Environmental Law

Alston & Bird Merges with L.A. Firm, Opens Office With Akin Gump Lawyers

Rumors of a potential merger between Atlanta-based Alston & Bird and an 83-lawyer Los Angeles law firm have proven true. The 800-lawyer Alston & Bird announced today (PDF) its acquisition of Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava & MacCuish. At the same time, Alston said it is opening a 12-lawyer office in…

Jul 30, 2008 3:24 PM CDT

Record $102M Settlement in California Forest Fire Case

A railroad company has settled with the government for a record $102 million in a case over a 2000 wildfire in a forest north of Sacramento, Calif., that was especially valuable because it was protected from logging. Over three weeks, it consumed 52,000 acres within the Lassen and Plumas national…

Jul 22, 2008 10:54 PM CDT

Judge Honors Donor’s Wishes, Blocks Drilling in Mich. Forest

Environmentalists, tourists and the descendants of public land donors in Michigan are celebrating a federal judge’s ruling that the U.S. Forest Service was wrong to allow a permit for oil and gas drilling in the state’s northern Lower Peninsula. U.S. District Judge David Lawson of Detroit ruled last week that…

Jul 15, 2008 7:49 PM CDT

Phone Call Launches N.Y. Solo’s Oil and Gas Practice

A phone call in 1999 changed the course of Chris Denton’s law practice. Denton was a solo practitioner in upstate New York when he got a call from an acquaintance in the petroleum industry who told him he needed to start studying oil and gas law, the New York Times…

Jul 3, 2008 1:22 PM CDT

The Good, the Bad, and the Tiny

ABA projects focus on legal issues relating to the increasing use of nanotechnology

Jul 1, 2008 7:01 AM CDT

High Court Takes Up Environmental Dispute Involving Permit Authority

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an environmental challenge to a gold mining company’s plan to dump waste in a lake in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. At issue is whether the Army Corps of Engineers has the authority to issue a permit for the dumping if the action…

Jun 27, 2008 4:51 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts Whale Sonar Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a case that considers the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises, opposed by environmental groups who contend it harms endangered whales. Solicitor General Paul Clement had argued a federal appeals court ruling in the case “poses substantial harm to national security,” SCOTUSblog reports.…

Jun 23, 2008 2:23 PM CDT

Md. Judge Fined $10K, Gets Probation in Shoreline Dumping Case

A longtime Maryland judge accused of illegally dumping unauthorized materials along the shoreline of his waterfront home, in an apparent effort to build up a storm-damaged beachfront, has entered into a plea deal. “District Judge Askew W. Gatewood Jr. pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawfully filling state wetlands…

Jun 3, 2008 4:47 PM CDT

WiFi-Sensitive Individuals Claim ADA Violation

The city attorney in Santa Fe, N.M., is investigating claims that wireless Internet signals are a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act because they can cause an allergic reaction. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to wireless signals and he experiences chest pain from WiFi, KOB-TV reports. His…

May 27, 2008 11:58 AM CDT

Nuclear Proliferation Foe Joseph Egan Dies

Nuclear engineer-turned-lawyer Joseph R. Egan, the man who led Nevada’s legal campaign to block a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, died of gastroesophageal cancer May 7. He was 53. An obituary posted on his firm’s website notes that before his death, Egan arranged for his ashes to be spread…

May 16, 2008 12:58 PM CDT

Wolverine Loses But Polar Bear Wins in Endangered Species Rulings

Updated: An unexpected February sighting of a wild wolverine in California, where the animal was thought to be extinct, has sparked a renewed, but unsuccessful, call for protection under the Endangered Species Act. But, due to shrinking habitat caused by global warming, the polar bear won such protection today under…

May 14, 2008 4:00 PM CDT

9th Circuit Stays Execution of 85 Sea Lions, Siding Against Salmon

Updated: Their only crime was eating salmon. So execution, at least for now, is too harsh a punishment for up to 85 sea lions scheduled for extermination this year, in an effort to protect the diminishing Chinook salmon run in the Pacific Northwest. That’s what the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.…

Apr 24, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

Ex-EPA Chief Not Liable for Clean Air Assurances After 9/11

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled today that former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman cannot be held liable for saying that the air near the collapsed World Trade Center site was safe to breathe after the 9/11 attacks. Whitman made the reassuring remarks after getting conflicting information…

Apr 22, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

Garlic Co. to Pay $60K for Creating Toxic ‘Swamp Gas’

Just in time for Earth Day 2008, a Gilroy, Calif.-based garlic-processing company has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought after the company let chunks of garlic spill into a nearby creek. The garlic spill created a “swamp gas” that killed thousands of fish, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Christopher Ranch,…

Apr 22, 2008 11:29 AM CDT

R.I. Court to Webcast Key Lead Paint Arguments

In a first for Rhode Island, the state’s highest court will webcast hearings on the closely watched lead-paint case against three major manufacturers. While the state’s high court doesn’t typically televise its hearings, the court plans to place two cameras in the court so that anyone with Internet access can…

Apr 22, 2008 10:50 AM CDT