Thompson & Knight LLP's Climate Change and Renewable Energy Practice Group was discussed in a front page article in the Dallas Morning News and in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. The article and blog discuss the development of climate change practice groups in law firms and how expected climate change regulation will effect the companies that will be regulated and how the legislation will establish markets for carbon credits that will serve as a part of a cap-and-trade system. Such legislation would be designed to limit the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to attempt to reduce global warming. Several bills have been filed in both the House and Senate. Several western and northeastern states have already established frameworks for regulating greenhouse gases even if the federal government does not act.
The other issue the article and blog discuss is the potential for litigation to be filed by plaintiff's attorneys seeking to recover damages allegedly resulting from climate change, whether storm-related or related to rising sea levels. Some of these plaintiff's attorneys believe climate change litigation has the potential to be bigger than tobacco litigation.
