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Environmental
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May 30, 2025
Mass. Can't Delay Developer's Suit Over Brownfields Credit
Massachusetts tax officials who have taken more than two years to consider the appeal of a denied brownfields tax credit must hand over the administrative record in the case so that a developer can pursue a motion for judgment on the pleadings, a state court justice has ordered.
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May 30, 2025
Strathcona Lobs $4.3B Offer For MEG, Snags PE Investment
North American oil producer Strathcona Resources Ltd. on Friday launched an unsolicited takeover offer to acquire Canadian thermal oil producer MEG Energy Corp. in a cash-and-stock deal, while simultaneously announcing a $662 million investment from Waterous Energy Fund in connection with the transaction.
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May 29, 2025
Shell Told To Disclose Climate Risk Docs In RI Terminal Case
A Rhode Island federal judge Thursday ordered Shell Oil Co. to answer the Conservation Law Foundation's inquiries concerning its knowledge behind the construction and operation of a bulk storage terminal in Providence that the conservation group claims is unprepared for flooding and other weather events expected in a changing climate.
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May 29, 2025
Projects Get Some NEPA Relief, But How Much Is Unknown
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision limiting judicial review of environmental analyses of infrastructure projects, combined with the Trump administration's drive to ease approval processes, may boost developers' optimism — but the extent to which reviews can be narrowed remains unknown.
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May 29, 2025
Monsanto-Funded Researcher Influenced Panel, Jury Hears
A Missouri jury hearing the latest trial over cancer claims related to Monsanto's glyphosate pesticides heard Thursday that a Monsanto-funded researcher was able to change the course of a prestigious international panel weighing the chemical's carcinogenicity.
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May 29, 2025
Judge Sees No Harm In BLM Drill Permits Near Colo. Grassland
A Colorado federal judge said an environmental group failed to show standing for a suit challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's refusal to mitigate surface pollution from oil and gas wells on state and private lands on and around the Pawnee National Grassland.
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May 29, 2025
Texas Justices Keep Court Orders On $3.4B Water Pipeline
A Texas appeals court mostly kept intact court orders barring a groundwater company from interfering with several leases as a part of a $3.4 billion pipeline venture to supply water to San Antonio, finding in a Thursday opinion the company was undercutting its lessee.
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May 29, 2025
Insurer Waived Arbitration For Many Reasons, NJ Panel Rules
An insurer waived its right to arbitration for many reasons, a New Jersey appellate panel affirmed, finding a pier owner's coverage dispute concerning underlying litigation brought against it by public utilities blaming it for a fluid leak in the Hudson River must head to trial.
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May 29, 2025
DOT Calls States' EV Charging Funding Suit Premature
The U.S. Department of Transportation urged a Washington federal judge to reject an attempt by 16 states to block the Trump administration from cutting off funding for electric vehicle charging projects, saying their claims aren't yet ripe for review.
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May 29, 2025
Monsanto Won't Get Damages Offset In $100M PCB Tort Loss
A Washington state judge has denied Monsanto's bid to reduce the latest $100 million verdict in a chemical poisoning tort series that's yielded more than $1 billion in punitive damages, concluding that the agro-chemical giant hid the health dangers of PCBs for decades in pursuit of profit.
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May 29, 2025
Fla. Appeals Order To Monitor Indian River Manatees
Florida's Department of Environmental Protection said Wednesday it is appealing an injunction requiring the agency to implement new manatee monitoring programs after a federal judge found it violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing wastewater pollution into the North Indian River Lagoon watershed.
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May 29, 2025
Big Oil Caused Woman's Heat Wave Death, Novel Suit Says
The daughter of a Seattle woman who died during a 2021 heat wave filed a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit in Washington state court Thursday against oil and gas giants — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — alleging the companies knew for decades their fossil fuel products would one day "claim lives."
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May 29, 2025
Interior OKs Utah Mine In First Fast-Tracked Energy Review
The U.S. Department of the Interior has greenlit a uranium and vanadium mine in southeastern Utah, the first to be approved under a new, expedited 14-day environmental review process.
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May 29, 2025
Kids Launch New Climate Case Over Trump Energy Orders
The U.S. government on Thursday was hit with a fresh lawsuit from youths alleging that federal energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change, specifically targeting President Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuels.
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May 29, 2025
Texas Bars Some Property Tax Hikes Above Voter-OK'd Rates
Texas will prohibit school districts from adopting property tax rates above voter-approved thresholds in response to a natural disaster if voters previously rejected a similar proposed rate increase, under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
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May 29, 2025
Crowell & Moring Hires Ex-EPA Deputy Assistant Admin In SF
Crowell & Moring LLP announced on Thursday the hiring of a former deputy assistant administrator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as senior counsel in the firm's environmental and regulatory enforcement groups in its San Francisco office.
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May 29, 2025
RJ Reynolds Lied About Carbon Offset Of Vapes, Suit Says
A group of California vape users is suing R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and its U.S. and British affiliates in federal court, alleging that its claims that the Vuse vape is the first carbon-neutral electronic cigarette are misleading.
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May 29, 2025
High Court Restores Federal Approval Of Utah Oil Railway
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the federal government's approval of a rail project intended to haul crude oil out of Utah's Uinta Basin.
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May 28, 2025
16 States Sue Trump Admin Over Cuts To Science Grants
A coalition of 16 state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration in New York federal court on Wednesday to stop it from cutting millions of dollars in grant funds from the National Science Foundation for scientific research and programs aimed at enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM fields and environmental justice.
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May 28, 2025
Elon Musk Is Leaving White House Role, Trump Admin Says
Billionaire Elon Musk is ending his work with President Donald Trump and the federal Department of Government Efficiency, a White House official confirmed Wednesday evening.
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May 28, 2025
DOI Faces Energy Co. Suit Over Fort Berthold Oil Lease
A Colorado energy company has sued the federal government over what it says is an approved 60-year-old oil and gas lease, saying that it was suddenly told in April that it never actually owned an interest in the lease on an Indian reservation in North Dakota.
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May 28, 2025
NRC Has No Defense For New License Rules, DC Circ. Told
Two anti-nuclear power groups are contending before the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is offering inconsistent arguments in defense of updated regulations for renewing nuclear power plant operating licenses.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Ask SC Judge To Toss Suit Over Frozen Grant Funding
The Trump administration urged a South Carolina federal judge to dismiss a complaint challenging its authority to freeze and terminate grant funding for lack of jurisdiction, as it also appeals an order directing it to restore several dozen grants funded by Congress.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Tell Justices 9th Circ. Wrongly OK'd CWA Citizen Suit
The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to sink an environmental group's Clean Water Act citizen suit seeking to enforce the terms of a Washington state-issued pollutant-discharge permit that is stricter than the law requires.
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May 28, 2025
Judge Shields NY Congestion Pricing From Feds' Threats
New York's congestion pricing program can keep running at least through the fall, after a federal judge on Wednesday signaled that the U.S. Department of Transportation likely overstepped its authority by purportedly terminating a federal agreement that gave congestion pricing the green light.
Expert Analysis
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Key Questions When Mediating Environmental Disputes
As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implements dramatic regulatory changes, companies seeking to use mediation to manage increased risks and uncertainties around environmental liabilities should keep certain essential considerations in mind to help reach successful outcomes, says Edward Cohen at Thompson Coburn.
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3 Change Management Tools To Boost Compliance Efforts
As companies grapple with rapidly changing regulations and expectations, leaders charged with implementing their organizations’ compliance programs should look to change management principles to make the process less costly and more effective, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Trump DOE's Plan On AI Offers Challenges, Opportunities
The Trump administration's push to make federal land available for development of artificial intelligence data centers follows a similar Biden administration proposal — but a new request for information from the U.S. Department of Energy envisions a rapid timeline that may prove challenging for both the DOE and industry stakeholders, say attorneys at HWG.
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Understanding How Jurors Arrive At Punitive Damage Awards
Much of the rising trend of so-called thermonuclear verdicts can be tied to punitive damages amounts that astonish the imagination, so attorneys must understand the psychological underpinnings that drive jurors’ decision-making calculus on damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.
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Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals
If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.
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Avoiding Compliance Risks Under Calif. Recycling Label Law
CalRecycle's recently published final findings on California's S.B. 343 — determining which products and packaging materials are eligible to use the "chasing arrows" recyclability symbol — offer key guidance that businesses operating in the state must heed to avert the risk of penalties or litigation, says Christopher Smith at Greenspoon Marder.
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Series
Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer
While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.
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10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks
The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.
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How Trump Energy Order May Challenge State Climate Efforts
Even if the Trump administration's recent executive order targeting state and local environmental, climate and clean energy laws, regulations and programs doesn't result in successful legal challenges to state authority, the order could discourage state legislatures from taking further climate action, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
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EPA's Proposed GHG Reform Could Hinder Climate Regulation
The Trump administration will reconsider the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's landmark 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding, which could leave the U.S. federal government with no statutory authority whatsoever to regulate climate change or greenhouse gas emissions, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Series
Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing
Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.
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What Greenwashing Looks Like, And How To Navigate Claims
Recent cases show that consumers seeking to challenge sustainability claims as greenwashing face significant legal hurdles, and that companies can avoid liability by emphasizing context, says Felicia Boyd at Norton Rose.
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11 Tips For Contractors Dealing With DOD Staff Reductions
Defense contractors should prepare for a wide range of disruptions related to procurement and contract administration that are likely amid federal workforce reductions, say attorneys at Covington.
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4 Takeaways From La. Coastal Wetland Damage Verdict
A recent $745 million verdict in a case filed by a Louisiana parish against Chevron for violating a Louisiana environmental law illustrates that climate-related liabilities pose increasing risk and litigation risk may not follow a red state versus blue state divide, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master
As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.