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Environmental
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January 08, 2025
Mich. Utility Tells DC Circ. It Can Challenge FERC Decision
A Michigan transmission owner has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's challenge of its ability to protest the agency's refusal to grant it sole ownership of grid updates needed to serve a Michigan solar farm is "meritless."
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January 08, 2025
DOI's Arctic Refuge Oil Lease Sale Yields No Bidders
The U.S. Department of the Interior reported Wednesday that it has received no bids from companies to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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January 08, 2025
Insurer Can't Duck Covering Wash. Developer In Flooding Suit
An insurer can't yet escape providing coverage for a property developer accused of worsening flooding issues for several homeowners by clear-cutting trees without a proper drainage plan, a Washington federal court ruled, saying the policy could conceivably cover the injuries alleged in the underlying suit.
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January 08, 2025
Final Treasury Regs Grow Low-Income Bonus Energy Credits
New hydropower, nuclear, solar, geothermal and other nonpolluting energy facilities developed in areas designated as low-income communities are eligible for bonus investment tax credits under final regulations the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled Wednesday.
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January 08, 2025
Audi Electric SUVs Are 'Ticking Time Bombs,' Suit Claims
Audi of America LLC and Volkswagen Group of America Inc. were hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court alleging certain Audi electric SUVs are "ticking time bombs" that can lose power, short-circuit and catch fire.
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January 08, 2025
DOI Reveals No Bids In Alaska Oil, Gas Lease Sale
The U.S. Department of the Interior revealed Wednesday that it received no bids in response to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas lease sale, just days after Alaska accused the agency of imposing too severe restrictions on development.
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January 08, 2025
EPA, Navajo To Remove 65 Acres Of Waste From Reservation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navajo Nation have finalized a plan to provide a complete cleanup of one of the largest and most high-risk uranium mine sites on the tribe's reservation, the federal agency said.
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January 08, 2025
Dems Cry Foul On Trump Nominees' Hearings Process
Top Democrats claimed Wednesday that Republicans are rushing to hold confirmation hearings for at least two of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees without the full paperwork.
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January 07, 2025
JPMorgan Ditches Climate Coalition Ahead Of Trump 2.0
JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Tuesday joined a slew of banks in departing the United Nations-convened Net Zero Banking Alliance, apparently bowing to regulatory pressure and jumping ship ahead of a second Trump term.
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January 07, 2025
Oilfield Services Firm Flowco Set to Drill Down On $392M IPO
Oilfield equipment and services provider Flowco Holdings Inc. on Tuesday launched plans for an estimated $392 million initial public offering, represented by Sidley Austin LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP, marking the latest company to join the new year's IPO pipeline.
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January 07, 2025
Cato Institute Urges Justices To Hear Jury Right Case
The Cato Institute asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to accept a social media influencer's certification petition over the denial of a jury trial for a misdemeanor, saying the erosion of the Constitutional jury right for "all crimes" goes against the founders' intentions.
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January 07, 2025
Feds Urge 9th Circ. To Uphold Ringed Seal Protections
The federal government and environmentalists on Monday asked the Ninth Circuit to keep Endangered Species Act protections for Arctic ringed seals in place and reject Alaska's effort to roll them back.
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January 07, 2025
Biden Designates Two New National Monuments In California
President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated two sites in California as national monuments amid years of calls from Native American tribes and state and federal lawmakers, in turn protecting 848,000 acres from development.
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January 07, 2025
Canada Needs Catalysts To Heat Up Cold IPO Market
Following another chilly year for initial public offerings in Canada, capital markets lawyers in the Great White North are approaching 2025 with caution, hoping that a few catalysts can break through and thaw an otherwise frozen market for public listings.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Floats Mine, Data Center Property Tax Changes
Montana would lower the property tax rate imposed on metal mines, certain agricultural land and railroads but raise the rate on data center property as part of a bill introduced in the state Senate.
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January 07, 2025
Property Owner Says Insurer Owes $16.2M For Fire Damage
A Colorado property owner is seeking to recover $16.2 million from its insurer for property damage caused by the 2021 Marshall Fire, telling a federal court the carrier wrongly concluded the properties did not sustain direct physical damage in order to justify replacement costs.
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January 07, 2025
Developer Says Mass. Stalling $15M Brownfields Tax Credit
The developer of a 3.5-acre luxury condo and apartment complex in Boston's Seaport District is accusing the state of improperly second-guessing the work of its licensed environmental remediation consultant to deny a $15.3 million brownfields tax credit, then dragging its feet on an administrative appeal.
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January 07, 2025
DC Circ. OKs FERC's Approval For Indiana Pipeline
A D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday rejected a challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a 24-mile pipeline serving two new natural gas turbines in Indiana, ruling that an advocacy group wrongly suggested FERC could "second-guess" state regulators' choice of energy generation.
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January 07, 2025
Judge Looks To Finally Resolve Mass. 'Right To Repair' Suit
A long-stalled fight over Massachusetts' expanded "right to repair" law requiring open access to vehicle telematics software appears to be on a fast track after a new judge took over the case and said Tuesday she plans to rule in the near future.
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January 07, 2025
No Problem With $217M Dam Repair Tax, Mich. Panel Says
A Michigan appellate panel on Monday said a $217 million special assessment levied on property owners for dam repairs and lake level restoration after devastating 2020 floods was established through a legally sound process, ruling the owners were never entitled to have a pseudo-judicial review of the tax.
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January 07, 2025
Eckert Seamans Adds Former Trump Interior Dept. Atty
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC is the latest firm to get in on the exploding lateral movement in the energy legal market following the 2024 presidential election, adding a former Trump administration attorney who served in a first-of-its-kind role in the first administration's Interior Department.
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January 07, 2025
6 Firms Guide $5.6B PE-Backed Deal For GFL Unit
Six law firms are guiding a deal disclosed Tuesday that will see funds managed by affiliates of Apollo and BC Partners purchase the environmental services business of GFL Environmental Inc. at an enterprise value of 8 billion Canadian dollars ($5.6 billion).
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January 07, 2025
CFTC Chair Behnam To Step Down When Trump Takes Office
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam announced Tuesday that he will resign his chairmanship on Inauguration Day in order to make way for new agency leadership under incoming President Donald Trump, who has yet to name Behnam's successor.
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January 07, 2025
Mintz Environmental Atty Joins Crowell & Moring In SF
Crowell & Moring LLP is boosting its California environmental team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in an environmental expert from Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC as a partner in its San Francisco office.
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January 06, 2025
Exxon Says Calif. AG, Green Groups Defamed Recycling Effort
Exxon Mobil Corp. claims California's attorney general and a coalition of conservation groups have disparaged its reputation by declaring that the petrochemical company misled people about the effectiveness of plastic recycling and that its "advanced recycling" doesn't mitigate the problem, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Texas federal court.
Expert Analysis
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It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
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Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight
Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.
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'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG
A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.
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5 Credibility Lessons Trial Attys Can Learn From Harris' Run
In launching a late-stage campaign for president, Vice President Kamala Harris must seize upon fresh attention from voters to establish, or reestablish, credibility — a challenge that parallels and provides takeaways for trial attorneys, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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Missouri Injunction A Setback For State Anti-ESG Rules
A Missouri federal court’s recent order enjoining the state’s anti-ESG rules comes amid actions by state legislatures to revise or invalidate similar legislation imposing disclosure and consent requirements around environmental, social and governance investing, and could be a blueprint for future challenges, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address
The petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas stands out for a number of reasons — including a deepening circuit split regarding the NRC's nuclear waste storage authority under the Atomic Energy Act, and broader administrative law implications, say attorneys at MoloLamken.
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Series
After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges
The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.
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Opinion
Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent
The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.
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Opinion
3rd. Circ. Got It Right On Cancer Warning Claims Preemption
The Third Circuit's recent, eminently sensible ruling in a failure-to-warn case against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto, holding that the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act preempts state law claims, provides a road map that other courts should adopt, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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5 Ways To Confront Courtroom Technology Challenges
Recent cybersecurity incidents highlight the vulnerabilities of our reliance on digital infrastructure, meaning attorneys must be prepared to navigate technological obstacles inside the courtroom, including those related to data security, presentation hardware, video playback and more, says Adam Bloomberg at IMS Legal Strategies.
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ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations
A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.