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Proposed Listing of Lesser Prairie-Chicken Under Endangered Species Act and Potential Impact on Energy Projects

On June 1, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to list the lesser prairie-chicken under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposal distinguishes between...more

EPA Rolls Back Portions of Methane Rule

On August 13, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two rules (Policy Amendments and Technical Amendments) to roll back portions of its 2012 and 2016 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Oil...more

Court Orders Dakota Access Pipeline Shut Down

On July 6, 2020, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling ordering that the Dakota Access Pipeline (the Pipeline) be shut down and emptied by August 5, 2020. The decision...more

Key Permit Used in Keystone XL Pipeline Put On Hold – Potential Far-Reaching Impacts on Other Projects

On April 15, 2020, an order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana vacated a key general permit pipeline and utility project owners have used for decades to address Clean Water Act requirements, including...more

EPA Proposes to Revise Significant Aspects of Methane Rule

Two years ago, the EPA adopted the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) Subpart OOOOa (commonly known as the Methane Rule), which allowed the EPA – for the first time – to regulate directly the emissions of methane gas...more

Petition for Rulemaking Requests Standards of Conduct for Oil Pipelines

Airlines for America and the National Propane Gas Association (“Petitioners”) filed a Petition for Rulemaking on February 1, 2018, asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to extend its affiliate Standards of...more

DOI Reverses Course and Declares Migratory Bird Treaty Act Does Not Prohibit Incidental Take

In a legal memorandum (the “Jorjani Memo”) issued on December 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”) concluded that the MBTA’s prohibition of taking migratory birds only applies to intentional take and does not...more

Appeals Court Decision Requires Air Emissions Reporting for Animal Waste

On April 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit vacated a 2008 EPA rule, which had exempted certain agricultural operations from federal air emission reporting requirements...more

Denbury v. Texas Rice "Texas Rice II": The Texas Supreme Court Affirms Common Carrier Status

On Friday, January 6, 2017, the Texas Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas v. Texas Rice Land Partners (“Texas Rice II”), reversing the 9th Court of Appeals and reinstating the trial...more

EPA Finalizes GHG Regulations for the Oil and Gas Industry and Clarifies which Sources May Be Aggregated for Permitting Purposes

The EPA is moving forward with the second stage of the Climate Action Plan – regulation of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Even while the first stage in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Clean Power...more

Federal Court Halts Implementation of BLM Fracking Rules

On September 30, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming held that the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") did not have Congressional authority to promulgate and finalize hydraulic...more

While New Methane Rules Get Most of the Attention, EPA Also Proposes New Site Aggregation Policies for the Oil and Gas Sector and...

On August 18, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") released and asked for comments on a number of proposed rules affecting the oil and gas industry. While the methane emission regulations have received the...more

BLM Announces New Hydraulic Fracturing Rules for Oil and Gas Wells on Federal Lands; Industry Trade Associations and the State of...

On March 26, 2015, the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published its final rule setting new standards for hydraulic fracturing on onshore federal and Indian lands. The final rule, as published in...more

Supreme Court Rebukes EPA's Broad Interpretation Of Its Power To Regulate GHGs And Sends Message For EPA To Carefully Proceed With...

On June 23, 2014, the Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision,1 affirmed in part and reversed in part the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") greenhouse gas ("GHG")...more

EPA Proposes Approval of TCEQ's Greenhouse Gas Permitting Program

On February 5, 2014, several news outlets reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") handed over permitting authority for greenhouse gases ("GHGs") to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality...more

Railroad Commission Order Clarifies Scope of the Common Carrier Act

Last week, in a 3-0 decision, the Railroad Commission of Texas ("Railroad Commission") overturned a Hearings Examiner's interim ruling that the Common Carrier Act does not apply to a pipeline transporting ethylene. In a case...more

1/22/2014  /  Common Carriers , Railways

Take 2: EPA Re-Proposes Its Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Power Plants

On September 20, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-proposed its regulations to limit greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from newly constructed power plants, known as the GHG New Source Performance Standards...more

Texas Ninth Court of Appeals Issues Contrasting Opinions Addressing Pipeline Condemnation Authority

Recently, the Texas Court of Appeals for the Ninth District at Beaumont issued two contrasting opinions which provide guidance for the application of the Texas Supreme Court's 2012 decision in Texas Rice Land Partners, Ltd....more

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