its clean energy future.

  • April 19, 2024

    Biden Administration Sharply Limits Drilling In Alaska Arctic

    The Biden administration on Friday issued new restrictions on oil and gas leasing across vast swathes of Alaska's Arctic while simultaneously ruling out construction of a controversial road state officials proposed to access mining areas in sensitive wilderness.

  • April 19, 2024

    Pa. AG Charges Shell With Hiding Pipeline Pollution Spills

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Friday that she has charged a Shell subsidiary in state court, saying the company did not tell the state's Department of Environmental Protection about pollution problems it encountered while building a 45-mile pipeline in the Keystone State.

  • April 19, 2024

    Fla. Solar Panel CEO Can Be Sued In Mich., Judge Says

    A Michigan federal judge ruled Thursday that a Florida resident and former CEO of a solar panel company must face racketeering claims in Michigan alongside the company for allegedly scamming customers because he used to own property in the state and lived there during the alleged scheme.

  • April 19, 2024

    Arnold & Porter Atty Returns To Greenberg Traurig In Calif.

    Greenberg Traurig LLP has rehired a former associate from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP whose practice focuses on a range of environmental litigation dealing with cancer-causing chemicals, plastic pollutants and the laws surrounding their regulation.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Administrative Law Lessons From 5th Circ. Appliance Ruling

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    Showing that mundane details can be outcome-determinative, the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Energy — that the government's repeal of rules affecting dishwashers and laundry machines is invalid — highlights the relationship between regulatory actions and statutory language, say Michael Showalter and Vyasa Babu at ArentFox Schiff.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • Aviation Back On Course, But Keep Seat Belts Fastened

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    While the airline industry finally returned to profitability last year for the first time since the onset of COVID-19, and is poised for historic levels of traffic in 2024, supply chain problems and economic and geopolitical uncertainty persist — so more turbulence may lie ahead, say Kevin Lewis and Bart Biggers at Sidley.

  • Preparing For A New Wave Of Litigation Under Silicosis Rules

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    After the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California issued an emergency temporary standard to combat noncompliance with assessments of workers' exposure to particles of crystalline silica, companies that manufacture, distribute or sell silica-containing products will need aggressive case-specific discovery to navigate a new wave of litigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation

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    There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Brazil

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    Environmental, social and governance issues have increasingly translated into new legislation in Brazil since 2020, and in the wake of these recently enacted regulations, we are likely to see a growing number of legal disputes in the largest South American country related to ESG issues such as greenwashing if companies are not prepared to adequately adapt and comply, say attorneys at Mattos Filho.

  • Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury

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    Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Vagueness In Calif. Climate Law Makes Compliance Tricky

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    California's recently enacted Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act requires companies making claims of carbon neutrality, or significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions, to disclose information supporting those claims — but vague and conflicting language in the statute poses multiple problems for businesses, say John Rousakis and Chris Bowman at O'Melveny.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

  • Harmonizing Agricultural And Clean Energy Goals

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    Congress' extension of the Farm Bill offers a chance to more thoroughly consider innovation and investments that could transform the competition between farmers and solar developers into synergistic agrivoltaic systems, which use land for both agriculture and solar energy generation, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • CFTC Moves May Boost Interest In Voluntary Carbon Markets

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    As companies try to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions, many have been cautious about embracing voluntary carbon credit markets — but recent moves by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate this sector may address some of its well-known challenges, say Deborah North and Laura Daugherty at Cleary.

  • Key Maritime Law Issues In 2024: Election-Year Unknowns

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    In the final installment of this three-part article reviewing the top challenges for the maritime industry this year, Sean Pribyl at Holland & Knight examines how the uncertainty surrounding the forthcoming U.S. election may affect the maritime sector — especially companies involved in offshore wind and deep-sea mining.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • Key Maritime Law Issues In 2024: Environmental Challenges

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    In the second installment of this three-part article examining key concerns for the maritime sector this year, Sean Pribyl at Holland & Knight considers how the industry will be affected by environmental concerns — including the growing push for decarbonization, and regulatory scrutiny around greenwashing and ESG issues.

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