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Environmental

  • August 07, 2025

    FCC Plans To Narrow Enviro Rules For Broadband Projects

    The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed to make it easier for broadband providers to clear FCC reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

  • August 07, 2025

    SC Judge Tosses Charleston Climate Suit Against Energy Cos.

    A South Carolina state judge has ruled that a city of Charleston lawsuit seeking damages from oil and gas companies for greenhouse gas pollution and climate change impacts is barred under the U.S. Constitution and federal Clean Air Act.

  • August 07, 2025

    NC Town Alleges Chem. Giants Hid PFAS Health Risks

    A North Carolina town sued Arkema Inc., Dynax and other chemical manufacturers on Wednesday over the infiltration of toxic "forever chemicals" into its drinking water, alleging the companies knew for decades that the compounds were dangerous and willfully ignored it.

  • August 07, 2025

    5th Circ. Sends Refinery Biofuel Exemption Fight To DC Circ.

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Thursday sent a string of small refinery cases challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's denial of renewable fuel blending requirement waivers over to the D.C. Circuit.

  • August 07, 2025

    Fla. Judge Pauses Everglades Detention Facility Construction

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order in the lawsuit against the Everglades immigration detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," briefly halting the construction of additional tents and other infrastructure for two weeks while allowing facility operations to continue.

  • August 07, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Divorce Dust-Ups And Judicial Rebukes

    Litigation in the North Carolina Business Court is heating up this summer with new complaints centered on fears a former state politician's divorce proceedings will impede his companies' operations and accusations that a climate technology company has failed to pay out a former engineer's ownership interest.

  • August 06, 2025

    Judge Blocks Mich. Landfill From Taking Radioactive Waste

    A Michigan state judge on Wednesday blocked a Detroit-area landfill from accepting thousands of cubic yards of radioactive material stemming from the Manhattan Project, holding that it could be sent to a less-populated area and pose less risk.

  • August 06, 2025

    Calif. Water Toxicity Test Flouts Federal Law, Court Rules

    A California state appeals court has barred state regulators from requiring wastewater entities to use a new water pollution test for discharge permits, but said the Golden State's adoption of new toxicity provisions was proper under state law.

  • August 06, 2025

    Ga. Judges Weigh Birth Defect Ruling in Sterigenics Case

    A group of Georgia residents who alleged they were injured by emissions from a Sterigenics sterilization plant urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a lower court's grant of partial summary judgment to the company on the issue of whether the plant's emissions caused birth defects.

  • August 06, 2025

    Insurer Can't Escape La. Church's $5M Hurricane Ida Suit

    An insurer can't escape a Louisiana church's suit seeking nearly $5 million in coverage for claimed Hurricane Ida damage, a federal court ruled Wednesday, rejecting the insurer's contention that the church breached the policy's cooperation requirement and failed to provide timely proof of loss.

  • August 06, 2025

    Feds Launch Safety Probe Of SEPTA After EV Bus Fires

    The Federal Transit Administration has launched an inquiry into the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's storage of decommissioned electric buses, which the federal agency said comes after a lithium-ion battery fire in one of SEPTA's yards.

  • August 06, 2025

    Battle Lines Form Around Interior's Updated NEPA Rule

    The U.S. Department of the Interior is facing stiff resistance from green groups and blue states that oppose its new environmental review process for infrastructure projects, but some industry groups said the agency has taken the right approach.

  • August 06, 2025

    Ceramics Co. Seeks Biz Interruption Coverage Over Hurricane

    A ceramics and home goods retailer accused a Travelers unit of violating North Carolina's unfair claims settlement practices and deceptive trade practices laws, telling a federal court the insurer deliberately misrepresented statements from its chief financial officer to support its denial of the retailer's Hurricane Helene claim.

  • August 06, 2025

    Interior Dept. Reverses Approval Of Idaho Wind Farm

    The U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday said it would reverse a Biden-era approval of a controversial wind farm in Idaho, the latest move by the Trump administration to restrict U.S. wind energy development.

  • August 06, 2025

    Toshiba Unit Can't Appeal Bench Trial Bid In Hydro Plant Row

    A Michigan federal judge refused Wednesday to clear the way for a subsidiary of Toshiba to appeal her order denying a bench trial in a dispute over allegations that the electronics giant botched a $560 million upgrade at a power plant owned by DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy.

  • August 05, 2025

    Challenge To GOP Enviro Grant Cutoff Can Proceed, Judge Told

    Attorneys for environmental infrastructure grant recipients told a D.C. federal judge Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's own emails show that a proposed class action challenging the blanket termination of a climate justice and resilience grant program can move forward despite Congress' recent recission of "unobligated" funds.

  • August 05, 2025

    Feds Aim To Shut Off Kids' Challenge To Trump Energy Orders

    A lawsuit filed by youths alleging that President Donald Trump's energy policy directives harm their future by exacerbating climate change should be dismissed because their claims can't be addressed by courts, the federal government said Monday.

  • August 05, 2025

    Calif. City Sanctioned Over Missing Reports In Dow, PPG Case

    A San Francisco Superior Court judge found that a California city that's pursued decades-long litigation against Dow Chemical and PPG Industries over dry cleaning chemicals that allegedly contaminated city sites "committed egregious discovery violations" by destroying and concealing 1991 reports related to the chemicals leaking into the city's groundwater.

  • August 05, 2025

    States Win Ruling To Shield FEMA Disaster Prevention Funds

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred the Trump administration from redirecting more than $4 billion in funds allocated by Congress for natural disaster mitigation efforts toward other Federal Emergency Management Agency programs.

  • August 05, 2025

    Property Co. Backs Calif. Tribe In $700M Casino Row

    A property owner has urged a D.C. federal judge in an amicus brief to grant the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' quick win bid in the tribe's suit accusing the federal government of wrongfully blocking the tribe's $700 million casino project in Vallejo, California.

  • August 05, 2025

    NY Loses Bid To Move Climate Superfund Suit Upstate

    The federal government's lawsuit challenging New York's climate change Superfund law will proceed in the New York City court where it was filed, rather than in a judicial district closer to the state capitol as the state had requested, a judge said.

  • August 05, 2025

    Brookfield Nabs $6B Minority Stake In Duke Energy Florida

    Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP-advised Duke Energy on Tuesday unveiled plans for infrastructure investor Brookfield, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, to take an indirect minority equity stake in its electric company Duke Energy Florida in a $6 billion all-cash deal.

  • August 04, 2025

    California Egg Farmers Join Defense Of Animal Welfare Laws

    The Association of California Egg Farmers and several animal rights groups seek to join the Golden State's defense of animal welfare laws being challenged by the federal government.

  • August 04, 2025

    Enbridge Asks Judge To Block Mich. Pipeline Shutdown Order

    Energy infrastructure firm Enbridge has told a federal court that Michigan's efforts to shut down a U.S.-Canada pipeline are preempted by federal law, while the state urged the court to drop or stay the case because of a parallel state court action that is teed up for U.S. Supreme Court review. 

  • August 04, 2025

    Utah Tribe Loses Bid To Challenge $16M Ovintiv Settlement

    A Utah tribe can't intervene to challenge a $16 million Clean Air Act consent decree between the U.S. government and Ovintiv USA Inc., a federal judge has said, arguing that it failed to show how the agreement would cause direct economic harm or sovereign injury.

Expert Analysis

  • Deep-Sea Mining Outlook Murky, But May Be Getting Clearer

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    U.S. companies interested in accessing deep-sea mineral resources face uncertainty over new federal regulations and how U.S. policy may interact with pending international agreements — but a Trump administration executive order and provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act should help bring clarity, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • Tips For US Investors Eyeing Middle East Data Centers

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    While Middle East data center investment presents a compelling opportunity in light of renewed U.S.-Gulf cooperation on artificial intelligence and critical technologies, these projects require a nuanced understanding of regional legal and regulatory regimes, says Haykel Hajjaji at Covington.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Clean Energy Tax Changes Cut Timelines, Add Red Tape

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    With its dramatic changes to energy tax credits, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reshape project financing and investment planning — and wind and solar developers, especially those in the early stages of projects, face stricter timelines and heightened compliance challenges, says Dan Ruth at Balch & Bingham.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

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    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

  • Trump Air Emissions Carveouts Cloud The Regulatory Picture

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    President Donald Trump's new proclamations temporarily exempting key U.S. industries from air toxics standards, issued under a narrow, rarely-used provision of the Clean Air Act, will likely lead to legal challenges and tighter standards in some states, contributing to further regulatory uncertainty, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • How Property Insurers Serve As Climate Change Harbingers

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    Thomas Dawson at McDermott discusses the role that U.S. property insurers may play in identifying and assessing climate risk, as well as in financing climate change adaptation projects, in light of global warming and shifting geopolitical realities.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • A Deep Dive Into 14 Nixed Gensler-Era SEC Rule Proposals

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month formally withdrew 14 notices of proposed rulemaking, including several significant and widely criticized proposals that had been issued under former Chair Gary Gensler's leadership, signaling a clear and definitive shift away from the previous administration, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • A Look At Trump 2.0 Antitrust Enforcement So Far

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    The first six months of President Donald Trump's second administration were marked by aggressive antitrust enforcement tempered by traditional structural remedies for mergers, but other unprecedented actions, like the firing of Federal Trade Commission Democrats, will likely stoke heated discussion ahead, says Richard Dagen at Axinn.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Tips For Cos. From California Climate Reporting FAQ

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    New guidance from the California Air Resources Board on how businesses must implement the state's sweeping climate reporting requirements should help companies assess their exposure, understand their disclosure obligations and begin documenting good-faith compliance efforts, says Thierry Montoya at Frost Brown.

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