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Environmental
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July 31, 2025
Judge Questions Gov't Objection To Shielding FEMA Funds
A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday questioned the Trump administration's assertion that it has not redirected funds allocated by Congress for natural disaster mitigation efforts toward other Federal Emergency Management Agency programs, even as the government was objecting to states' narrow request to protect the funds for now.
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July 31, 2025
Sunnova Cleared To Sell Assets To Lenders In Ch. 11
Solar panel business Sunnova Energy International Inc. secured a Texas bankruptcy judge's blessing Thursday to sell almost all of its assets to a group of lenders for about $118 million.
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July 30, 2025
GHG Regs Rollback Would Test Clean Air Act Interpretation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to eliminate a pillar of climate change regulation could test the agency's — and courts' — interpretations of Clean Air Act language that has remained largely unquestioned since the Obama administration.
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July 30, 2025
8th Circ. Tosses Ruling Striking Binding NEPA Regulations
The Eighth Circuit has granted blue states' bid to vacate a ruling that faulted the White House Council on Environmental Quality for issuing binding regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act, following the Trump administration's decision to withdraw those regulations.
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July 30, 2025
EPA Extends Compliance Deadlines For Methane Control Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is extending certain compliance deadlines for a Biden-era rule that imposed sweeping new methane control requirements for oil and gas infrastructure.
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July 30, 2025
Calif. Tribe Says 70-Acre Casino Land Fight Must Continue
The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are fighting a bid by a fellow California tribe to pause their challenge to the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision to take 70 acres into trust for a casino project while a sovereign immunity order is appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 30, 2025
Wash. Condo Group Seeks $10M In Water Damage Coverage
A condominium association said its Country Financial insurers must provide coverage for an estimated $10.4 million in hidden water damage, telling a Washington federal court the insurers have failed to make a coverage determination in the two years since the association submitted its damage claim.Â
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July 30, 2025
Buddhist Group's Suit Against Everglades Project Advances
A Florida Buddhist center's suit against an Army Corps of Engineers project in the Everglades will continue after a district court judge determined the center plausibly argued that the potential impacts of the project's construction didn't become clear until at least 2022.
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July 30, 2025
Trump Official Denies Shutting Down FEMA Disaster Program
The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told a Massachusetts federal judge that President Donald Trump's administration has not decided whether to end the agency's flagship natural disaster protection program, despite a lawsuit by 20 states claiming it had been shut down.
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July 29, 2025
Oil Co. Misled Investors Prior To $295M Offering, Suit Says
Oil and gas company Sable Offshore Corp. is facing a proposed investor class action alleging the company hurt investors by overpricing a secondary public offering after misrepresenting it had restarted oil production at a field off the coast of California.
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July 29, 2025
9th Circ. Urged To Rehear Alaskan Willow Project Ruling
Alaskan Native and environmental advocacy groups are asking the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing on its ruling to uphold the federal government's decision to evaluate only alternatives for the ConocoPhillips Willow project that they say will result in full development of the Arctic oil reservoir.
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July 29, 2025
Affirmed Energy Says FERC Unlawfully Cut Auction Rights
Affirmed Energy LLC told the D.C. Circuit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can't justify orders approving PJM Interconnection LLC's proposal to bar energy efficiency resources from participating in its electricity capacity auctions.
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July 29, 2025
11th Circ. Upholds Toss Of Sea Island Clean Water Act Suit
The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the toss of a suit filed against Georgia's Sea Island resort for allegedly misleading the Army Corps of Engineers about a wetlands filling project, finding that the resident and environmental groups who filed the suit failed to show a wetland on the property satisfied the test for "waters of the United States."Â
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July 29, 2025
OxyChem, Nokia Tell 3rd Circ. Passaic Cleanup Deal Is Unfair
Occidental Chemical Corp. and Nokia of America Corp. on Monday asked the Third Circuit to reverse a New Jersey federal district court's approval of a $150 million settlement to clean up the Lower Passaic River.
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July 29, 2025
No Coverage For $2.5M Herbicide Damage Row, Court Says
An AIG unit has no duty to cover an air services company in a contractor's lawsuit alleging that its aerial application of herbicides caused $2.5 million in expenses to fix grass damage, a New York federal court ruled Tuesday, finding no coverage under both of the company's policies.
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July 29, 2025
EPA Proposes Ditching GHG Danger Finding In Tailpipe Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed repealing an Obama-era finding that greenhouse gases endanger people's health and all vehicle emissions standards that relied upon that finding.
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July 29, 2025
Ford Settles Proposed Class Action Over Emissions Warranty
Ford has settled a putative class action accusing it of violating the unfair competition law by failing to provide an emissions warranty for Golden State drivers whose vehicle transmissions weren't covered for seven years or 70,000 miles, according to a notice filed in California federal court.
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July 29, 2025
NC Engineer Says Green Energy Co. Withheld Stock Options
A former engineer at a North Carolina climate technology company sued his ex-employer, claiming the company and its board refused to let him exercise his stock options after he left for another green energy business.
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July 29, 2025
Calif. Allows Retroactive Tax Exclusion For Solar Property
California will allow the purchaser of a new property a three-year window to apply for a property tax exclusion for solar energy systems under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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July 29, 2025
Judge Wants Docs On Feds' Role In Fla. Detention Center Suit
A Florida federal judge has said agreements between the federal government and the state concerning the immigrant detention center in the Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" could help the court decide if federal environmental laws are at play in a suit from environmental groups.
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July 29, 2025
5 Firms Lead $2.48B Sale Of Piedmont Natural Gas' Tenn. Biz
Duke Energy on Tuesday announced plans to sell its Piedmont Natural Gas Tennessee local distribution business to natural gas company Spire Inc. in a $2.48 billion all-cash deal that was built by five law firms.
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July 29, 2025
Judge Says Tug Operator Estate Liable For $14M Cleanup Bill
A Washington federal judge ruled that the estate of a tugboat master is jointly and severally liable for about $14.4 million of oil cleanup costs the U.S. government incurred after a derelict fishing vessel being towed ran aground on the California coast.
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July 29, 2025
Pot Growers Not Forum-Shopping In $17M Suit, Judge Finds
A Massachusetts state court judge has rejected claims of forum shopping made by a berry farm accused of contaminating nearby cannabis fields with pesticides, denying a motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.
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July 28, 2025
Patent Damages Explode As Practice Areas See Wild Swings
Damages in plaintiff-won federal patent cases have soared in the past decade while those in environmental cases and some other types of civil litigation have plummeted, a new report from Lex Machina shows.
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July 28, 2025
Apache Women Look To Block Arizona Site's Destruction
A group of Apache women are looking to block the federal government from transferring their Arizona worship site to a copper mining company, telling a D.C. federal court they will be unable to practice and pass down their religion if the site is destroyed.
Expert Analysis
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How The ESG Investing Rule Survived Loper Bright, For Now
A Texas federal court's recent decision in Utah v. Micone upholding the U.S. Department of Labor's 2022 ESG investing rule highlights how regulations can withstand the post-Loper Bright landscape when an agency's interpretation of its statutorily determined boundaries is not granted deference, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw
The move from government service to private practice can feel like changing one’s identity, but as someone who has left the U.S. Department of Justice twice, I’ve learned that a successful transition requires patience, effort and the realization that the rewards of practicing law don’t come from one particular position, says Richard Donoghue at Pillsbury.
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In-House Expert Testimony Is Tricky, But Worth Considering
Litigation counsel often reject the notion of designating in-house personnel to provide expert opinion testimony at trial, but dismissing them outright can result in a significant missed opportunity, say David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law and Martin Pitha at Lillis Pitha.
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Issues To Watch At ABA's Antitrust Spring Meeting
Attorneys at Freshfields consider the future of antitrust law and competition enforcement amid agency leadership changes and other emerging developments likely to dominate discussion at the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week.
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Tracking Changes To AI Evidence Under Federal Rules
As the first quarter of 2025 draws to a close, important changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the courtroom are on the horizon, including how to handle evidence that is a product of machine learning, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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State Extended Producer Responsibility Laws: Tips For Cos.
As states increasingly shift the onus of end-of-life product management from consumers and local governments to the businesses that produce, distribute or sell certain items, companies must track the changing landscape and evaluate the applicability of these new laws and regulations to their operations, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Law Firm Executive Orders Create A Legal Ethics Minefield
Recent executive orders targeting BigLaw firms create ethical dilemmas — and raise the specter of civil or criminal liability — for the government attorneys tasked with implementing them and for the law firms that choose to make agreements with the administration, say attorneys at Buchalter.
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5 Steps To Promote Durable, Pro-Industry Environmental Regs
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's planned wave of deregulation will require lengthy reviews, and could be undone by legal challenges and future changes of administration — but industry involvement in rulemaking, litigation, trade associations, and state and federal legislation can help ensure favorable and long-lasting regulatory policies, say attorneys at Balch & Bingham.
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Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind
As artificial intelligence tools eliminate inefficiencies and the Big Four accounting firms enter the legal market, law firms that pivot from the entrenched billable hour model to outcomes-based pricing will see a distinct competitive advantage, says attorney William Brewer.
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Key Insurance Issues Likely To Arise From NY Superfund Law
The recently enacted New York Climate Change Superfund Act imposes a massive $75 billion in liabilities on energy companies in the fossil fuel industry, which can be expected to look to their insurers for coverage, raising a slew of coverage issues both old and new, say attorneys at Wiley.
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How Trump Policies Are Affecting The Right To Repair
Recent policy changes by the second Trump administration — ranging from deregulatory initiatives to tariff increases — are likely to have both positive and negative effects on the ability of independent repair shops and individual consumers to exercise their right to repair electronic devices, say attorneys at Carter Ledyard.
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How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of On-Camera Presence
As attorneys are increasingly presented with on-camera opportunities, they can adapt their traditional legal skills for video contexts — such as virtual client meetings, marketing content or media interviews — by understanding the medium and making intentional adjustments, says Kerry Barrett.
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Series
Baseball Fantasy Camp Makes Me A Better Lawyer
With six baseball fantasy experiences under my belt, I've learned time and again that I didn't make the wrong career choice, but I've also learned that baseball lessons are life lessons, and I'm a better lawyer for my time at St. Louis Cardinals fantasy camp, says Scott Felder at Wiley.
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DOJ Immigration Playbook May Take Cues From A 2017 Case
A record criminal resolution with a tree trimming company accused of knowingly employing unauthorized workers in 2017 may provide clues as to how the U.S. Department of Justice’s immigration crackdown will touch American companies, which should prepare now for potential enforcement actions, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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NM Case Shows Power Of Environmental Public Nuisance Law
A recent ruling from a New Mexico appeals court finding that a pattern of environmental violations, even without any substantial impact on a nearby community, can trigger nuisance liability — including potential damages and injunctive relief — has important implications for regulated entities in the state, says Kaleb Brooks at Spencer Fane.