Recent court decisions have stymied the Trump Administration’s determination to accelerate permit approvals for oil and gas infrastructure projects, a policy focus since it came into office. Its tools have essentially been...more
Citgo Petroleum received a Valentine’s gift of sorts from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on February 14, in United States v. Citgo Petroleum Corporation. The Court affirmed an $81MM civil penalty assessed by the district...more
On Thursday, January 4, 2018, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a proposal to open 25 of its 26 offshore planning areas for leasing for oil and gas drilling, reversing an Obama Administration drilling plan that...more
On October 4, the district court for the Northern District of California in State of California and Sierra Club, et al v. BLM, et al. held that BLM could not postpone its enforcement of various provisions of the Obama-era...more
The United States and BP lodged their proposed settlement of the remaining claims by the US in connection with the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill with the US District Court today. Comments to the Justice Department are...more
10/6/2015
/ BP ,
Clean Water Act ,
Consent Decrees ,
Deepwater Horizon ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
Gulf Oil Spill ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Spills ,
Petroleum ,
Petroleum Refining ,
Pipelines ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Shell Oil ,
Transocean
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court decision holding CITGO liable for three misdemeanors under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) for bird deaths (the opinion lists 35 birds, including “twenty...more
On an appeal of a penalty determination in the first oil spill case to be tried under the civil penalty provisions enacted after the Exxon Valdez catastrophe in the Oil Pollution Act of 1991, the Fifth Circuit Court of...more