Environmental Agencies, Superfund Cleanups, and Managing Enforcement Actions
It is not uncommon for Lloyd Harbor residents to have old steel heating oil tanks buried in their yards. Although these underground tanks continue to successfully heat our homes, they do not last forever. They are not...more
The US District Court for the Central District of California issued an opinion on December 10 in the decades-long fight between the US Environmental Protection Agency and several oil companies over payment of the United...more
States sue over rollback of fuel efficiency standards - Bullet The San Diego Union-Tribune – May 27 - California, joined by nearly two dozen other states, the District of Columbia and the City of Los Angeles, on...more
Industry Expert Insights - We reached out to one of our Lex Mundi partners and a well-known expert in Australia in the energy and legal industries to get her thoughts on the current energy climate. Emma Covacevich is...more
On May 6, 2020, a Montana federal court ruled that an insurer was not obligated to cover $1 million in cleanup costs incurred by an umbrella policyholder after spilling 238 barrels of crude oil and 1,200 barrels of production...more
Negotiating a contract, a charter party in maritime parlance, is a balance of leverage and sometimes a leap of faith. Certain issues are more important to companies than others, and for those issues, the language of clauses...more
The final decision in the ATHOS I saga has recently been issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the decision of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to the effect that a plain reading of the language found in...more
On March 30, 2020, in Citgo Asphalt Refining Co. v. Fescati Shipping Co., Ltd., the U.S. Supreme Court held that, based on its specific wording, a charter party’s safe-berth clause constituted an express warranty of safety,...more
Judge Rules Against Oil Companies to Keep Climate Liability Case in Rhode Island - "The ruling will allow Rhode Island prosecutors to continue to bring charges against 21 oil and gas producers including Chevron, Shell and...more
In the waning hours of the 2019 session, the Washington Legislature narrowly passed SB 5993, which increases the tax on petroleum that primarily funds the state’s contaminated site cleanup program, protects the funds from...more
The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (“ITRC”) announced the issuance of a guidance document titled: Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons Risk Evaluation at Petroleum-Contaminated Sites (“Guidance”) - ITRC states...more
In an important decision of first impression construing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA,” 33 U.S.C. §§2701 et seq.), the Fifth Circuit has held the owner and operator (“Nature’s Way”) of a “dominant mind” tugboat liable...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon (“Court”) addressed a request for declaratory judgment by plaintiff landowners concerning future remedial action costs related to a petroleum release. See Roger Goldingay, v....more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced in an April 25th news release that it had awarded $300,000 to the East Arkansas Planning and Development District(“East District”). The East District is...more
U.S. Agencies Agree to Slash Approval Times for Infrastructure Projects - "More than a dozen federal agencies agreed to slash the time needed for environmental reviews and permitting on major infrastructure projects, a...more
On December 21, 2017, the Washington Supreme Court issued a decision interpreting the private right of action under Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act (“MTCA”), Douglass v. Shamrock Paving, Inc. The decision analyzes three...more
The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality (“MCEQ”) and Magnolia Marine Transport (“MMT”) entered into a November 1st Agreed Order (“AO”) addressing alleged violation of a provision of the Mississippi Code addressing...more
The Illinois Attorney General (“AG”) filed a Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction against TrueFlo Solutions LLC (“TS”) in White County Circuit Court in Illinois in regards to an oil spill that allegedly...more
Since the beginning of 2015, at least 77 companies in the oil and gas industry have sought bankruptcy relief in the United States. The flow of oil and gas company bankruptcies shows no sign of slowing down and, based on the...more
In a “case of first impression,” U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,texascapitol sitting in Austin, in TCEQ v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, et al., issued an important decision interpreting the scope of the Texas Solid...more
This article is the second in a three-part series that began with “Off the Tracks: A Data-Driven Analysis of Crude-by-Rail Liability Factors, Exposure, and Potential Solutions,” which was published on December 19, 2015. ...more