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Appeals court affirms oil company polar bear rules
Court News |
2012/08/24 14:39
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Oil companies operating in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast will have a negligible effect on polar bears and walrus, according to a federal Appeals Court ruling Tuesday that backed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rules on harassment of the animals.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the agency correctly issued rules that provide legal protection to oil companies if small numbers of polar bears or Pacific walruses are incidentally harmed.
"We're glad that the court has reaffirmed the appropriateness of our conservation measures," agency spokesman Bruce Woods said.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued over the rules, claiming both individual animals and entire populations must be analyzed for protection. Center attorney Rebecca Noblin said the Appeals Court agreed but concluded the Fish and Wildlife Service had done sufficient separate analyses. Noblin called the decision disappointing.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act generally prohibits the "take" of marine mammals. Take is defined to include harassment or annoyance that has the potential to injure or that could disrupt behavior patterns such as migration, nursing, breeding and feeding.
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Wash. man due in court in alleged Obama threat
Legal Line News |
2012/08/22 14:39
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A Washington state man accused of making an email threat against President Barack Obama and brandishing a shotgun at officers who came to his door is scheduled to appear in federal court.
Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary says 31-year-old Anton Caluori was arrested Tuesday at an apartment in Federal Way for investigation of making threats against the president and assault on a federal officer.
U.S. attorney's spokeswoman Emily Langlie says the threat was sent to a general purpose FBI email address.
A Secret Service agent and a Federal Way police officer went to an apartment, knocked and announced themselves for about three minutes, then found themselves facing a man armed with a shotgun when the door opened.
Leary says Caluori is set to appear at 2 p.m. Wednesday in court.
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NC regulators hire law firm to probe Duke Energy
Legal Line News |
2012/08/17 11:02
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North Carolina utilities regulators said Wednesday they have hired a former federal prosecutor with experience digging into corporate affairs to reveal whether regulators were misled ahead of a takeover that created America's largest electric company.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission said it has hired Anton Valukas and the Jenner & Block law firm, which he heads in Chicago. The ex-prosecutor and his firm are tasked with investigating what happened before regulators approved Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corp. taking over Raleigh-based Progress Energy Inc.
State law allows the costs associated with the utilities commission's investigation to be charged to Duke Energy and its shareholders rather than allowing the company to pass them along to its 3.2 million North Carolina customers.
A Duke Energy spokesman said the company was cooperating with regulators in their investigation.
The company on Wednesday separately sought to begin passing along to Carolinas energy consumers the first $89 million of $650 million in merger-related savings promised over the next five years. If that is approved, the average residential customer in North Carolina and South Carolina could save between 80 cents and 92 cents a month beginning in September. |
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3M Co. sues former law firm for switching sides
Law Firm News |
2012/08/15 11:02
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The 3M Co. has filed a lawsuit against one of its former law firms, claiming its attorneys were motivated by "greed" when they switched sides in an environmental case against the conglomerate.
3M is suing Covington & Burling which is helping the state with a lawsuit against the company for environmental damage, allegedly caused by a chemical made by 3M and found in the Mississippi River and several lakes.
The Minnesota attorney general says the law firm agreed to help the state only after its work with 3M was finished. A statement from Covington says the firm had no "active matters" with 3M when it decided to help the attorney general in its case against the company.
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