From October 2023, a broad range of products moving from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI) (and that are intended for “final consumption” in NI) will be processed through a “green lane” and be subject to fewer checks and controls. While this will ultimately facilitate movements of various products, there are implications for businesses
On August 29th, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held the first auction for offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Sheppard Mullin’s preview of the auction can be accessed here. The auction concluded after just two rounds of bidding, with only the Lake Charles area off the coast of Louisiana being awarded. The two Texas areas available in the auction, Galveston I and II, received no bids.
On 26 June 2023, the International Sustainability Standards Board (“ISSB”) published its inaugural International Financial Reporting Standards Sustainability Disclosure Standards (the “ISSB Standards”) (read our previous blog post on this here). In August 2023, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published Primary Market Bulletin 45, confirming its intentions to update its climate-related disclosures for listed companies under the Listing Rules (see LR 9.8.6 R (8) and LR 14.3.27 R) to reference UK-endorsed ISSB Standards.
On July 25, Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa (the states), along with intervenors American Water Works Association and National Rural Water Association (the water associations), petitioned the Eighth Circuit to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new rule requiring states to review and report cybersecurity threats to their public water systems (PWS).
“I fought the law and the law won” – The Crickets
In an opinion filed July 19, and later ordered published on August 16, 2023, the Second District Court of Appeal (Div. 6) reversed the trial court’s grant of a preliminary injunction in a CEQA action enjoining the Santa Barbara County Road Commissioner from enforcing public laws by removing unpermitted encroachments from a public right-of-way. Christopher Anderson, et al. v. County of Santa Barbara, et al. (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 554. The public officer’s law enforcement actions were held to be exempt from CEQA; to have independent utility apart from any alleged larger, “piecemealed” project evading CEQA review; and not to be subject to the “unusual circumstances” exception to applicable categorical exemptions. While the Court was careful to fully analyze all of petitioners’ CEQA arguments, its opinion also offered numerous other reasons why the trial court erred and exceeded its lawful authority under applicable legal principles in issuing the preliminary injunction.
As previously reported, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its most recent list of unregulated constituents to be monitored by public water systems (PWSs)—the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (“UCMR 5”)—on December 27, 2021. Requiring sampling for 30 chemical constituents between 2023 and 2025, UCMR 5 included 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Greenberg Traurig is pleased to announce that The Best Lawyers in America recognized its Energy & Natural Resources Practice on the 2024 list. The annual edition recognized 22 energy attorneys in 19 practice specialties. Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review and captures the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional
Crude Oil by Rail: The D.C. Appeals Court Halts Uinta Basin Railway Project Citing Defects in the Environmental Impact Statement Prepared by the Surface Transportation Board
On August 18, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the “Court”) issued an order vacating a final exemption order granted by the Surface Transportation
International Trade: Unites States Requests USMCA Dispute Panel Over Mexican GMO Corn Ban
On August 17, 2023, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that USTR has requested a three-member dispute settlement panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) regarding Mexico’s actions to phase out biotech corn in food products and animal feed.
People. Planet. Justice.