Inflation Reduction Act
DOE Approves LNG Export Authorization for Freeport LNG "“ A Win for LNG Exports?
The Department of Energy recently authorized Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. ("FLEX") to export LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement countries. Importantly, this is the first order on LNG exports issued by the DOE since it collected comments on its two-part LNG...
Two Polar Bear Decisions in Two Weeks: Their Significance for Climate Change, Endangered Species and Project Development
The end of February saw a flurry of news regarding the status of the Polar Bear under the Endangered Species Act. On February 20, the US Fish and Wildlife Service reissued its so-called "4(d)" rule regarding the Bear, outlining the...
PHMSA Inspections to Focus on Integrity Management Program Evaluations
Effective immediately, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) inspections will emphasize the review of operator methods for integrity management (IM) program evaluations, the agency said in an Advisory Bulletin released earlier today. PHMSA also stated that it will carefully...
FERC Tees Up Enforcement for 2013
The specter of enforcement actions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is looming large over the energy industries. In the post-election flurry of FERC enforcement activity, FERC curtailed JP Morgan Venture Energy Corp.'s authority to sell power at market-based rates...
Post-2012 Election Outlook for Shale Gas Industry
The extraordinary increase in the production of natural gas from shale formations in the U.S. played a central role in the 2012 elections. As President Obama and Governor Romney campaigned throughout the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado and...
The Outlook for Environmental Enforcement in 2013
President Obama's re-election is expected to bring continued, aggressive enforcement efforts at the civil and criminal levels. To the extent that legislative initiatives on key issues like climate change, shale gas, and offshore drilling are delayed or given a lower...
What's in Store for Offshore Energy After the 2012 Election
President Obama describes his energy policy as an "All of the Above" approach that encourages production of traditional fossil fuels while supporting the growth of renewables. Despite an increase in overall U.S. energy production over the past four years, output...
D.C. Circuit Appeals Court Vacates EPA's Cross-State Rule as Legally Flawed
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today vacated the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) as an unlawful exercise of EPA authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Court also said that...
Sixth Circuit to EPA: Decades of NSR Aggregation/Single Source Applicability Determinations Have Been Wrong
On August 7, 2012, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an important decision that reined in EPA's efforts to try to aggregate oil and gas emissions sources. In Summit Petroleum Corporation v. United States Environmental Protection Agency...
Ohio Issues Emergency Rules on Underground Injection Control Activities, Effective Immediately
Companies that own and operate Class II disposal wells in Ohio will now have to comply with tougher standards when using deep injection wells for the underground disposal of brine and other wastes, a regulatory change spurred by findings that...
Dual Air Permitting Scheme in Texas Lives On, For Now
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling on June 26, 2012, upholding the EPA's various rulemakings regulating greenhouse gases (GHG) is a significant blow to the numerous oil and gas, electric generating, chemical, and refining companies operating in Texas that...
TCEQ "Compliance History" Rule Change to Affect Regulated Facilities in Texas
At the direction of the Texas Legislature, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has for the last decade provided "compliance history" regulations that generate a score for each regulated facility in the state based generally on the number and...
UPDATE: PJM Provides Its View
Internal Bilateral Transactions: Regulatory Risk & Confusion Reign As explained in our alert "
Internal Bilateral Transactions: Regulatory Risk & Confusion Reign
Internal Bilateral Transactions (IBTs) are bilateral transactions occurring between market participants within a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) market. While these transactions have differing names in various RTOs ( IBTs in PJM, ISO-NE, and NYISO; Financial Schedules in MISO; Inter-SC Trades...
Supreme Court Allows Judicial Review of EPA Administrative Orders Under the Clean Water Act - But How Much Will It Help?
On March 21, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that courts can review EPA administrative orders under the Clean Water Act before EPA seeks to enforce them. The Supreme Court’s ruling, while significant, is of uncertain benefit to those regulated by...