The White House announced on Monday that President Joe Biden would ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. The order will protect 625 million acres of ocean along America’s Atlantic and Pacific...more
Earlier this week, in what almost certainly has to be the most fractured appellate decision in the history of the United States courts, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, affirmed via per curiam decision the...more
Here are curated AG and federal regulatory news stories highlighting key areas in which state and federal regulators’ decisions are having an impact across the US: •California Sues Exxon for Allegedly Fueling Plastics...more
ExxonMobil sued by California AG and environmental nonprofits over plastic waste - California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of environmental nonprofit entities sued ExxonMobil on Monday, accusing the company...more
California AG Rob Bonta sued global energy giant ExxonMobil Corporation for allegedly deceiving the public about the recyclability of plastic products and creating a global plastics pollution crisis in violation of state...more
The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued its third opinion on August 19 in the decade-long fight between Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) and the US government over who is responsible for the costs...more
ExxonMobil, Partners Discover Carbon Capture Technology for Industrial Sources - "A possible breakthrough in technology that could capture more than 90% of carbon dioxide emitted from industrial sources has been announced...more
2020 AG Elections- Utah Attorney General Fends Off Challenger in Republican Primary- •Incumbent Utah AG Sean Reyes won the July 2, 2020 Republican primary for AG over challenger David Leavitt. •AG Reyes will face...more
This article follows on from a series of previous articles seeking to address climate change litigation in the context of insurance and reinsurance. Three different, but important, decisions in December 2019 have once again...more
More than four years of contentious litigation concluded this month when the Supreme Court of the State of New York released its judgment in the People of the State of New York v Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Court found...more
In Cities v. Fossil Fuels, Exxon's Allies Want the Accusers Investigated - "Now two industry-friendly groups are turning the tables and asking the SEC to investigate the cities and counties for possible fraud." Why this...more
Ohio Supreme Court Joins Texas and Oklahoma in Holding the State Does Not Recognize a Separate Implied Covenant to Explore Further - "We conclude that Ohio does not recognize an 'implied covenant to explore further'...more
Despite the new administration’s efforts to rollback Obama Era environmental regulations, most businesses in the U.S. are maintaining their commitments to sustainability. According to Lucid’s 2017 Sustainability Outlook...more
Suggestions to Texas lessors after ExxonMobil v. Lazy R Ranch, et al: Claiming that you were not aware of contamination from oil spills you’ve know about for 20 years is a tough sell, and suing your long-time lessee for...more
Here’s the other shoe for that news that all the big banks passed their Fed stress tests the other day: are the “bad old days of enormous leverage and freewheeling deals” and the risk inherent in them back, too?....more
Even as the administration is mulling over withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, Exxon Mobil’s shareholders have voted to demand a more detailed accounting of the climate change policy risks facing the company—an...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - EPA, clean energy spared Trump's ax in $1.1 trillion budget deal - Bloomberg - May 1 - Environmental programs marked for termination or deep cuts by President Donald Trump got a...more
One of the many issues in the current Presidential campaign involves the question of whether to pursue a tax on carbon emissions. The matter has been viewed by the Clinton campaign with some interest but not commitment,...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Federal and state officials sign Klamath River dam removal deal - San Jose Mercury News - Apr 7 - The governors of California and Oregon and several other state, federal, power,...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - President Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline, leaving it in limbo: Reuters - Feb 24: President Barack Obama on Tuesday, as promised, swiftly vetoed a Republican bill approving the...more
Parties sued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) for remediation now have an immediate right to seek contribution from other potentially responsible parties. Following last week’s unanimous ruling...more