On March 4, the U.S. Supreme Court (“SCOTUS” or the “Court”) issued a decision in San Francisco v. EPA that invalidated certain “end-result” water quality limitations in NPDES permits — specifically, those that “do not spell...more
3/11/2025
/ City and County of San Francisco v Environmental Protection Agency ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Pollution Control ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
State and Local Government ,
Wastewater ,
Water Quality
On Jan. 10, the FTC announced the 2025 filing thresholds under the HSR Act, as well as the 2025 filing fees. The new thresholds will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and will apply to transactions...more
1/14/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Jurisdictional Thresholds ,
Merger Controls ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
On January 7, 2025, the FTC and DOJ jointly filed a complaint against XCL, Verdun, and EP concerning an alleged gun-jumping violation. The parties simultaneously filed a proposed final judgment, under which the defendants...more
In his return to the White House, President-elect Trump inherits an aggressive antitrust enforcement regime from the Biden administration – an enforcement regime that was born and developed in many respects during Trump’s...more
11/15/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Big Tech ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Election Results ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Reviews ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Required Forms ,
State Attorneys General ,
Trump Administration
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Final Rule mandates the adoption of new, expanded Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) forms and the creation of a public comment portal for pending transactions. The new HSR forms will become...more
10/15/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Operative Documents ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Required Documentation ,
Required Forms ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Updated Forms
On Jan. 22, the FTC announced the 2024 filing thresholds under the HSR Act, as well as the 2024 filing fees. The new thresholds will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days....more
1/24/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On Dec. 18, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued new merger guidelines (Guidelines), finalizing draft guidelines published in July and replacing the 2010 Horizontal Merger...more
On July 19, 2023, the FTC and the DOJ (collectively, the agencies) jointly released new draft merger guidelines. The agencies assert that the proposed guidelines will help them better assess the impact of proposed mergers...more
On June 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release[1] announcing proposed changes to reporting requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR Act). Under...more
6/30/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
NPRM ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Required Forms ,
Rulemaking Process
On March 29, the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department (Treasury) published proposed regulations regarding the recently reinstated Superfund chemical taxes (Proposed Regulations) and set a May 28 deadline for comments.
The...more
On Jan. 25, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the 2023 filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act). The notice also...more
On Sept. 13, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter delivered remarks at the Georgetown Antitrust Law Symposium, largely focusing on merger control enforcement at the Department of Justice (DOJ) under his...more
9/22/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Vertical Mergers
Last month, the IRS published Notice 2021-66, issued in response to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (Jobs Act) reinstatement of the previously expired “Superfund Tax”—an excise tax imposed on manufacturers,...more
1/20/2022
/ CERCLA ,
Comment Period ,
Contaminated Properties ,
Excise Tax ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
Infrastructure ,
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) ,
IRS ,
Superfund ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Reform ,
Toxic Chemicals
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. According to the fact sheet that accompanied the order, competition in the U.S. economy is in dire straits....more
Background - The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions surrounding the duty of employers covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to report COVID-19 hospitalizations or fatalities to OSHA....more
Attorneys play an important role in the incident response process. A skilled and experienced attorney can help organizations effectively respond to a security incident in a way that complies with obligations, protects key...more
Starting in 2019, California will subject hazardous waste facilities operating in the state to a “scoring” system called the Violations Scoring Procedure (VSP). The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)...more
In a controversial change, the 2015 version of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) general permit for industrial stormwater discharges (known as the Multi-Sector General Permit, or MSGP) expressly prohibits the...more
In yet another recent case involving the intersection of CERCLA and state law, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington held that CERCLA legislatively displaced federal common law public...more
EPA plans to propose new regulations this year to address the management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The agency anticipates issuing a notice of proposed...more
On December 23, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion rejecting on the merits a petition filed by 101 environmental groups seeking to compel EPA to regulate spent lead bullets and shot under...more
On December 10, 2014, EPA released a prepublication version of its long-awaited final rule revising regulations affecting hazardous materials recyclers under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). The rule,...more
On August 21, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in an ongoing dispute between a homeowner and Texas-based oil driller Range Resources Corp. The case is not a typical homeowner vs. oil driller...more
8/28/2014
/ Anti-SLAPP ,
Appeals ,
Contamination ,
Defamation ,
Disparagement ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fracking ,
Methane ,
Oil & Gas ,
Underground Injection Wells ,
Water Supplies
On June 17, 2014, EPA published a Proposed Rule to no longer acknowledge the 2005 version of ASTM International’s recently updated version of its standard for environmental site assessments – Standard 1527-13 – to meet the...more
The Supreme Court’s decision in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger, No. 13-339, 573 U.S. __ (June 9, 2014), sends a strong message to lower courts that the oft-repeated refrain that CERCLA is a “remedial statute” that must be...more