On November 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected the forty-fifth President of the United States. Shortly thereafter, corporations within the renewable energy sector experienced a substantial market reaction. The stock price of the nation’s largest solar panel manufacturer, First Solar, plunged 6.5 percent, and investors in Vestas Wind Systems, a global leader in wind energy, realized a loss of approximately ten percent. SunPower, the Silicon Valley based front-runner in solar innovation, watched as the value of its shares plummeted nearly eighteen percent. In the days that followed the presidential election, industry-wide stock prices partially recovered; however, the shares of many renewable energy corporations continue to trade beneath pre-election figures.

Recently, citizens of three townships in Pennsylvania discovered that toxic chemicals had contaminated both their public and private water supplies. Two residents, J. Davy and Josephine Yockey, are suing six major companies that used hazardous chemicals and compounds in their products, which allegedly lead to the water’s contamination. The plaintiffs are suing individually but have also instituted a class action on behalf of all similarly situated residents. The plaintiffs and members of the class action claim they have been exposed for years to these chemicals at unsafe levels, and since discovery of the contamination in the summer of 2016, they have been forced to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. Defendants include The 3M Company, The Ansul Company, National Foam, Chemguard, Buckeye Fire Protection, and Angus Fire.

Coal has been a bedrock component of our national economy and energy policy for decades. Not so long ago, John F. Kennedy said, “It would be the height of folly for this nation to permit its coal mines to be abandoned… and to neglect further research and development in this major American industry.” Even under the current administration, U.S. policy has supported investing in clean coal technologies. As recently as 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter “EPA”) acknowledged that “[c]lean coal is an important part of our energy future,” and listed advanced coal technologies among its key environmental initiatives.

In a recent decision, the Kentucky Supreme Court found that Kentucky’s Article 6 regulation on claiming races was not in violation of the Commerce Clause. This blog discribes their reasoning.

Recently, an Illinois tax tribunal ruled that compressed natural gas (CNG) is taxable under the state’s eighty-seven year old Motor Fuel Tax Law (MFTL). The tribunal decided that CNG was taxable under the statute because it was left intentionally ambiguous as to what fuel was taxable by prefacing a non-exhaustive list with ‘among other things. By ignoring the distinction between traditional fuels and alternative fuels, the tax tribunal could extend the MFTL to any fuel usable by a vehicle. This tax is extended to CNG without any mention of that fuel in the statute.

In March 31, 2016, a lawsuit was filed against an exorbitant list of defendants, but the most notable on that list were Governor Rick Snyder, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the State of Michigan. A handful of plaintiffs brought this action alleging a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. This lawsuit is apropos of the Flint Water Crisis.

Mongolia, one of the least densely populated countries in the world,[i] has undergone dramatic change in its recent history. Upon the fall of the USSR, Mongolia transitioned to a democracy in 1990, opening its markets and privatizing its land. In 2010, I lived with nomadic herders in the Eastern Khentii Province of Delgerkhaan sum, a community well-aware it was only a matter of time before they could no longer live as their ancestors had for centuries.

On October 11th, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit made yet another ruling regarding the treatment and management of the wild horse population under the control of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The court ruled for the BLM after the state of Wyoming alleged the BLM had violated its “discretionary obligations” in its management of the wild horse population in seven herd management areas (HMAs) across the state. Many see this ruling as a victory but it may instead simply be another roadblock on the way to the effective management of wild horse herds across the country.

On September 7, 2016, the House of Representatives voted 241-174 to pass the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2016 (H.R. 5063). This bill prevents the government from entering into settlements providing for payments to anyone except the government itself unless the payments represent restitution for harm caused directly by the payer. In other words, this bill will bar the Department of Justice (DOJ) from requiring settling defendants to donate money to third parties.