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Environmental
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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April 18, 2024
Coast Guard's Dredging Barge Approval Upheld At 5th Circ.
The U.S. Coast Guard properly certified a dredging vessel with foreign-made components to work in the Houston Shipping Channel, according to a Fifth Circuit panel ruling that the maritime service deserved court deference to interpret its own regulations.
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April 17, 2024
Trial-Ready Paraquat MDL Cases Tossed After Testimony Axed
An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday threw out the first group of trial-ready cases over the herbicide paraquat, agreeing with Syngenta and Chevron that the plaintiffs' expert testimony must be excluded and finding that the cases fail without that testimony.
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April 17, 2024
PG&E Sued For $225 Million Dixie Fire Forest Damage
Owners of the Collins Almanor Forest in Northern California have slapped PG&E with a complaint alleging that they incurred more than $225 million in damage after the Dixie Fire ripped through approximately 55,000 acres of their forest lands in July 2021.
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April 17, 2024
Tribal Groups Say Final Fish Harvesting Rule Violates NEPA
Two Alaskan tribal organizations are asking a federal court to vacate a final groundfish harvest rule for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, arguing that it fails to account for the rapid and unprecedented shifts in their ecosystems caused by climate change over the past two decades.
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April 17, 2024
Ga. Jury Finds Supplier At Fault For Botched Herbicide Job
An Atlanta federal jury on Wednesday found a company hired to thin out woods on a rural Georgia property and a subcontractor brought in to spray the property with herbicide were responsible for wrecking a developer's plans for turning the location into a quail hunting retreat.
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April 17, 2024
Hawaii AG Releases Timeline Of Deadly Lahaina Wildfire
Hawaii's attorney general on Wednesday released findings from the first report of a three-part investigation into how state and county governments responded to the wildfires that ignited on the island of Maui last year, decimating the historic town of Lahaina and leaving more than 100 people dead.
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April 17, 2024
Tesla Gets PTAB To Wipe Out Vehicle Charging Patent
Tesla has persuaded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate all claims of a Charge Fusion Technologies electrical charging patent, the latest development in a larger legal battle between the parties.
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April 17, 2024
Gov't Officials Urge Global Cooperation On Taxing Wealth
Global cooperation on taxing the wealthiest individuals and companies is necessary to address climate change and create social justice, government officials from Brazil, France and Nigeria said Wednesday at the International Monetary Fund's spring meeting.
Expert Analysis
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.
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How 3 Unfolding Cases Could Affect The Energy Industry
Three judicial decisions now in the pipeline — Texas' challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane regulations, Delaware's climate suit against big energy companies, and a case before the Supreme Court of Texas on royalty lease interpretation — could have important implications for the energy industry, say Michelle Scheffler and Rachael Cox at Skadden.
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How IRA Unlocks Green Energy Investments For Tribes
An Inflation Reduction Act provision going into effect May 10 represents a critical juncture for Native American tribes, offering promising economic opportunity in green energy investment, but requiring a proactive and informed approach when taking advantage of newly available tax incentives, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.
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What Nevada 'Superbasin' Ruling Means For Water Users
The Nevada Supreme Court's recent decision in Sullivan v. Lincoln County Water District, affirming that the state can manage multiple predesignated water basins as one "superbasin," significantly broadens the scope of water constraints that project developers in Nevada and throughout the West may need to consider, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Tipsters May Be Key To Financial Regulators' ESG Efforts
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking to whistleblowers to assist their climate and ESG task forces, suggesting insider information could be central to the agencies' enforcement efforts against corporate greenwashing, false investment claims and climate disclosure violations, says John Crutchlow at Youman & Caputo.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown
While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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California Shows A Viable Way Forward For PFAS Testing
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no good way of testing for the presence of specific per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in food packaging — but a widely available test for a range of fluorine compounds that's now being used in California may offer a good solution, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Ruling In La. May Undercut EPA Enviro Justice Efforts
A Louisiana federal court's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely serve as a template for other states to oppose the EPA's use of disparate impact analyses in Title VI civil rights cases aimed at advancing environmental justice policies and investigations, say Jonathan Brightbill and Joshua Brown at Winston & Strawn.
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Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.
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Take AG James' Suit Over Enviro Claims As A Warning
New York Attorney General Letitia James' recent suit against JBS USA Food Co. over allegedly misleading claims about its goal to reach net zero by 2040 indicates that challenges to green claims are likely to continue, and that companies should think twice about ignoring National Advertising Division recommendations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.
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8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future
Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.