Environmental Groups Sue to Force EPA to Set Emissions Standards for Coal Mines

Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to force the Environmental Protection Agency to establish new source performance standards for emissions of methane and other pollutants from coal mines…

EPA Revises Allowances for HCFCs Based on 2010 Appeals Court Decision

The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 5 revised consumption and production allowances for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in 2011, issuing an interim final rule that sets company-by-company baselines for HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b…

BNA INSIGHTS: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Vermont Prescription Data Mining Law

In a clear and resounding victory for data mining companies, the U.S. Supreme Court June 23 struck down a Vermont law prohibiting pharmaceutical companies from buying or using prescription data for marketing purposes…

BNA INSIGHTS: The Supreme Court’s AEP Decision on Legislative Displacement of Federal Common Law Nuisance Claims and Its Implications for Climate Change Tort Litigation

In American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court decided what many observers believe was an important environmental case. The authors argue that the AEP decision could have important implications, particularly with the court’s lack of a precedential holding on standing, and because the decision did not address state tort claims. AEP left a number of issues unresolved, they contend, and state and federal courts, regulators, and legislators will continue to grapple with the question of whether and how to address climate change in the months and years to come…

BNA INSIGHTS: Mind the Gap: U.S. Discovery Demands versus EU Data Protection

The rising tide of globalization has meant that, more frequently than ever before, multinational corporations must navigate between U.S. litigation discovery demands seeking the production of documents and information located in the European Union and EU data protection requirements. The authors examine the arguments available in U.S. litigation for resolving conflicting laws, and suggest what they describe as a practical approach that lawyers and business people can take to try to navigate through the rocky shoals of U.S. discovery obligations (the proverbial “rock”) and EU data protection authorities (the proverbial “hard place”). Notwithstanding conflicting obligations, there are means today to navigate this legal morass, according to the authors, who suggest a way forward.

Court Blocks California Cap-And-Trade Program Until New Environmental Analysis Completed

The California Air Resources Board must not take any additional steps to implement its planned greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program until the agency completes an adequate environmental analysis of the program, a state court ruled May 20…

Oil, Gas Industry Groups File Petitions over EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Three industry groups have filed petitions with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit aimed at changing elements of an Environmental Protection Agency rule that will require oil and natural gas companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions…

D.C. Circuit Court Lifts Stay of EPA Takeover of Texas Greenhouse Gas Permitting Program

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A federal appeals court Jan. 12 lifted an emergency stay that had blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from taking over Texas’s greenhouse gas permitting program…

EPA Outlook 2011: Agency Moving Forward with Regulation in Face of Mounting Opposition, Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Environmental Protection Agency plans to move forward with regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, even as calls grow in Congress to take away EPA authority over those…

Federal Court Grants Emergency Stay to Delay EPA Takeover of Greenhouse Gas Permitting in Texas

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Dec. 30 ordered an emergency stay of an Environmental Protection Agency interim final rule set to take effect Jan. 2, that would have allowed the agency to takeover greenhouse gas emissions permitting for new and modified…

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