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Energy
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February 06, 2025
Trump's Federal Worker Buyout Plan Put On Hold
A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday put on hold the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" program for federal employees, delaying the deadline for workers to accept the offer until Monday while the court weighs the legality of the move.
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February 06, 2025
Honeywell To Split Into 3 Entities After Activist Pressure
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell, advised by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, on Thursday unveiled plans to fully separate its automation and aerospace technology businesses, which when paired with the company's previously announced plan to spin off its advanced materials business, will result in three separate publicly traded companies.
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February 06, 2025
Kirkland Guiding TPG On $2.2B Altus Power Purchase
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised TPG has agreed to purchase Latham & Watkins LLP-guided Altus Power in a deal that values the Stamford, Connecticut-based solar energy provider at approximately $2.2 billion, including debt, Altus said in a Thursday statement.
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February 05, 2025
Suit Challenges BLM Approvals Of More Calif. Drilling Permits
Conservation and public health groups have told a California federal judge that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management continues to barrel ahead in approving more oil and gas drilling permits in the polluted San Joaquin Valley and to shirk its public notice and environmental review duties.
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February 05, 2025
Doubt Over NEPA Regs' Future Brings New Risk For Projects
Recent court decisions and President Donald Trump have jeopardized long-standing federal regulations for environmental reviews, introducing uncertainty in the permit application and approval process for projects ranging from roads to pipelines that could lead to delays and new litigation.
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February 05, 2025
Chicago's Climate Suit Belongs In Federal Court, Judge Hears
The city of Chicago should not be allowed to take environmental deception claims against the nation's largest oil producers back to state court because the city's suit targets conduct performed largely for the federal government, a judge heard during a Wednesday hearing.
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February 05, 2025
Monolithic's Investors Say Co. Botched Nvidia Orders
Power management component manufacturer Monolithic Power Systems Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging it hid critical defects in power modules used by its largest customer, Nvidia Corp., that led the artificial intelligence chipmaker to cancel orders, harming Monolithic's revenue.
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February 05, 2025
Lyondell Leak Is On Job Foreman, Not Valve Maker, Jury Told
A valve maker indicated to a Houston jury on Wednesday that a 2021 chemical leak at a LyondellBasell plant was the result of poor communication between a plant operator and a now-deceased Turn2 Specialty Cos. contractor, not the valve's design.
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February 05, 2025
NJ's Climate Change Suit Against Energy Cos. Tossed
A New Jersey state judge on Wednesday threw out the Garden State's lawsuit accusing fossil fuel companies of concealing the climate change risks of their products, finding the state's claims are preempted by federal law.
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February 05, 2025
Ga. Judge Balks At Zurich's Claim Of Surprise Testimony
A Georgia federal judge has rejected Zurich American Insurance's bid to strike supposed surprise testimony from a recent trial where it lost $12.2 million over a disputed rain damage claim from a solar farm, ruling Wednesday that the real surprise was Zurich's belated and meritless objections.
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February 05, 2025
China Hits Trump Tariffs With Mostly Symbolic WTO Challenge
The Chinese government has challenged the Trump administration's new 10% tariff at the World Trade Organization, alleging violations of key global trade rules, even as years of U.S.-led gridlock has rendered the Geneva body mostly defunct as a dispute resolution forum.
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February 05, 2025
6th Circ. Judge Unsure Of Jury Instruction In Bribery Case
A Sixth Circuit judge seemed skeptical Wednesday of the bribery and racketeering conspiracy standards a jury used to convict former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and Republican lobbyist Matthew Borges in connection with the FirstEnergy bailout scandal, suggesting that all campaign contributions could be called bribery.
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February 05, 2025
GOP Lawmakers Move To Scrap Methane Emissions Fee
Republican lawmakers revived legislation seeking to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methane emissions fee, as part of a broader effort to bolster the Trump administration's U.S. energy dominance policy.
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February 05, 2025
Cleveland-Cliffs Wants 'Un-American' US Steel Suit Tossed
Cleveland-Cliffs and its CEO have asked a Pennsylvania judge to toss a lawsuit filed against them by Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel, calling the suit "un-American" while claiming that the plaintiffs' "sputtering disapproval" of the defendants' statements doesn't hold up in court.
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February 04, 2025
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
February is off to a rip-roaring start in several circuits, and there's plenty more action ahead, including a moment of truth for judiciary policymaking that has managed to anger both the defense and plaintiffs bars. We'll explore all that in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing, which also includes an appellate quiz pegged to recent presidential news.
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February 04, 2025
Del. Judge Tells Fuel Cell Co. Investors To Filter Imprecise Suit
A Delaware federal judge on Tuesday ruled that investors of hydrogen fuel cell company Plug Power Inc. must submit more particular details to support their allegation that shareholders were damaged by the company's failure to disclose production challenges, saying it is not the court's responsibility to filter out evidence.
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February 04, 2025
Calif. Partly Beats Challenge To Climate Disclosure Laws
A California federal judge has trimmed a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups over the state's corporate climate disclosure rules, finding the groups failed to state a claim with respect to two causes of action.
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February 04, 2025
'Every Breath' A 'Struggle' For Lyondell Leak Worker, Jury Told
A lung specialist told a Houston jury Tuesday that he would be "surprised" if the only surviving repairman who worked on a leak at a Texas LyondellBasell plant lived longer than 15 years without major medical intervention due to his chemical exposure four years ago.
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February 04, 2025
5th Circ. Mulls If Green Orgs. Have Injury In Injection Well Case
A Fifth Circuit panel pondered whether environmental groups will suffer an injury adequate to challenge underground injection wells in Louisiana, asking during oral arguments Tuesday whether the groups can bring a legal claim for an event 50 years down the road.
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February 04, 2025
EPA, Interior Leaders Unveil Focus On US Energy Production
The heads of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled plans for their agencies that largely focus on bolstering President Donald Trump's U.S. energy dominance policy.
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February 04, 2025
AI Clean Energy Co. SPAC Suit Should Be Zapped, Judge Says
A federal magistrate judge has recommended dismissing, without prejudice, a derivative shareholder suit accusing the top brass of Stem Inc., an artificial intelligence-driven clean energy company, of making misleading statements leading up to a conflicted merger with a special purpose acquisition company, saying no one should have to "connect the dots" to figure out what is specifically being alleged against them.
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February 04, 2025
Pushing The Envelope In Climate Law: Murder Charges
Climate change legal advocates are pointing to wildfires in Los Angeles, hurricanes in the Southeast and a regulation-averse presidential administration as evidence that local prosecutors should begin going after fossil fuel companies with criminal charges — up to and including homicide.
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February 04, 2025
Mich. Supreme Court Says City's Electricity Fee Is Illegal Tax
A franchise fee added to East Lansing, Michigan, residents' energy bills is a disguised tax, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday, saying the fee was used to raise revenue for the city without first being approved by voters.
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February 04, 2025
DLA Piper Partner To Testify At Cognizant Evidence Hearing
Prosecutors told a New Jersey federal judge Tuesday that the managing partner of DLA Piper's Houston office will testify at a Feb. 18 evidentiary hearing in a criminal bribery case against two former executives of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., which tapped the law firm for an internal investigation into the alleged corrupt scheme in India.
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February 04, 2025
White House Lacks Authority To Issue NEPA Regs, Judge Says
The White House Council on Environmental Quality has no authority to issue binding National Environmental Policy Act regulations, a North Dakota judge has ruled, scrapping challenged regulations the Biden administration had enacted.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating Complex Regulatory Terrain Amid State AG Races
This year's 10 attorney general elections could usher in a wave of new enforcement priorities and regulatory uncertainty, but companies can stay ahead of the shifts by building strong relationships with AG offices, participating in industry coalitions and more, say Ketan Bhirud and Dustin McDaniel at Cozen O’Connor.
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How The 2025 Tax Policy Debate Will Affect The Energy Sector
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. election, 2025 will bring a major tax policy debate that could affect the energy sector more than any other part of the economy — so stakeholders who could be affected should be engaging now to make sure they understand the stakes, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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3rd Circ. Hertz Ruling Highlights Flawed Bankruptcy Theory
The Third Circuit, in its recent Hertz bankruptcy decision, became the latest appeals court to hold that noteholders were entitled to interest before shareholders under the absolute priority rule, but risked going astray by invoking the flawed theory of code impairment, say Matthew McGill and David Casazza at Gibson Dunn.
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Opinion
This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Int'l Agreements Are Key For Safe Nuclear Waste Disposal
By replacing fossil fuels, nuclear energy has the potential to offer a major contribution to the global fight against climate change — but ensuring that nuclear power is safe and sustainable will require binding, multinational agreements for safe nuclear waste disposal, say Ryan Schermerhorn and Christopher Zahn at Marshall Gerstein.
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Applying High Court's Domestic Corruption Rulings To FCPA
After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the domestic corruption statutes in three decisions over the past year and a half, it’s worth evaluating whether these rulings may have an impact on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, and if attorneys can use the court’s reasoning in international bribery cases, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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How Multifamily Property Owners Can Plan For The EV Future
As the electric vehicle market expands, and federal and state incentives and mandates intended to promote EV use come into effect, owners and operators of multifamily residential properties should be prepared to meet the growing demand for onsite EV charging infrastructure, say Sydney Tucker and Andreas Wokutch at Frost Brown.
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Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping
As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Enviro Policy Trends That Will Continue Beyond The Election
Come October in a presidential election year, the policy world feels like a winner-take-all scenario, with the outcome of the vote determining how or even whether we are regulated — but there are several key ongoing trends that will continue to drive environmental regulation regardless of the election results, say J. Michael Showalter and Samuel Rasche at ArentFox Schiff.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Secret Service Failures Offer Lessons For Private Sector GCs
The Secret Service’s problematic response to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this summer provides a crash course for general counsel on how not to handle crisis communications, says Keith Nahigian at Nahigian Strategies.
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Opinion
Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation
If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.
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Takeaways From TOTSA Settlement And Critical CFTC Dissent
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent settlement with TOTSA highlights the agency's commitment to enforcing market integrity and deterring manipulative practices, while Commissioner Caroline Pham's dissent to the settlement spotlights the need for transparency and consistency in enforcement actions, say attorneys at Davis Wright.