A D.C. federal judge has trimmed a lawsuit contesting federal approvals for a wind farm off the New York and New Jersey coasts while preserving claims that the government wrongly allowed the project to harm migratory bottlenose dolphin populations.
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THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Judge Pares Suit Challenging Empire Wind Project

By Keith Goldberg

A D.C. federal judge has trimmed a lawsuit contesting federal approvals for a wind farm off the New York and New Jersey coasts while preserving claims that the government wrongly allowed the project to harm migratory bottlenose dolphin populations.

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Brazil Files Complaint At WTO Against US Tariffs

By Dylan Moroses

The Brazilian government filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against U.S. tariffs placed on Brazilian goods, arguing that the measures run afoul of global trade rules, it said Monday evening. 

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DC Circ. Backs EPA's Pollution Review Regulation Process

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. Circuit panel sided with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its fight with environmental groups challenging rules for determining whether modifications to major pollution sources trigger new review, holding Tuesday the rule is neither inconsistent with the Clean Air Act nor arbitrary and capricious.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Commerce Establishes Tariff Offsets For Domestic Engines

By Jack McLoone

Domestic manufacturers of engines for cars and medium- and heavy-duty trucks are now eligible for tariff offsets for sectoral duties placed on imported parts, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday.

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OIL AND GAS

Climate Change Suit Must Proceed, Boulder Tells High Court

By Keith Goldberg

The city and county of Boulder, Colorado, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a Colorado Supreme Court decision allowing their climate change tort against Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy to proceed, arguing that the justices shouldn't short-circuit the state court proceedings.

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3 Firms Steer $1.5B Apollo Investment In Keppel Fund

By Al Barbarino

Apollo Global Management has agreed to invest $1.5 billion into an offshore energy fund managed by Singapore-based Keppel Ltd., with Latham & Watkins LLP advising Apollo-managed funds, Milbank LLP serving as investor counsel, and Clifford Chance LLP representing Keppel. 

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Judge Bars Suit Over Alaska's Approved Land Transfers

By Gautama Mehta

A federal judge refused to stop the transfer of nearly 1.4 million acres of federal public lands to Alaska, ruling the state is immune to the bulk of a lawsuit seeking to restore environmental protections and prevent future mining and natural gas development.

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DATA CENTERS

4 Firms Guide Meta, BlackRock's $14B Data Center Project

By Isaac Monterose

Meta and BlackRock are teaming up to develop a $14 billion, 1-gigawatt data center campus in El Paso, Texas, with guidance from Latham, Eversheds Sutherland, Kirkland and Milbank, the companies announced Tuesday.

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UTILITIES AND POWER

 XAI, SpaceX Say Power Plant Noise Suit Claims Are 'Flawed'

By Rae Ann Varona

XAI and SpaceX urged a Mississippi federal court to throw out several claims in a proposed class action filed over allegedly intrusive noises coming out of a power plant the companies operate in a suburban neighborhood, saying the claims rest on "flawed legal theories" and don't warrant discovery.

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Like Milli Vanilli, Goldman FCPA Case Is A Ruse, Jury Told

By Stewart Bishop

The government's foreign bribery case accusing a former Goldman Sachs banker of paying off Ghanaian officials to secure a lucrative energy deal is a lot like Milli Vanilli, his lawyer told a New York jury Tuesday, arguing that much like lipsynced songs of the fake late-1980s-era pop duo, prosecutors' version of events is not what it appears to be.

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RENEWABLES

11th Circ. Weighs Waiver In $12.2M Solar Farm Coverage Case

By Kelcey Caulder

An Eleventh Circuit panel grappled Tuesday with whether Zurich American Insurance Co. should be freed from a $12.2 million verdict finding it shortchanged a Georgia solar farm's storm damage claim, with one judge seeming to side with the farm's argument that a waiver of a flood deductible was possible.

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Brief

Commerce Mulls Duty Carveout For Off-Grid Solar Panels

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Department of Commerce will consider whether to remove certain off-grid, portable solar panels from the list of goods subject to countervailing and antidumping duties after receiving a request for review from a Canadian exporter, according to a notice published Tuesday.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

NRC Proposal May Reshape Radiation Protection Framework

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposal to drop the long-standing requirement to keep radiation exposure "as low as reasonably achievable," alongside the U.S. Department of Energy's removal of ALARA from its own rules, suggests a broader federal reassessment of radiation protection policy, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

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What New USDA 'Beneficial Owner' Definition Means For Cos.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent pitch to add a new "beneficial owner" definition to its foreign-owned land reporting framework would overhaul how fund managers and joint venture participants report U.S. agricultural land interests, creating diligence risks as companies reassess governance rights and management structure, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Simpson Thacher Hung Client Out To Dry, Jury Hears

By Madison Arnold

A legal ethics expert told a Florida jury Wednesday that he believes Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP's actions when representing Patriot National Inc. constitute legal malpractice leading up to the insurance services company declaring bankruptcy.

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Senate Postpones Key Vote For AG Nominee Blanche

By Courtney Bublé

The committee vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's bid to take the permanent role, slated for Thursday, was postponed after Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were not fully on board.

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GOP Bill To Curb Judge Shopping May Have Limited Effect

By Courtney Bublé

A Senate Republican has introduced legislation that he says will fix the judge shopping issue, but court observers don't think it will make much of a difference.

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King & Spalding Told To End 'Shenanigans' In Bid To Exit Case

By Brian Steele

The individual defendants in a $300 million fraud lawsuit have accused King & Spalding LLP of appellate "shenanigans" while it seeks to exit the case due to an alleged ethics conflict, claiming the firm has falsely denied representing corporate clients despite an attorney's appearance suggesting otherwise.

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9th Circ. Vacates Orrick Win In Stock Transfer Deal Dispute

By Hailey Konnath

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a lower court's finding that Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP can't be held liable in a battle over a stock transfer agreement gone awry, ruling that California law does allow a party to the transfer to pursue equitable indemnity in the case.

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DOJ Wants To Let Immigration Judges Fine For Contempt

By Britain Eakin

The Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed a rule Wednesday that would allow immigration judges to impose civil monetary penalties for contempt on attorneys, their noncitizen clients and witnesses, operationalizing a power that has lain dormant since 1996.

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Legal Aid Union Alleges Unlawful Incentives To Break Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem union announced on the third workday of its strike Tuesday that it has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing its management of offering unlawful incentives to cross the picket line.

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Former Trump Lawyer Officially Takes The Helm At SDNY

By Hailey Konnath

James McDonald, a former Sullivan & Cromwell LLP partner who represented President Donald Trump in his appeal of his criminal conviction, was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday after McDonald's predecessor Jay Clayton departed to serve as director of national intelligence.

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2nd Circ. Backs Ex-Shkreli Atty's 401(k) Restitution Deal

By Lauren Berg

A New York trial judge erred in rejecting a retirement-fund garnishment deal that would have protected Martin Shkreli's convicted former lawyer from tax penalties, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.

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DOJ Wants New Judge In Fired Court-Appointed US Atty's Suit

By Jack Karp

A lawsuit from the Seattle U.S. attorney who was swiftly fired from his post by President Donald Trump shortly after being appointed to it by a federal court should be reassigned to a different judge, the administration has told a Washington federal court.

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Segal McCambridge Settles Fired Secretary's Age Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Law firm Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney Ltd. has struck a deal to end a New York federal court suit from a former secretary who said her colleagues mistreated her because of her age, according to a Wednesday court filing.

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Comey Rips '86 47' Case, Says Warrants 'Misstated Facts'

By Lauren Berg

James Comey is taking another angle in his effort to dismiss an indictment stemming from a picture of seashells he posted on Instagram, telling a North Carolina federal judge that the government is pursuing the "vindictive" case because of President Donald Trump's "deep-seated animosity" toward the former FBI director.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Air France-KLM

Alabama Power

Alabama Power Co.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV

Apollo Global Management LLC

BlackRock Inc.

Broadcom Inc.

Brooklyn Defender Services

Center for Biological Diversity Inc.

Duke Energy Corp.

Earthworks

Environmental Defense Fund Inc.

Equinor ASA

Exxon Mobil Corp.

First Solar Inc.

Geico Corp.

George Washington University

Gerald Holdings LLC

Getty Images Holdings Inc.

Global Infrastructure Partners

Greer's

HDR Global Trading Ltd.

Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd.

Instagram Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd.

LinkedIn Corp.

Maxum Specialty Insurance Group

McDonald's Corp.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Morgan Stanley

Natural Resources Defense Council

Patriot National Inc.

Retrophin Inc.

Sierra Club

Southern Environmental Law Center

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Stanford University

Suncor Energy Inc.

T1 Energy

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Travere Therapeutics Inc.

University of Miami

Zurich Insurance Group AG

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Akerman LLP

Arnold & Porter

Bracewell LLP

Bradley Arant

Burns Charest

Butler Snow LLP

Clifford Chance

Cohen & Wolf

Conrad & Scherer

Cooley LLP

Cowdery Murphy

Crystal Pettiford Law

Davis Polk

Eversheds Sutherland

Gibson Dunn

HGT Law

HKM Employment Attorneys

Healy LLC

Hecker Fink

Holtzman Vogel

Katten Muchin

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

L'Abbate Balkan

Latham & Watkins

Lennon Murphy

Markun Zusman

Milbank LLP

Munger Tolles

Orrick Herrington

Paul Weiss

Rivkin Radler

Segal McCambridge

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Singleton Schreiber

Stearns Weaver

Sullivan & Cromwell

Waltzer Wiygul

Watson Spence

Webb Daniel Friedlander

Wheeler Trigg

Wiggin & Dana

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Womble Bond

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alaska Department of Law

California Supreme Court

Colorado Supreme Court

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Farm Service Agency

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Georgia Court of Appeals

Georgia Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

International Trade Administration

Judicial Conference of the United States

National Labor Relations Board

National Marine Fisheries Service

New York State Assembly

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Tennessee Valley Authority

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Nevada

World Trade Organization