Environmental

  • November 21, 2024

    House Appropriations Deputy Staff Director Moves To H&K

    An attorney who most recently worked as the deputy staff director, budget director and counsel to the House Committee on Appropriations has joined Holland & Knight LLP's public policy and regulation group as a partner, the firm announced Thursday.

  • November 21, 2024

    2 Energy Transition-Focused SPACs Raise $210M Combined

    Two special purpose acquisition companies looking to capitalize on energy transition opportunities began trading publicly on Thursday after announcing pricing for their respective initial public offerings, which combined would raise $210 million.

  • November 21, 2024

    PE Posting Near-Record Megadeal Numbers, Report Shows

    Private equity dealmaking has built significant momentum this year, notching respectable deal volume and posting a record number of megadeals over $5 billion, according to a new report from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

  • November 21, 2024

    SEC Chair Gensler To Step Down When Trump Takes Office

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said Thursday that he will be leaving the agency on Jan. 20, clearing the way for new leadership under an incoming Trump administration that is expected to dismantle Gensler's climate disclosure regulation and open the SEC's door to more crypto-friendly policies.

  • November 21, 2024

    House Dems Tell Gorsuch To Recuse Over NEPA Case Conflict

    A group of House Democrats has called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to recuse himself from a dispute over federal environmental review requirements, arguing the court's decision could directly benefit a Colorado billionaire and former client who campaigned for the justice's first judicial appointment.

  • November 21, 2024

    Gaetz Ends AG Bid, Citing 'Distraction' To Trump Transition

    Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use.

  • November 20, 2024

    Musk, Ramaswamy Say High Court Rulings OK Federal Cuts

    Billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks to lead a newly created "Department of Government Efficiency," on Wednesday said two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings will give them the authority to cut off power to regulatory agencies and conduct massive federal layoffs.

  • November 20, 2024

    9th Circ. Judge Asks How Loper Bright Impacts EPA Fine Case

    A Ninth Circuit judge wondered on Wednesday what weight the court should give the Environmental Protection Agency's view in a chemical wholesaler's appeal of an $850,000 fine in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision, suggesting the justices might next end agency deference in regulatory interpretation.

  • November 20, 2024

    Arizona Governor Settles Tribal Water Rights Claims

    Two agreements signed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs settled four tribal nations' water rights claims and will help to provide safe drinking water to thousands of Native Americans on reservation lands that depend on the Colorado River Basin System.

  • November 20, 2024

    GM Can't Get Full 6th Circ. Redo Of Duramax Emissions Case

    The full Sixth Circuit on Wednesday left untouched a divided panel's recent decision partly reviving drivers' claims alleging General Motors deceptively marketed Chevrolet Silverado and Sierra vehicles as being more environmentally friendly than they actually were, but two dissenting judges said the case warranted en banc review.

  • November 20, 2024

    Tribe Fights Ore. Irrigation District At 9th Circ. Over Water Use

    The Yurok Tribe has joined with fishing and conservation groups in asking the Ninth Circuit to deny an irrigation district's bid to certify questions to the Oregon Supreme Court over the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's authority to control water use under state law.

  • November 20, 2024

    Va. Gov. Can't Exit Carbon Trading Program, Judge Says

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration can't withdraw from a regional carbon emissions-trading program the Legislature ordered the state to join three years ago without first securing legislative approval, a Virginia circuit court judge ruled Wednesday.

  • November 20, 2024

    FERC Says There's No Need To Ref Mich. Grid Upgrade Fight

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission defended its decision that Michigan Electric Transmission Co. failed to establish that shared ownership of new grid updates needed to serve a Michigan solar farm was necessarily precluded, telling the D.C. Circuit the electric utility hasn't shown how it's harmed.

  • November 20, 2024

    Split Ohio Supreme Court OKs Power Co.'s Herbicide Use

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed an early win for landowners in a case against Ohio Edison Co. that had sought to stop the company from using herbicide on their property to clear space for power lines.

  • November 20, 2024

    11th Circ. Told Everglades Project Will Reduce Water Supplies

    Several Florida sugar growers urged the Eleventh Circuit Wednesday to reverse a decision allowing an Everglades flood control project to proceed, saying a lower court wrongly accepted a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impact analysis that will result in water supply loss to the surrounding area.

  • November 20, 2024

    Texas Offers Up Land To Help Trump's Mass Deportation Plan

    The Texas General Land Office is offering up 1,400 acres of ranch land near the U.S.-Mexico border to the incoming Trump administration to construct deportation facilities to support the president-elect's plan for mass removals.

  • November 20, 2024

    FERC Made Climate Case For Tennessee Pipeline, DC Circ. Told

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission properly considered the climate change benefits of a Tennessee pipeline project that will serve a Tennessee Valley Authority gas-fired power plant set to replace a coal-fired plant, the project's developers and customers told the D.C. Circuit.

  • November 20, 2024

    3 Law Firms Can't Dodge TCPA Suit Over Camp Lejeune Claims

    A trio of law firms accused of calling a veteran dozens of times promising they could represent him in claims over toxic drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, despite his never having been stationed there, cannot evade the former soldier's lawsuit, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • November 20, 2024

    Bill Aimed At Creating Ga.'s First National Park Moves Ahead

    The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted Tuesday to advance a bill that would establish Georgia's first national park, upgrading the ancestral home of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma from its national monument status while also offering protections for Native American burial mounds.

  • November 19, 2024

    Monsanto's Bid To Pause PCB Trial Again Shot Down

    A Washington state appellate commissioner on Friday again refused to undo a trial court's decision not to pause a chemical poisoning tort trial playing out in Seattle, rejecting Monsanto's contention that the court committed "obvious error" in letting the trial proceed while the state's highest court decides a similar case.

  • November 19, 2024

    11th Circ. Urged To Revive Fla. Cancer Cluster Suit

    Several Florida individuals diagnosed with cancer after exposure to soil that defense contractor Pratt & Whitney allegedly contaminated with radiation told the Eleventh Circuit Tuesday their claims shouldn't be barred by statute of limitations, saying a jury should determine what caused their illnesses.

  • November 19, 2024

    Wash. Tribe Looks To Ax Wildlife Refuge Protection Suit

    A Washington state tribe is looking to dismiss a challenge by three environmental groups to the federal government for failing to protect a national wildlife refuge from an industrial aquaculture operation, arguing that the true purpose of the case is to restrict its members from farming in their historic homeland.

  • November 19, 2024

    Trump DOT Pick Puts Highway, Road Rebuilds Back In Focus

    President-elect Donald Trump's selection of former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy to serve as his secretary of transportation would send a savvy communicator to liaise with Capitol Hill and refocus the federal government's infrastructure investment priorities more on highways, roads and bridges and less on renewables and clean-energy initiatives, experts say.

  • November 19, 2024

    Neb. AG Expands Electric Trucks Fight To Volvo, Daimler

    However a federal court challenge to California's phaseout of gasoline and diesel trucks plays out, Nebraska's attorney general wants to make sure that Volvo, Daimler and other semitruck giants don't eliminate traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles, filing a Nebraska state court antitrust suit Tuesday describing phaseout commitments as anticompetitive collusion.

  • November 19, 2024

    Feds Defend BLM Authority In States' Methane Rule Challenge

    The Biden administration has urged a North Dakota federal court to grant it a summary judgment win in five states' lawsuit challenging a new rule aimed at cracking down on natural gas waste, defending the rule's creation as being well within the Bureau of Land Management's statutory authority.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships

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    Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects

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    Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing

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    New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

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