Environmental

  • December 10, 2025

    Supreme Court Urged To Deny Alaska's Fishing Regs Petition

    The U.S. and tribal associations are asking the Supreme Court to deny the state of Alaska's petition that seeks to reverse a Ninth Circuit order that barred it from opening part of the Kuskokwim River to all fishers, arguing that any intervention in the dispute should come from Congress.

  • December 10, 2025

    Tribunal Tells Ecuador To Pay $221M In Chevron Case

    An international tribunal in The Hague said the Republic of Ecuador must pay nearly $221 million to the Chevron Corp. in connection to a decades-long dispute over pollution in the Amazon.

  • December 10, 2025

    V&E-Advised Geothermal Co. Wraps $462M Funding Round

    Geothermal power company Fervo Energy, advised by Vinson & Elkins LLP, revealed Wednesday that it closed an oversubscribed Series E funding round after raising $462 million in capital, which will be used to boost the company's growth.

  • December 10, 2025

    Feds Fight Bid To Reopen Years-Old Montana Bison Dispute

    The federal government is fighting a motion by a neighborhood group to reopen a six-year-old dispute over a Yellowstone National Park bison management operation plan for additional environmental review, telling a Montana court that the decisions and documents challenged in the case are no longer operative.

  • December 09, 2025

    Smucker Pet Food Buyers Near Cert. In PFAS Disclosure Fight

    A California federal judge said Tuesday he's inclined to certify a class of consumers who allege The J.M. Smucker Co. failed to disclose risks of so-called PFAS forever chemicals in pet-food packaging contaminating kibble, telling counsel during a hearing that many issues Smucker raises "are better addressed on the merits."

  • December 09, 2025

    Florida Bill Seeks To Shield Landowners From Pollution Suits

    A Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill that would add hurdles to those looking to sue over pollution damages caused by old phosphate mines, giving property owners a new defense to avoid strict liability claims.

  • December 09, 2025

    FERC's Fate Uncertain As Humphrey's Executor Teeters

    The future of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may hinge on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will remake its 90-year-old precedent that protects members of independent agencies from being fired at will by the president.

  • December 09, 2025

    NJ Slams Town's Bid To 'Unilaterally Rewrite' PFAS Deal

    New Jersey has slammed a bid by Carneys Point Township to intervene in the state's federal suit against Chemours and other companies over PFAS contamination, saying the township shouldn't be allowed to "rewrite" the terms of the deal.

  • December 09, 2025

    Cummins Investors Ink $1.6M Deal Over Emissions Fraud Suit

    Engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. and its investors asked an Indiana federal court to approve a $1.6 million deal that will end claims that the company hurt investors by hiding emissions control devices in certain engines, causing it to owe $2 billion in payments to regulators to settle Clean Air Act claims.

  • December 09, 2025

    Latham Adds Energy Ace From Kirkland In Houston

    Latham & Watkins LLP has strengthened its mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice with a Houston-based partner who came aboard after more than a decade with Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

  • December 08, 2025

    Trump's 'Unlawful' Freeze Of Wind Projects Gets Blocked

    A Massachusetts federal judge Monday blocked President Donald Trump's executive order indefinitely pausing permits for wind farm projects, ruling that the order was arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the law.

  • December 08, 2025

    11th Circ. Vacates Benefits Ruling In Black Lung Case

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday vacated a ruling that awarded survivors benefits to the widow of a railroad engineer who died after yearslong exposure to coal dust, finding the U.S. Department of Labor review board wrongly determined that a preparation plant was part of an underground coal mine. 

  • December 08, 2025

    What To Do When Jurors Don't 'Trust The Science'

    The pandemic and initiatives from the second administration of President Donald Trump challenging decades of established scientific norms have made science more politicized, and attorneys say picking a jury and presenting scientific evidence is increasingly challenging.

  • December 08, 2025

    Court Remands Malaysian Wind Tower Duties For Details

    The U.S. Department of Commerce must detail certain decisions in a countervailing duty administrative review of a Malaysian utility wind tower producer, according to a Court of International Trade opinion that partially remanded the government's determination for further explanation.

  • December 08, 2025

    3 Firms Advise Antero Natural Gas Asset Buy From HG Energy

    With Vinson & Elkins LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP advising, natural gas company Antero Resources Corp. announced an expansion Monday by paying $2.8 billion for assets from HG Energy, while an affiliate reached a separate $1.1 billion acquisition deal with the privately held company.

  • December 08, 2025

    EPA Asks Judge To Let Solar Energy Funding Cuts Stand

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told a Washington federal district court that its decision to freeze funding for a low-income solar energy program should stand while states pursue a lawsuit to free up the money.

  • December 08, 2025

    Mosaic Says 'Radioactive' Road Done, Legal Challenge Moot

    A Florida fertilizer producer asked the Eleventh Circuit to toss a lawsuit challenging a new roadway on its property using radioactive materials, arguing the court cannot provide any remediation or relief for a road it already constructed.

  • December 08, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Looks To Nix Suits Against $700M Casino Approval

    A California tribe is asking a D.C. federal court to dismiss three challenges to a U.S. Department of the Interior decision to place 160 acres into trust for its $700 million hotel and casino project, arguing that the consequences of denying its intervention in the litigation would be "grave and severe."

  • December 08, 2025

    Feds Ordered To Start Turning Over Climate Panel Documents

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to begin complying with a request by two environmental advocacy groups for records of an ad hoc panel convened by the U.S. Department of Energy, ahead of an anticipated decision to vacate a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are endangering human health.

  • December 08, 2025

    EPA Wants Suit Over Refiners' Hydrogen Fluoride Use Tossed

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked a California federal judge to throw out a suit aiming to force it to stop oil refineries from using hydrogen fluoride, saying the groups behind it rely on speculative hypotheticals to allege harm.

  • December 05, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Questions Whether Ingevity Can Duck $85M Verdict

    The Federal Circuit spent Friday morning debating whether Ingevity Corp.'s argument that it should be immune from an $85 million antitrust verdict holds water because the chemical and carbon product maker thought it was enforcing its patent rights, even though the jury said it was illegal tying.

  • December 05, 2025

    Ex-Derailment Deal Admin Faces Irked Judge In Contempt Bid

    The ex-administrator of Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement over the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment met skepticism as it admitted to a federal judge Friday that it had made some mistakes in distributing funds, but denied class counsel's key contention that $120 million for personal injury claims had to be divided evenly among all the claimants.

  • December 05, 2025

    Nuclear Waste Storage Worries Too Hypothetical, Justices Told

    A company licensed to temporarily store nuclear waste urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a challenge to a condition in its license application to contract with the U.S. Department of Energy once Congress allows it.

  • December 05, 2025

    6th Circ. Partially Overturns EPA's Detroit Ozone Ruling

    The Sixth Circuit reversed a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determination that the Detroit area meets federal air quality standards, ruling Friday that the state of Michigan failed to implement federally required air pollution controls.

  • December 05, 2025

    Jet Fuel Leak Sparks $2M Suit Against Air Force

    A California general contractor hired to perform drainage work at Travis Air Force Base is seeking $2.17 million over the alleged retaliatory termination of its contract after the business reported the military's discharge of jet fuel into Union Creek.

Expert Analysis

  • How Trump's Trade Policies Are Shaping Foreign Investment

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    Five months into the Trump administration, investors are beginning to see the concrete effects of the president’s America First Investment Policy as it presents new opportunities for clearing transactions more quickly, while sustaining risk aversion related to Chinese trade and potentially creating different political risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Justices Rewrite Rules For Challenging Enviro Agency Actions

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    Three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, Oklahoma v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining — form a jurisprudential watershed in administrative and environmental law, affirming statutory standing and venue provisions as the backbone of coherent judicial review, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • ICSID Annulment Proceedings Carry High Stakes For System

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    The annulment proceedings brought by Freeport-McMoRan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking to redress a glaring and prejudicial oversight in its arbitral award against Peru, are significant for delimiting the boundaries of procedural fairness within the ICSID's annulment framework, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting

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    A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • 3 Juror Psychology Principles For Expert Witness Testimony

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    Expert witnesses can sometimes fall into traps when trying to teach juries complex topics by failing to consider the psychology of juror comprehension, but attorneys can help witnesses avoid these pitfalls with a deeper understanding of cognitive lag, chunking and learning styles, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • In NRC Ruling, Justices Affirm Hearing Process Still Matters

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas safeguards the fairness, clarity and predictability of the regulatory system by affirming that to challenge an agency's decision in court, litigants must first meaningfully participate in the hearing process that Congress and the agency have established, says Jonathan Rund at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

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