The United States, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (“AGFC”), and Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) entered into a Consent Decree with ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, LLC...more
During arguments on Wednesday in the most significant environmental dispute before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, the Court's conservative justices expressed skepticism over the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to...more
Macy’s has been ordered to pay $1.6 million for environmental violations across its 98 California stores to settle a lawsuit filed by district attorneys from 25 California counties and two city attorneys. Macy’s “illegally...more
Standing is a major issue in nearly all environmental citizen suit cases. A split panel of the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s award of a $14.25 million Clean Air Act (CAA) penalty against a...more
The latest legal buzzword, ESG, represents the environmental, social and governance factors that many corporations are now required to consider and disclose alongside traditional financial information such as operating...more
The Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) addressed an issue arising out of a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) citizen suit action. See Conservation Law...more
The Conservation Law Foundation will continue its Clean Water Act and RCRA citizen suit against Exxon Mobil alleging violations of those federal laws at Exxon Mobil's Everett facility if a decision yesterday by a three judge...more
The federal courts have issued some significant environmental law rulings in the past few days. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, Inc. On March 4, 2021, the court held that the...more
U.S. Shale Producers Race for Federal Permits Ahead of Presidential Election - "Federal permitting in the largest U.S. oilfield in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, is up 80 percent in about the last three...more
As the end of summer approaches, the courts have provided a potpourri of relevant environmental decisions. FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL - Town of Weymouth, et al. v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) -...more
Last week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a $20M penalty imposed on ExxonMobil for Clean Air Act violations at its Baytown facility, remanding the case for a more particularized review by the District Court...more
The United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (“Court”) addressed in a May 29th decision a challenge to a Clean Air Act (“Act”) Title V Permit issued to an ExxonMobil Baytown, Texas Olefin plant (“Plant”). See...more
Editors’ Note: This is the fifth in our start-of-year series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. Our previous entry discussed False Claims Act trends in 2020. Up next: a look...more
Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land - "But the court ruling does say that the 2017 Trump administration policy, enacted by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to overturn...more
A Texas Federal Judge Turns Up the Heat on Oil Companies Facing Climate Change-Related Securities Class Actions - On August 14, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a...more
As Storm Looms, 4th Circuit Reverses Ruling Against Dominion on Coal Ash Pollution at Chesapeake Site - "Water pollution from a coal ash landfill and settling ponds at a closed power plant in Chesapeake is not a violation of...more
On June 25, 2018, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a claim against several oil and gas producers for impacts relating to climate change in The City of Oakland v. BP, Chevron...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
Climate change related cases are on the rise nationwide, just like sea water levels. In fact, according to a United Nations study released in May 2017, the U.S. has three times more climate change litigation cases than the...more
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a regulatory program administered by EPA that requires petroleum-based transportation fuel sold in the U.S. to contain a minimum volume of various categories of biofuels. The program’s...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
This Advisory briefly reports on some of the significant U.S. Supreme Court actions from January through June 2016 related to environmental and administrative law. ...more
Ed. Note-The VW scandal is clearly much broader than simply corporate lying about environmental compliance. It is about an entire corporate culture that engaged in, tolerated or consciously disregarded the illegal behavior....more
API, AFPM, and ExxonMobil urged EPA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to eliminate the ability of biodiesel producers to sever RINs from batches of fuels produced as part of an upcoming final rule establishing a...more