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Energy
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July 18, 2024
5th Circ. Remands ESG Rule Row Citing Chevron's End
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday instructed a Texas federal court to reconsider a Biden administration rule allowing retirement plan advisers to consider environmental, social and governance factors when choosing investments, pointing to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have "upended" the legal landscape.
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July 18, 2024
DOE Plans $861M Support For PR Solar, Storage Project
The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday said it's conditionally committing to a loan guarantee of up to $861.3 million for two battery storage equipped solar farms and two standalone battery energy storage systems in Puerto Rico that will help the island meet its energy goals.
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July 18, 2024
Oil Co. Can't Get Contract Breach Claim Revived
A Colorado federal judge on Thursday declined to revive an oil and gas company's lawsuit accusing the American Arbitration Association of improperly terminating a claim the company filed against its investors for nonpayment of arbitration costs, ruling it agreed to the AAA's "rather capacious" rules.
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July 18, 2024
Enviro Groups Deploy Chevron Ruling In Pipeline Case
Environmental groups suing the federal government over the reissuance of a nationwide Clean Water Act permit that can be used for oil and gas pipelines told a D.C. federal judge Thursday that the recent overturning of the Chevron deference bolsters their effort to get the permit thrown out.
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July 18, 2024
Ukraine Co. Says $208M Russia Award Should Be OK'd
A Ukrainian electric utility has again asked a D.C. federal court to enforce a nearly $208 million arbitral award it won after the Kremlin seized its Crimean assets, saying that an international tribunal seated in The Hague already rejected Moscow's jurisdictional arguments.
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July 18, 2024
Miner Seeks Atty Fees After 4th Circ. DOL Judges Ruling
A former miner urged the Fourth Circuit to approve approximately $21,000 in attorney fees in his case seeking benefits for his black lung disease, saying he has been unable to reach a settlement with an engineering company that challenged the appointment of two U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judges.
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July 18, 2024
Xcel's Silence Led To $2.6M Storm Penalty, Gas Co. Says
A natural gas marketing company is suing the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and Xcel Energy in state court to invalidate a nearly $2.6 million penalty for its failure to ship enough gas during a historic 2021 winter storm, alleging Xcel didn't notify it of the regulatory proceedings.
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July 18, 2024
State Of 2024 Energy Dealmaking: Midyear Report
Energy dealmaking in the first half of 2024 has, in many ways, picked up where 2023 left off, but companies also increasingly have an eye on the U.S. presidential election this fall that could bring drastic change to the landscape. Here are some transactional trends that have stood out to energy attorneys so far this year.
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July 18, 2024
Term Extension For Ga. Utility Commish Unlawful, Suit Says
Georgia's Secretary of State was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday from a voter and two advocacy groups challenging a recent law that extended the terms of the state's utility regulatory commission while their elections were suspended by voting rights litigation.
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July 18, 2024
6th Circ. Looks To Wash Hands Of Waters Of US Appeal
An exasperated Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday looked for an easy way to dispatch Kentucky and industry groups' appeal of the dismissal of their challenges to a federal government rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act.
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July 18, 2024
Refiner, Distributor To Pay $1M Fine In EPA Biofuel Case
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it has slapped an Arizona-based petroleum products company and its affiliate with a more than $1 million civil penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act's conventional and renewable fuel requirements.
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July 18, 2024
Consumers Hit CenterPoint With 2nd Class Action Over Beryl
CenterPoint Energy Inc. has been hit with a second proposed class action over widespread power outages in the Houston area following Hurricane Beryl, this time from consumers in the Houston-Galveston area who were impacted by the storm.
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July 18, 2024
Blank Rome Adds Reed Smith Trio In Houston, Pittsburgh
A team of three former Reed Smith attorneys specializing in financial transactions in the energy sector have recently moved their practices to Blank Rome LLP's Houston and Pittsburgh offices.
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July 18, 2024
Another Enphase Investor Suit Claims Execs Hid Slow Growth
Enphase Energy's top brass has been slapped with another shareholder complaint in California federal court, alleging they misrepresented the energy technology company's financial outlook by concealing a decrease in battery shipments and slower manufacturing outputs, which artificially inflated its stock price.
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July 18, 2024
Judge With Lake Property Exits $217M Dam Repair Tax Suit
A Michigan federal judge said he would step aside in a fight over a $217 million tax assessment to fund dam reconstruction because he's part of the assessment district, though he warned that hundreds of plaintiffs could have their own conflicts.
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July 18, 2024
King & Spalding Guides Quanta's $1.5B Cupertino Buy
Houston-based Quanta Services Inc. said Thursday it has acquired fellow energy infrastructure provider Cupertino Electric Inc. for up to $1.54 billion, with King & Spalding LLP and Fenwick & West LLP providing legal counsel on the deal, respectively.
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July 18, 2024
Ga. Mineral Co. Can't Nab Win In Row Over Talc Suit Coverage
A Georgia federal judge declined to grant a win to a mineral products company trying to compel a Travelers unit to defend it against an underlying suit claiming that it supplied asbestos-containing talc products.
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July 17, 2024
EPA Disputes High Court Link To Texas Clean Air Act Case
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling blocking a federal plan to reduce cross-state pollution does not impact the EPA's decision to reject state plans submitted by Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
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July 17, 2024
PJM Jumps Into 3rd Circ. Row Over Transmission Project
A Pennsylvania commission's request to have the Third Circuit reinstate its rejection of a power transmission project would impinge on PJM Interconnection's federally mandated planning process, the regional grid operator said in an amicus brief filed Wednesday.
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July 17, 2024
Lawmakers Say Bid To Toss Monument Suit Is A 'Red Herring'
The Arizona Legislature is fighting a bid by the Biden administration to dismiss a challenge to a presidential proclamation that established an Indigenous site as a national monument in the Grand Canyon region, arguing that the state's constitution gives the lawmakers power over state trust lands.
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July 17, 2024
DOE Says Challenge Of $1.1B Diablo Canyon Award Must Fail
The U.S. Department of Energy is urging a California federal judge to throw out a suit challenging its award of $1.1 billion of credits to help Pacific Gas & Electric Co. keep two generation units running for now at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
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July 17, 2024
6th Circ. To Review 2 Standards In FirstEnergy's Cert. Fight
The Sixth Circuit indicated Wednesday that it would have to examine the applicability of two different class certification standards in a securities suit by FirstEnergy investors, as the company insisted there was no proof its statements influenced stock prices, and that purported omissions didn't factor into the mix.
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July 17, 2024
Ex-Cognizant Execs Bemoan Access Woes In Bribery Case
Former Cognizant executives accused of authorizing a bribe to a government official in India have told a New Jersey federal court that obstacles to their access to evidence and overseas witnesses undermine their right to a fair trial and could warrant the dismissal of the case.
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July 17, 2024
PE Firms Plug $300M Into Digital Infrastructure Developer
Digital infrastructure site developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure on Wednesday announced that it has received more than $300 million in commitments from private equity shops NGP, advised by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Sandbrook Capital.
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July 17, 2024
Kazakhstan Agrees To End Fight Over $506M Award
A decade-long fight between Kazakhstan and Moldovan oil and gas investors who won a half-billion-dollar arbitral award against the country has come to a close, with the parties inking a binding framework to resolve their dispute.
Expert Analysis
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Webpages Must Meet Accessibility Standard To Be Prior Art
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's First Solar Inc. v. Rovshan Sade decision, that an available internet resource doesn't necessarily qualify as a prior art "printed publication" that is publicly accessible, serves as a reminder of the unforgiving requirements that must be satisfied to establish that a reference is a printed publication, say attorneys at Akin.
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Recent Rulings Add Dimension To Justices' Maui Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund established new factual criteria for determining when the Clean Water Act applies to groundwater — and recent decisions from the Ninth and Tenth Circuits have clarified how litigants can make use of the Maui standard, says Steven Hoch at Clark Hill.
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Strategies For Single-Member Special Litigation Committees
The Delaware Supreme Court's recent order in the Baker Hughes derivative litigation allowing testimony from a single-member special litigation committee highlights the fact that, while single-member SLCs are subject to heightened scrutiny, they can also provide unique opportunities, says Josh Bloom at MoloLamken.
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10th Circ. Ruling Means More Okla. Oilfield Pollution Litigation
By applying Oklahoma's statutory definitions of pollution to a private landowner's claim for negligence for the first time, the Tenth Circuit's recent decision in Lazy S Ranch v. Valero will likely make it harder to obtain summary judgment in oilfield contamination cases, and will lead to more litigation, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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Proposed RCRA Regs For PFAS: What Cos. Must Know
Two rules recently proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would lead to more per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances being regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and would increase the frequency and scope of corrective action — so affected industries should prepare for more significant cleanup efforts, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs May Be Legally Flawed
While the recently proposed regulations for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit have been lauded by some in the environmental community, it is unclear whether they are sufficiently grounded in law, result from valid rulemaking processes, or accord with other administrative law principles, say Hunter Johnston and Steven Dixon at Steptoe.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Unpacking The New Russia Sanctions And Export Controls
Although geographically broad new prohibitions the U.S., U.K. and EU issued last week are somewhat underwhelming in their efforts to target third-country facilitators of Russia sanctions evasion, companies with exposure to noncompliant jurisdictions should pay close attention to their potential impacts, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Mitigating Whistleblower Risks After High Court UBS Ruling
While it is always good practice for companies to periodically review whistleblower trainings, policies and procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent whistleblower-friendly ruling in Murray v. UBS Securities helps demonstrate their importance in reducing litigation risk, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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What Recent Setbacks In Court Mean For Enviro Justice
Two courts in Louisiana last month limited the federal government's ability to require consideration of Civil Rights Act disparate impacts when evaluating state-issued permits — likely providing a framework for opposition to environmental justice initiatives in other states, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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New Hydrogen Regulations Show The Need For IP Protections
The introduction of hydrogen regulations, such as the IRS' proposed tax credit for clean hydrogen under the Inflation Reduction Act, are reshaping the competitive landscape, with intellectual property rights an area of increased emphasis, say Evan Glass and James De Vellis at Foley & Lardner.