Environmental

  • September 24, 2025

    Xcel Energy To Pay $640M To Settle Marshall Fire Lawsuit

    Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility company, said Wednesday that it plans to pay roughly $640 million to settle litigation that accused it of causing or contributing to the state's devastating 2021 Marshall Fire.

  • September 24, 2025

    Tower Developer Linked To Menendez Ally Wants Suit Tossed

    The developer behind a disputed high-rise project — once led by a businessman convicted in the bribery scheme involving former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez — is asking a New Jersey judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a neighboring municipality, arguing the case is incurably flawed.

  • September 24, 2025

    GAO Says Energy Dept. Must Review PFAS At Dozens Of Sites

    The U.S. Department of Energy needs to speed up its review of how forever chemicals are and have been used at its sites across the nation, the congressional watchdog agency said Wednesday.

  • September 24, 2025

    Philly Alleges Companies Misled About Products' Recyclability

    S.C. Johnson & Son and snack cake maker Bimbo Bakeries USA have been sued by the city of Philadelphia for allegedly misleading consumers about the recyclability of plastics they use in their products.

  • September 24, 2025

    Kirkland, Davis Polk Lead Mirion's $585M Paragon Buy

    Radiation detection company Mirion, advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, on Wednedsay announced that it has agreed to buy Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led nuclear power company Paragon Energy Solutions from private equity shop Windjammer Capital in a $585 million cash deal.

  • September 24, 2025

    Tribal Groups Back 9th Circ. Bid To Block Ariz. Land Transfer

    Two tribal advocacy groups are backing a Ninth Circuit bid to block a 2,400-acre federal land exchange in Arizona to make way for a billion-dollar copper mining project they say will destroy an ancient worship site, arguing that federal policies are systematically stripping Indigenous nations of their homelands.

  • September 24, 2025

    Md. County Backs Landowners In 4th Circ. Power Line Dispute

    A county board of commissioners in Maryland told the Fourth Circuit that a Public Service Energy Group unit trying to build a 67-mile transmission line has no right to conduct testing on private landowners' properties, saying a lower court erred in granting the company access.

  • September 23, 2025

    UC Researchers Win Expanded Injunction Against Grant Cuts

    A California federal judge Monday issued another preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to reinstate grants awarded to University of California researchers, this time resurrecting grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Institutes of Health.

  • September 23, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Disturb EPA's Denial Of Texas Ozone Plan

    The Fifth Circuit on Monday refused to upend a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision denying Texas' Clean Air Act implementation plans, finding that the EPA's procedure complied with the law and its reasoning for denying the plans "was sound."

  • September 23, 2025

    New Illinois Law Opens The Door To More Toxic Tort Litigation

    A new Illinois law expanding the state's jurisdictional reach in toxic tort cases has drawn mixed reactions from attorneys, with some praising the law as an added accountability measure for toxic exposure and others decrying it as an open invitation for forum shopping that could clog the state's dockets.

  • September 23, 2025

    Enviro Orgs. Ask 5th Circ. To Review Delfin LNG Project License

    Environmental groups on Monday asked the Fifth Circuit to find that the U.S. Department of Transportation violated federal law when it issued a license for the construction and operation of the Delfin LNG LLC deepwater liquefied natural gas project.

  • September 23, 2025

    Tax Court Slashes $38M In Easement Donation Deductions

    The U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday slashed $38 million in deductions for donations of two conservation easements across hundreds of acres in Georgia, finding one lacked the required conservation purpose and neither was potentially headed for mining development as the donors had claimed.

  • September 23, 2025

    Ship's Owner Can't Shift Blame For Bridge Collapse, Court Told

    The Singaporean owner and manager of the container ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge and triggered its collapse cannot try to shift blame for its own failings, the South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. has told a Pennsylvania federal court.

  • September 23, 2025

    4 Firms Pave Way For $1B All-Cash Drainage Systems Deal

    Advanced Drainage Systems said Tuesday it will acquire National Diversified Sales, the water management business of Germany's Norma Group SE, in an all-cash deal valued at about $1 billion.

  • September 23, 2025

    Foes Slam Feds' GHG Plan As Trump Decries Green 'Scam'

    Green groups and democrats are strongly opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to abandon a key greenhouse gas policy, as President Donald Trump on Tuesday called climate change "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world."

  • September 23, 2025

    EPA Still Can't Escape Tort Claims Over Flint Water Crisis

    A Michigan federal judge has again denied a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency request to dismiss Federal Tort Claims Act litigation seeking to hold the government liable for allegedly lax oversight of the water system in Flint, Michigan.

  • September 23, 2025

    Law Firms Sued Over La. Hurricane Claim Fee Scheme

    Two law firms and certain attorneys engaged in a scheme to "grossly and blatantly" inflate damages estimates for hurricane-related property insurance claims in order to "collect an exorbitant fee which they would all share," a group of seven Louisiana residents told a Louisiana federal court.

  • September 23, 2025

    Chemours Asks 4th Circ. To Toss Ohio River Pollution Order

    Chemours told the Fourth Circuit a West Virginia federal judge botched the law and the science about the risks a forever chemical poses when he ordered its Washington Works facility to stop discharging permit-exceeding amounts of the substance into the Ohio River.

  • September 23, 2025

    Sullivan & Cromwell Guides Sempra On $10B Subsidiary Sale

    Sempra said Tuesday it has agreed to sell a 45% stake in its infrastructure subsidiary to a consortium led by KKR and Canada's CPP Investments for $10 billion, while separately securing $7 billion of equity financing led by Blackstone to advance a major liquefied natural gas project in Texas.

  • September 22, 2025

    Energy Investor Can Enforce €61M Award Against Bulgaria

    A D.C. federal judge Monday sided with Maltese investor ACF Renewable Energy Ltd. in a suit seeking to enforce a €61 million ($71.86 million) arbitral award against Bulgaria in a dispute over the country's changes to a fixed 20-year rate plan.

  • September 22, 2025

    Trump Admin Says Calif. Emissions Waiver Fight Is DOA

    The Trump administration has told a federal judge that California can't use the courts to override the will of Congress and undo the revocation of Clean Air Act waivers allowing the Golden State to establish its own vehicle emissions standards.

  • September 22, 2025

    EPA Proposes Rolling Back TSCA Risk Evaluation Regs

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed loosening regulations for chemical health risk evaluations, saying the existing set can unnecessarily prolong reviews and stifle new products, but green groups are criticizing the move as a giveaway to industry.

  • September 22, 2025

    NextEra Dodges Antitrust Claims In $1B Power Line Fight

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday dismissed claims that NextEra Energy violated antitrust law in efforts to delay construction of a $1 billion transmission line, saying developer Avangrid Inc. failed to show how NextEra's actions limited competition in New England electricity markets.

  • September 22, 2025

    8th Circ. To Hear Tribal Tesoro Pipeline Row In October

    The Eighth Circuit has set arguments for Oct. 21 in North Dakota tribal members' challenge to a lower court's decision that denied them intervention in a lawsuit against the federal government's right-of-way trespassing claims against Tesoro High Plains Pipeline.

  • September 22, 2025

    Mich. Panel Reaffirms 3M's Win In Challenge To PFAS Rules

    A Michigan appellate panel has again upheld a court decision invalidating Michigan's limits on PFAS chemicals in tap water, finding that 3M Co. may challenge the rules in court without first lodging an administrative complaint with the state's environmental agency.

Expert Analysis

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Clean Energy Tax Changes Cut Timelines, Add Red Tape

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    With its dramatic changes to energy tax credits, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reshape project financing and investment planning — and wind and solar developers, especially those in the early stages of projects, face stricter timelines and heightened compliance challenges, says Dan Ruth at Balch & Bingham.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

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    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

  • Trump Air Emissions Carveouts Cloud The Regulatory Picture

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    President Donald Trump's new proclamations temporarily exempting key U.S. industries from air toxics standards, issued under a narrow, rarely-used provision of the Clean Air Act, will likely lead to legal challenges and tighter standards in some states, contributing to further regulatory uncertainty, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • How Property Insurers Serve As Climate Change Harbingers

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    Thomas Dawson at McDermott discusses the role that U.S. property insurers may play in identifying and assessing climate risk, as well as in financing climate change adaptation projects, in light of global warming and shifting geopolitical realities.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • A Deep Dive Into 14 Nixed Gensler-Era SEC Rule Proposals

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month formally withdrew 14 notices of proposed rulemaking, including several significant and widely criticized proposals that had been issued under former Chair Gary Gensler's leadership, signaling a clear and definitive shift away from the previous administration, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far

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    The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Cos. From California Climate Reporting FAQ

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    New guidance from the California Air Resources Board on how businesses must implement the state's sweeping climate reporting requirements should help companies assess their exposure, understand their disclosure obligations and begin documenting good-faith compliance efforts, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

  • What Calif. Insurance Ruling Means For Smoke Damage Limits

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    As California continues to grapple with an increasing number of wildfire claims, a state court's recent Aliff v. California FAIR Plan decision serves as a clear directive to insurers that policy language that narrows the scope of fire coverage below the California Insurance Code's minimum standards is impermissible, say attorneys at Wood Smith.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

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