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Energy
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December 18, 2024
EY Accused Of Aiding Energy Firm's SPAC Fraud
Big Four accounting firm EY faces a suit alleging that its "unqualified" audit opinions for a United Arab Emirates-based oil storage leasing company enabled the company to defraud investors in its $1 billion 2019 merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
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December 18, 2024
Ex-Fla Rep. Charged Again For Foreign Agent Violations
Former Florida Rep. David Rivera, who is battling an indictment in Miami over lobbying work for Venezuela, faces additional criminal charges in D.C. federal court, after a grand jury indicted him on charges he failed to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied on a Venezuelan businessman's behalf.
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December 18, 2024
EPA Greenlights California's Race To 100% ZEVs By 2035
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday authorized California's plan to require that all new light cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission vehicles by 2035, a move that was instantly slammed by the fossil fuel industry.
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December 18, 2024
Energy Co. Orsted Sells 50% Solar Farm Stake In $572M Deal
Danish multinational energy company Orsted, advised by Sidley Austin LLP, on Wednesday announced plans to sell a 50% equity stake in three U.S. onshore projects to energy transition-focused investor Energy Capital Partners in a $572 million deal.
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December 18, 2024
Day Pitney Adds Another Energy Counsel In DC
A month after it hired an energy partner with some 30 years of experience, Day Pitney LLP again has bolstered its energy team by adding another veteran attorney who has worked with energy regulatory and transactional matters for more than two decades.
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December 18, 2024
The Biggest 1st Circ. Rulings Of 2024
The nation's smallest federal circuit court in 2024 issued an opinion tackling the government of Mexico's efforts to hold U.S. firearms makers responsible for the flow of illegal arms across the southern border, determining the claims are not barred by a litigation shield, among other high-profile decisions.
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December 18, 2024
Mont. High Court Cements Right To 'Stable Climate System'
The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state's constitution guarantees the right to "a stable climate system" and affirmed a lower court's decision to strike down state law provisions that barred the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in permitting decisions.
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December 18, 2024
Top Conn. Cases Of 2024: Kickbacks, Paybacks And Bribes
Judges and juries in Connecticut awarded several multimillion-dollar verdicts against companies big and small in 2024, socking Johnson & Johnson in a talc case in which the already substantial damages could multiply and ordering a pharmacy that paid kickbacks to cough up nearly four times the money it cost the state.
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December 17, 2024
Del. Justices Won't Revive Investors' $2.4B EV SPAC Deal Suit
The Delaware Supreme Court has declined to reinstate a proposed class action in the state's Chancery Court that accused a blank-check company of withholding key information from investors ahead of its $2.4 billion go-public deal with electric-vehicle maker Canoo Holdings Ltd.
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December 17, 2024
Red States Can Back Feds In Dakota Access Pipeline Row
A North Dakota federal judge said Tuesday that 13 Republican-led states can back the federal government in litigation brought by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeking to halt operations of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
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December 17, 2024
Distributor Seeks OK Of $131M Venezuela Award
A Hong Kong goods distributor has kicked off litigation in Delaware looking to enforce a $131 million arbitral award against a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, stating in its petition that it wants to target the country's interest in the oil giant Citgo.
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December 17, 2024
Insurer Can't Duck Coverage Of Fire Suit, Texas Jury Finds
A Texas federal jury rejected an insurer's bid to escape covering a trucking company in an underlying suit over a fire at a saltwater disposal facility that killed one of the company's employees, finding that the incident was not caused by the excluded act of hydrofracking.
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December 17, 2024
DC Circ. Nixes Challenge To Union Vote At Transformer Co.
An electrical transformer manufacturer can't overturn the National Labor Relations Board's certification of a union with claims that agency officials botched the representation vote, the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday, saying the company's allegations about the length of the voting period lack merit.
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December 17, 2024
Senate GOP Enviro Leader Questions EPA On Grant Funding
The leading Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said Tuesday she's worried about the "potential for misuse" of the $30 billion in funding being doled out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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December 17, 2024
Renewable Energy Investor Asks Court To OK €42M Award
A Luxembourg-based renewable energy investment firm on Tuesday urged a District of Columbia federal judge to confirm a €41.8 million ($43.9 million) arbitration award over Spain's abandoned energy economic incentives after the D.C. Circuit recently said such awards can be enforced.
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December 17, 2024
Revised LNG Export Study Flags Gas Price And Climate Worries
The Biden administration on Tuesday said that unconstrained U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas would increase both domestic energy prices and cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, and retained a pause on export project reviews that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to lift upon taking office.
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December 17, 2024
5th Circ. Tosses EPA Rule After Agency Loses Docs
The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's unusual request that the court vacate a challenged 2016 rule that partially disapproved regional haze plans created by Texas and Oklahoma and imposed a federal plan.
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December 17, 2024
CFPB Finalizes Rule For PACE Loans
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday finalized a rule that applies standard mortgage protections to so-called Property Assessed Clean Energy loans, where homeowners pay for upgrades through property tax bills.
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December 17, 2024
Yukos Capital Opposes Stay In $5B Russia Award Suit
The financing arm of Yukos Oil Co. urged a D.C. federal court on Monday not to pause its lawsuit looking to enforce a $5 billion arbitral award against Russia while litigation involving similar issues plays out, saying the Kremlin is needlessly dragging its feet.
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December 17, 2024
Oil Cos. Seek Coverage For Water Byproduct Pollution
Two oil and gas companies accused their commercial general liability insurer and certain Lloyd's of London underwriters of denying coverage for a release of waste byproduct in bad faith, telling a New Mexico federal court the release further triggered state-supervised remediation efforts that imposed additional costs.
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December 17, 2024
Seattle, Solar Group Sue To Block Natural Gas Ballot Initiative
The city of Seattle and solar industry and environmental groups have sued the state of Washington to preserve municipalities' ability to curb natural gas use in new buildings, arguing a voter-approved measure blocking that power had unrelated provisions that made it unconstitutional.
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December 17, 2024
Asset Manager Gets 2½ Years For Role In $1.2B PDVSA Scheme
A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an asset manager who pled guilty to participating in a $1.2 billion scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company to 2½ years in prison.
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December 17, 2024
Senate Dem's Bill Would Mandate New FCC Outage Reports
Networks that receive funding to help them rebound from climate-related disasters would need to file new reports of outages to the Federal Communications Commission under a Democratic bill filed in the U.S. Senate.
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December 17, 2024
PG&E Secures $15B Energy Dept. Loan To Upgrade Grid
The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday that it has conditionally committed to lending Pacific Gas & Electric Co. up to $15 billion for projects aimed at expanding hydropower generation and clean energy infrastructure in California.
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December 17, 2024
IRS Corrects Proposed Admin Requirements For Direct Pay
The Internal Revenue Service issued a correction Tuesday to proposed regulations laying out administrative requirements for tax-exempt entities to elect out of their partnership status in order to take advantage of new rules enabling direct cash payment of clean energy tax credits.
Expert Analysis
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CFTC Action Highlights Necessity Of Whistleblower Carveouts
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's novel settlement with a trading firm over allegations of manipulating the market and failing to create contract carveouts for employees to freely communicate with investigators serves as a beacon for further enforcement activity from the CFTC and other regulators, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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5 Tips For Solar Cos. Navigating Big Shifts In US Trade Policy
Renewable energy developers can best mitigate new compliance risks from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s increased tariffs on imported solar cells, and simultaneously capitalize on Treasury Department incentives for domestic solar manufacturers, by following five best practices in the changing solar trade landscape, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer
When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.
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Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry
Companies in the EV manufacturing ecosystem are experiencing a boom in business, but with this boom comes increased regulatory and enforcement risks, from the corruption issues that have historically pervaded the extractive sector to newer risks posed by artificial intelligence, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.
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Keeping Up With Carbon Capture Policy In The US And EU
Recent regulatory moves from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Commission in the carbon capture, sequestration and storage space are likely to further encourage the owners and operators of fossil fuel-fired power plants to make decisions on shutdowns or reconfiguration to meet the expanding requirements, say Inosi Nyatta and Silvia Brünjes at Sullivan & Cromwell.
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New State Climate Liability Laws: What Companies Must Know
New legislation in Vermont and New York creating liability and compliance obligations for businesses deemed responsible for climate change — as well as similar bills proposed in California, Massachusetts and Maryland — have far-reaching implications for companies, so it is vital to remain vigilant as these initiatives progress, say Gregory Berlin and Jeffrey Dintzer at Alston & Bird.
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EU Investor-State Dispute Transparency Rules: Key Points
The European Union's recent vote to embrace greater transparency for investor-state arbitration will make managing newly public information more complex for all parties in a dispute — so it is important for stakeholders to understand the risks and opportunities involved, say Philip Hall, Tara Flores and Charles McKeon at Thorndon Partners.
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Despite Calif. Delays, Climate Disclosure Rules Are Coming
Progress continues on state, federal and international climate disclosure regimes, making compliance a key concern for companies — but the timeline for implementation of California's disclosure laws remains unclear due to funding and timing disputes, says David Smith at Manatt Phelps.
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Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Intra-EU Enforcement Trends
Hungary recently declared a distinct stance on the European Court of Justice's 2021 ruling in Moldavia v. Komstroy on intra-EU arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty, highlighting a critical divergence in the bloc on enforcing investment awards and the complexities of balancing regional uniformity with international obligations, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.
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Opinion
Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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What Happens After Hawaii Kids' Historic Climate Deal
Implications of the Hawaii Department of Transportation's first-of-its-kind settlement with youth plaintiffs over constitutional climate claims may be limited, but it could incite similar claims, says J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.