Insights

Washington – January 4, 2021: Crowell & Moring elected nine lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2021. The firm also promoted 18 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, Los Angeles, and New York offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media, Environment & Natural Resources, Litigation, International Trade, Antitrust & Competition, Government Contracts, and Intellectual Property.

Washington – December 6, 2019: The U.S. Court of International Trade has granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the federal government, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan, from implementing the withdrawal of a tariff exclusion for bifacial solar panels without due process. The government’s withdrawal comes only months after the tariff exclusion had been put in place following an extensive notice-and-comment process.

On June 6, 2022, President Biden issued a White House Fact Sheet (“Fact Sheet”) outlining President Biden’s “Bold Executive Action to Spur Domestic Clean Energy Manufacturing” along with five related Defense Production Act (“DPA”) Presidential Determinations[1] (“Presidential Determinations”) and a Declaration of Emergency and Authorization for Temporary Extensions of Time and Duty-Free Importation of Solar Cells and Module from Southeast Asia (the “Declaration”).  The Fact Sheet states the President is (1) authorizing use of the DPA to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies; (2) encouraging domestic solar manufacturing capacity through the use of master supply agreements with enhanced domestic preferences; and (3) creating a two-year trade regulation bridge as domestic manufacturing for solar products scales up.  The White House stated that these actions are being taken to lower energy costs, reduce risks to the power grid, and mitigate climate change.  The Department of Energy (“DOE”) also released a statement on June 6 about the DPA Presidential Determinations which describes DOE’s concerns with regard to each material or technology for which a determination was issued.  The statements made by the White House and DOE also make clear that these actions to employ the DPA are part of the Administration’s broader “all of government” approach to addressing Environmental Justice, with the intention to “strongly encourage projects with environmental justice outcomes that empower the clean energy transition in low income communities historically overburdened by legacy pollution.”

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In this issue: