Category — Operations

 On October 20, 2011, the California Air Resource Board (“CARB”) announced the adoption of the final cap-and-trade regulation, which establishes a statewide limit on the production of greenhouse gas emissions. 

The regulation aims to reduce overall greenhouse emissions in California to the 1990-level by 2020.  [Read more →]

Last week, two wood/agricultural waste biomass plants in California were hit with one of the largest air pollution fines in State history. As part of a negotiated consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (the “District”), the plants were fined $835,000 for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and various District rules. [Read more →]

In a victory for industry, the Supreme Court today granted a petition from a group of electric utilities for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Connecticut v. AEP.  The case concerns whether greenhouse gas emitters may be sued in tort on a theory that their emissions, by assertedly causing climate change, constitute a public nuisance.  [Read more →]

In 2009, SEC enforcement actions reached an all-time high, doubling the number of formal investigations that took place in 2008.  This rising tide of enforcement will undoubtedly grow larger given the newly-enacted Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions, which provide significant monetary incentives to individuals willing to reveal certain types of financial misconduct.  With this onslaught in mind, companies and individuals working in SEC regulated industries must clearly understand what behavior can place them in the government’s crosshairs. [Read more →]