DROPLETS
In MACH Energy Australia v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group [2026] HCA 35, the High Court of Australia held 3:2 that NSW consent authorities cannot assess resource projects on Scope 1 and 2 emissions alone.
On 7 October 2026 the High Court of Australia dismissed MACH Energy's appeal 3:2 (Gordon J, Edelman and Beech-Jones JJ; Gageler CJ and Jagot J dissenting), holding the NSW Independent Planning Commission's 2022 consent for the Mount Pleasant coal mine extension invalid. Consent authorities cannot satisfy s 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) by addressing only Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; they must at least consider whether conditions to minimise all greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 3, to the greatest extent practicable should be imposed, as clause 2.20(1)(c) of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resources and Energy) 2021 contemplates. The majority also read "in the locality" as qualifying the enumerated considerations rather than the likely-impacts inquiry, declining to create a separate mandatory climate consideration; that question was left undetermined. The matter remits to the Land and Environment Court of NSW. For energy and mining clients, the operational point is that downstream emissions analysis in environmental impact document
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September: mass Iranian aviation designations, suspended general licenses, a presumption of denial for Iran specific licenses, a VTB Bank hit, a new Cuba regime, and penalties rules consolidated into Part 505.
OFAC's September 2026 activity, as summarized in this single-source firm roundup, was unusually broad. On September 8 the agency designated dozens of Iranian passenger and cargo carriers plus aviation-support companies in the UAE, UK, Turkey, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, and indefinitely suspended ITSR general licenses 522, 528 and 529 and GL J-1, leaving a September 23 wind-down under GL DD. On September 10 it announced a presumption of denial for Iran-related specific license applications — a break from prior case-by-case review — alongside a $1,427,230 civil settlement. VTB Bank was designated under EO 13902 on September 14, extending secondary-sanctions exposure to non-U.S. financial institutions, and an Iranian digital-asset platform was hit September 17.
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In MACH Energy Australia v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group [2026] HCA 35, the High Court of Australia held 3:2 that NSW consent authorities cannot assess resource projects on Scope 1 and 2 emissions alone.
On 7 October 2026 the High Court of Australia dismissed MACH Energy's appeal 3:2 (Gordon J, Edelman and Beech-Jones JJ; Gageler CJ and Jagot J dissenting), holding the NSW Independent Planning Commission's 2022 consent for the Mount Pleasant coal mine extension invalid. Consent authorities cannot satisfy s 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) by addressing only Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; they must at least consider whether conditions to minimise all greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 3, to the greatest extent practicable should be imposed, as clause 2.20(1)(c) of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resources and Energy) 2021 contemplates. The majority also read "in the locality" as qualifying the enumerated considerations rather than the likely-impacts inquiry, declining to create a separate mandatory climate consideration; that question was left undetermined. The matter remits to the Land and Environment Court of NSW. For energy and mining clients, the operational point is that downstream emissions analysis in environmental impact document
…
In MACH Energy Australia v Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group [2026] HCA 35, the High Court of Australia held 3:2 that NSW consent authorities cannot assess resource projects on Scope 1 and 2 emissions alone.
On 7 October 2026 the High Court of Australia dismissed MACH Energy's appeal 3:2 (Gordon J, Edelman and Beech-Jones JJ; Gageler CJ and Jagot J dissenting), holding the NSW Independent Planning Commission's 2022 consent for the Mount Pleasant coal mine extension invalid. Consent authorities cannot satisfy s 4.15 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) by addressing only Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; they must at least consider whether conditions to minimise all greenhouse gas emissions, including Scope 3, to the greatest extent practicable should be imposed, as clause 2.20(1)(c) of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Resources and Energy) 2021 contemplates. The majority also read "in the locality" as qualifying the enumerated considerations rather than the likely-impacts inquiry, declining to create a separate mandatory climate consideration; that question was left undetermined. The matter remits to the Land and Environment Court of NSW. For energy and mining clients, the operational point is that downstream emissions analysis in environmental impact document
…
September: mass Iranian aviation designations, suspended general licenses, a presumption of denial for Iran specific licenses, a VTB Bank hit, a new Cuba regime, and penalties rules consolidated into Part 505.
OFAC's September 2026 activity, as summarized in this single-source firm roundup, was unusually broad. On September 8 the agency designated dozens of Iranian passenger and cargo carriers plus aviation-support companies in the UAE, UK, Turkey, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, and indefinitely suspended ITSR general licenses 522, 528 and 529 and GL J-1, leaving a September 23 wind-down under GL DD. On September 10 it announced a presumption of denial for Iran-related specific license applications — a break from prior case-by-case review — alongside a $1,427,230 civil settlement. VTB Bank was designated under EO 13902 on September 14, extending secondary-sanctions exposure to non-U.S. financial institutions, and an Iranian digital-asset platform was hit September 17.
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Grade 3 — worth a glance, not the full analysis.
- EU Product Liability Directive: US-style disclosure duties loom near year-end deadline
Member-state transposition of the revised EU Product Liability Directive is due before year-end 2026, bringing materially expanded disclosure obligations and presumptions for companies selling into the EU.
- FDA Warning Letter: AI Algorithm Retraining, Cloud Shift May Require New 510(k)
A CDRH warning letter to O.N. Diagnostics signals that introducing a new algorithm or moving device software to the cloud can render a marketed vertebral fracture assessment device adulterated and misbranded absent a new 510(k).
- California's SB 574 Adds AI Duties for Lawyers Representing AI-Affected Clients
A King & Spalding alert says Gov. Newsom signed SB 574 on September 30, 2026, extending California's AI patchwork to the lawyers serving companies, flagging where the new duties are unsettled.
- W.D. Wash. preliminarily enjoins HHS Medicaid cuts for noncitizen SSI recipients
A September 30, 2026 preliminary injunction from Judge Thomas Zilly in the Western District of Washington bars HHS from terminating Medicaid coverage for nonemergent care to certain noncitizen SSI recipients.
- FTC weighs platform liability for ads optimized to enable impersonation
Hogan Lovells reports the FTC is considering whether search engines, social platforms, marketplaces and app stores could be liable when their ad and listing tools facilitate impersonation or deception.