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Environmental
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July 18, 2025
Snake Spotting Voids OK Of Sprawling Calif. Housing Plan
A federal judge has halted a 314-acre master-planned development in Chico, California, after finding federal officials wrongly concluded in 2020 that the endangered giant garter snake had not been observed on the site despite a sighting of the animal in the area a dozen years prior.
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July 17, 2025
Calif. Tribe Renews $700M Casino Suit With Lobbying Claim
A D.C. federal judge will let a California tribe amend its suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior for axing its eligibility to run a proposed $700 million casino on new claims that a competing tribe successfully orchestrated a politically influential lobbying campaign.
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July 17, 2025
Norfolk Southern Blames Quarry For $2.1M Sinkhole Costs
Norfolk Southern has sued the current and former owners of a Philadelphia-area quarry for more than $2.1 million, alleging Wednesday that their decades of mining operations opened up a sinkhole that caused a 2023 train derailment.
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July 17, 2025
EPA Merging Offices As Reorganization Continues
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it's consolidating and shuffling some of its internal offices, including those handling finance and enforcement, the latest in a series of changes and cutbacks at the EPA.
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July 17, 2025
Chevron, Syngenta Can't Get Paraquat Mass Tort Out Of Philly
A Pennsylvania state judge called a request from Chevron and Syngenta to move several paraquat weedkiller cases out of the Philadelphia court's mass tort system for purported greener pastures "daft," defending the system as specifically designed for such litigation.
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July 17, 2025
Mass. Cities Seek Order Forcing Trash Hauler To Honor Pacts
Nearly three weeks after Republic Services workers went on strike, six Massachusetts communities went to court Thursday seeking an order compelling the trash hauler to immediately address what they say is a public health nuisance.
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July 17, 2025
Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Applies To Asbestos Suits
A Berkshire Hathaway unit said it doesn't owe coverage to a paint and drywall product manufacturer in a number of asbestos exposure suits, telling a Texas federal court Thursday that coverage is barred by a pollution exclusion in its umbrella and excess policies.
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July 17, 2025
NJ Sewer Agency Sued Over $232M Skanska Gas Plant Project
A community group and the city of Newark filed separate lawsuits in New Jersey state court to stop a regional sewerage authority from building a $232 million gas-fired backup power plant in the city, citing the state's Environmental Justice Law.
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July 17, 2025
Neb. Asks Justices To Resolve River Dispute With Colo.
Nebraska is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve its claims that Colorado is failing to deliver water from the South Platte River according to the terms of an early 20th-century compact.
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July 17, 2025
Pyrophyte's 2nd SPAC Raises $175M To Target Energy Biz
Special purpose acquisition company Pyrophyte Acquisition Corp. II began trading on the public markets on Thursday after raising $175 million in its initial public offering.
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July 16, 2025
Travelers Avoids Bad Faith Claim In Yacht Damage Dispute
A Travelers unit did not act in bad faith when handling a yacht owner's claim for coverage after its yacht was destroyed during Hurricane Irma, a Florida federal court ruled Wednesday, saying, at the time, it was unclear whether Florida law or federal maritime law applied.
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July 16, 2025
FCC Looks To Streamline Regs For Enviro Reviews
The Federal Communications Commission expects to move a plan forward in August that would overhaul its rules for scrutinizing telecom and broadband projects under the National Environmental Policy Act.
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July 16, 2025
9th Circ. Tosses Atty-Farmer's Suit Over USDA Organic Label
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule allowing farm collectives in the U.S. and other countries to be certified as "organic" under one certificate and not inspected annually, tossing an attorney-turned-Oregon hazelnut farmer's suit alleging Turkish growers were defrauding the system.
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July 16, 2025
FEMA Targeted In 20-State Suit Over Pre-Disaster Grant Cuts
A coalition of 20 states led by Washington and Massachusetts sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Boston federal court Wednesday, accusing the Trump administration of illegally cutting off billions of dollars in grants for proactive disaster mitigation projects across the country.
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July 16, 2025
US Fights NY's Bid To Move Climate Superfund Suit Upstate
The federal government is urging a Southern District of New York judge not to transfer its lawsuit challenging the state's climate change Superfund law to the Northern District, where it would join similar litigation filed by several Republican-led states.
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July 16, 2025
USTR To Probe Brazil's Trade Practices For Possible Tariffs
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Tuesday evening it will launch an investigation into Brazil's trade practices to determine whether tariff actions could be necessary after a request by President Donald Trump and prior tariff threats.
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July 16, 2025
Judge Says Navy Must Face Contamination Claim At Calif. Site
A Court of Federal Claims judge trimmed some but not all claims from a suit alleging the Navy breached its obligation to remediate newly discovered petroleum and chloroform contamination at a Novato, California, property it sold two decades ago.
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July 15, 2025
EXIM Bank Sued For 'Unconscionable' LNG Project Funding
Friends of the Earth is asking a D.C. federal judge to block $4.7 billion in financing the Export-Import Bank of the United States has authorized for a massive liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique led by TotalEnergies SE.
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July 15, 2025
The Biggest IP Agency Developments Of 2025: Midyear Report
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office have not been spared from the Trump administration's shake-ups and changes across the federal government in the first half of the year.
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July 15, 2025
3rd Circ. Backs FAA's Civil Penalty Actions Post-Jarkesy
The Third Circuit on Tuesday backed the Federal Aviation Administration's adjudicatory authority to impose civil penalties for air safety rules violations, saying in a precedential ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court's Jarkesy decision doesn't entitle a paint supplier to a jury trial in a case stemming from a leaky paint can on a FedEx plane.
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July 15, 2025
Deep Sea Mining Co. Gets Suit Over 'Green' Investments Axed
A New York federal judge has dismissed in its entirety a suit accusing The Metals Co. Inc. of misleading investors about the magnitude of its "green" investments and its private equity backing before going public, finding that the suit's challenged statements were not false when made.
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July 15, 2025
EPA Defends Ending Enviro Justice Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked a federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action filed by environmental groups, a Native American village and other local governments, alleging the EPA unlawfully stopped $3 billion in climate grant funding.
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July 15, 2025
FTC Still Bans Ex-Pioneer CEO From Exxon Board, For Now
If the current Federal Trade Commission upends Biden-era Democrats' ban on the former CEO of Pioneer from serving on Exxon's board, it will be on the now-Republican-led commission's own volition rather than through a petition by the executive.
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July 15, 2025
Tribes, Enviro Groups Look To Block Copper Mine Land Swap
Environmental and tribal groups are asking a federal court to extend an injunction blocking the transfer of more than 2,500 acres within Tonto National Forest to an Arizona copper mining company, arguing that a final environmental impact study and appraisal of the property raise serious questions in the dispute.
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July 15, 2025
Texas Cities Cite Gov't Immunity In Farmers' PFAS Suit
Governmental entities led by Fort Worth submitted a brief to a Texas federal court Tuesday supporting their immunity in managing wastewater operations in connection with a proposed class action from farmers who claim their lands were contaminated by toxic chemicals.
Expert Analysis
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The Math Of Cross-Examination: Less Is More, More Is Less
When conducting cross-examination at trial, attorneys should remember that “less is more, and more is less” — limiting both the scope of questioning and the length of each query in order to control the witness’s testimony and keep the factfinders’ attention, says Thomas Innes at the Defender Association of Philadelphia.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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Fund Names Rule FAQs Leave Some Interpretative Uncertainty
Although recently released FAQs clarify many specific points of the 2023 expansion to the Investment Company Act's fund names rule, important questions remain about how U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff will interpret other key terms when the end-of-year compliance date arrives, say attorneys at Dechert.
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How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work
Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.
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Tools For Witness Control That Go Beyond Leading Questions
Though leading questions can be efficient and effective for constraining a witness’s testimony, this strategy isn’t appropriate for every trial and pretrial scenario, so techniques like headlining and looping can be deployed during direct examination, depositions and even witness interviews, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
US Steel-Nippon Merger Should Not Have Been Blocked
The Biden administration's block of the U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel merger on national security grounds was unconstitutional overreach and needs to be overturned, with the harms remedied in federal court, says attorney Chuck Meyer.Â
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10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting
This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Navigating The Trump Enviro Rollback And Its Consequences
The Trump administration's rapid push for environmental deregulation will lead to both opportunities and challenges, requiring companies to adopt strategic approaches to a complex, unpredictable legal environment in which federal rollbacks are countered by increased enforcement by states, and risks of citizen litigation may be heightened, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Series
Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.
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8 Ways Cos. Can Prep For Termination Of Their Enviro Grants
The federal government appears to be reviewing energy- and infrastructure-related grants and potentially terminating grants inconsistent with the Trump administration's stated policy goals, and attorneys at DLA Piper provide eight steps that recipients of grants should consider taking in the interim.
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Opinion
Undoing An American Ideal Of Fairness
President Donald Trump’s orders attacking birthright citizenship, civil rights education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs threaten hard-won constitutional civil rights protections and decades of efforts to undo bias in the law — undermining what Chief Justice Earl Warren called "our American ideal of fairness," says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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How Trump EPA Could Fix Carbon Combustion Residuals Rule
The Trump administration is likely targeting the recently adopted carbon combustion residual rule, especially since it imposes very stringent, detailed and expedited requirements on coal power plants — but even if the rule is not vacated entirely, there are measures that could greatly reduce its regulatory burden, says Stephen Jones at Post & Schell.
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Nippon Order Tests Gov't Control Over Foreign Investments
The U.S. government is primarily interested in restraining foreign transactions involving countries of concern, but former President Joe Biden’s January order blocking the merger of Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel shows that all foreign direct investments are under the federal government’s microscope, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Opinion
Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice
A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.
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How Trump Orders Roll Back Energy Efficiency Mandates
President Donald Trump's first-day executive orders — including a freeze on administrative rules, an order to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, and a directive to broaden consumers' appliance choices — have shifted federal policy on energy efficiency, and bring new considerations for companies engaging with the U.S. Department of Energy, say attorneys at HWG.