Environmental

  • August 20, 2026

    EPA Moves To Clear Superfund Sites In 8 States

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has completely deleted six Superfund sites and partially deleted two more of the hazardous waste sites from the agency's National Priorities List, which takes note of the nation's most contaminated areas earmarked for cleanup.

  • August 20, 2026

    SBA Proposes Broad Changes To Small-Biz Size Standards

    The U.S. Small Business Administration has moved to overhaul how the agency defines small businesses by proposing new standards that would simplify industry classifications and dramatically increase size thresholds, which would lead to about 114,000 more businesses being classified as small.

  • August 20, 2026

    Harris Beach Adds Environmental Atty From Nixon Peabody

    Harris Beach Murtha Cullina PLLC has hired former Nixon Peabody LLP attorney Aaron B. Goldman as a senior counsel on its commercial real estate and environmental teams in New York.

  • August 20, 2026

    Colo. Court Affirms Boulder Stormwater Fees Aren't Taxes

    Stormwater fees in Boulder, Colorado, that were used in part to repay $66 million in bonds are not taxes subject to voter approval under the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, an appeals court said Thursday, affirming a state district court.

  • August 20, 2026

    Quakers Say Everglades ICE Site Teardown Needs Review

    A southeastern regional Religious Society of Friends group filed a brief Wednesday in the ongoing suit over the now-shuttered immigrant detention center in the Everglades, arguing that environmental review is just as necessary when tearing the facility down as when it was being built.

  • August 20, 2026

    Dems Push For Probe Of LNG Tanker Tax Breaks At IRS

    Democratic senators Thursday urged a government watchdog to investigate whether the Internal Revenue Service has determined that liquefied natural gas exporters who use the fuel to propel their tankers can claim an alternative fuel tax credit.

  • August 20, 2026

    Tax Biz Owner Charged In Scheme That May Have Bilked $65M

    A federal grand jury charged an Alabama tax preparation business owner with preparing and filing fraudulent returns for clients and himself in a scheme that may have caused the federal government a tax loss of more than $65 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • August 20, 2026

    Mitsubishi Electric Agrees To Acquire PCI Energy For $1.4B

    Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Thursday it has agreed to acquire U.S. energy-management software provider PCI Energy Solutions for $1.4 billion, expanding its presence in the North American power market.

  • August 20, 2026

    KKR Lobs $9B Takeover Offer At UGI, Plus More Rumors

    Private equity behemoth KKR offered to acquire natural gas distributor UGI Corp. for $9 billion, fast-fashion company Shein is eyeing a $25 billion valuation ahead of its anticipated Hong Kong initial public offering, and e-commerce giant Alibaba sold its game developer business to Trustar Capital in a $2 billion deal. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ariz. Judge Says Grazing Take Limits Flunk ESA Standards

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to ensure appropriate measures are in place to assess whether a livestock grazing program in the Coronado National Forest is unduly harming two protected wildlife species, an Arizona federal judge ruled.

  • August 20, 2026

    Jury Finds Okla. Highway Contractor Guilty Of Price-Fixing

    A federal jury in Oklahoma found a highway runoff contracting business and two of its employees guilty of antitrust violations for a price-fixing conspiracy that allegedly impacted $100 million in publicly funded construction contracts in the state.

  • August 20, 2026

    Wood-Pellet Execs' $650M Bet Blamed For Bankruptcy

    The litigation trustee for wood-pellet producer Enviva Inc.'s Chapter 11 litigation trust has sued five former executives in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing them of secretly committing the company to more than $650 million in high-priced pellet purchases to boost short-term earnings and their chances of receiving bonuses, ultimately helping drive Enviva into bankruptcy.

  • August 19, 2026

    Snow Equipment Cos. Say Norwegian Co.'s Fraud Cost $100M

    A Colorado-based snow removal equipment company and its Canadian sister company told a state court that a Norwegian manufacturer sold more than $10 million worth of equipment that contained engines not compliant with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements, causing more than $100 million in damages to the companies.

  • August 19, 2026

    Air Force Urges Justices Not To 'Engraft' NEPA Onto RCRA

    The Air Force on Wednesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a Guam nonprofit's assertion that the military branch should have completed an environmental review before it applied to renew a hazardous waste permit allowing it to detonate expired munitions on the island.

  • August 19, 2026

    DOJ Enviro Deputy AG Leaves Post

    A top deputy in the U.S. Department of Justice's Energy and Natural Resources Division is leaving the agency, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.

  • August 19, 2026

    PFAS Turnout Gear Buyer Lawsuits Get Consolidated In Minn.

    Minnesota will be home to firefighter turnout gear PFAS "forever chemical" federal lawsuits filed by municipal purchasers from 14 separate states, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has decided, consolidating current actions in Montana and California with lawsuits filed in the corporate home state of 3M Co.

  • August 19, 2026

    EPA Waiver Review Could Upend Rulemaking, Judge Signals

    A D.C. federal judge predicted Wednesday that there could be wide-ranging implications for oversight of agency rulemaking if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to put California emissions waivers up for congressional review more than a decade after they were first granted.

  • August 19, 2026

    Feds Hit With ESA Suit Over Green Floater Mussel Inaction

    An environmental group accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of failing to follow through with protections for a freshwater mussel known as the green floater three years after it proposed to list the mussel as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

  • August 19, 2026

    Groups Say NOAA Failed To Vet Samoan Seabed Mining Harm

    Two conservation groups have sued to stop the sale of deep-sea mining rights across 31 million acres of seabed around American Samoa, arguing the National Marine Fisheries Service unlawfully determined the activity would not adversely affect endangered species and their habitat.

  • August 19, 2026

    Mining Project Beats Suit, But Species Harm Estimate Flagged

    The federal government won dismissal of most claims from environmental groups challenging a gold mining project, but the presiding federal Idaho judge did order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revise a statement estimating harm to wolverine and bull trout.

  • August 19, 2026

    DC Circ. Won't Block Loan For Mozambique LNG Project

    A D.C. Circuit panel denied an environmental group's push to block $4.7 billion in financing the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved for a TotalEnergies EP liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, finding the group unlikely to prevail in its challenge.

  • August 19, 2026

    Pa. Court Lets Off-Grid Solar Projects Get Energy Credits

    Solar energy projects in Pennsylvania do not have to connect to the electrical grid to qualify for "solar renewable energy credits," allowing gas pipeline operator Williams Companies Inc. to get and sell credits for solar arrays that only power two remote compressor stations, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.

  • August 19, 2026

    Google Gets $12.2B Option To Buy Stake In Chipmaker Marvell

    Marvell Technology has issued Google a warrant to buy up to 58.97 million shares of its common stock, worth about $12.2 billion at the warrant's exercise price, according to a Marvell securities filing Wednesday.

  • August 18, 2026

    DC Circ. Backs EPA Forever Chemicals Rules

    The D.C. Circuit Tuesday backed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's designation of the two most common forms of forever chemicals as hazardous substances under federal Superfund law, rejecting arguments from industry that the agency didn't have a legal basis to do so.

  • August 18, 2026

    DOI, Enviro Groups Trade Punches Over Wildlands Policy

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has received pushback from conservation groups that oppose five comment processes among three federal agencies as the DOI reviews policies affecting wilderness areas on public lands nationwide.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • Data Center Developer Lessons From Maine's Vetoed Ban

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    The regulatory and political dynamics that recently led Maine’s governor to veto a popular bipartisan bill proposing a temporary data center development ban offer a useful template that developers can use to help their projects survive other states' attempts at moratoriums, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • AI Regulatory Gaps May Fuel FCA Enforcement Action

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    The intersection of artificial intelligence and False Claims Act enforcement presents legal risk for government contractors across several industries, particularly in the absence of a federal regulatory framework explicitly governing its development and use, say attorneys at O’Melveny.

  • AI Agents Will Test The Bounds Of Expert Witness Rules

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    Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence does not address whether a testifying expert must be human, but as the rule’s amended admissibility framework intersects with the accelerating capabilities of agentic AI, courts may be forced to confront whether AI-generated expertise fits within existing evidentiary doctrine, says Steven Cordero at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Reel Justice: 'Project Hail Mary' Can Aid Cross-Examination

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    In the new science fiction film, "Project Hail Mary," a character understood that survival depended on eliminating ambiguity — a useful lesson that trial lawyers can implement by asking statements that are delivered in the form of a question during cross-examination, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • AI-Proofing Class Action Notices From Pro Se Objection Surge

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    Class action practitioners should prepare for a likely surge in artificial intelligence-enabled pro se objections by implementing several practical strategies to navigate this shift, says Britany Wessan at Almeida Law Group.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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