The Continuing Impact of Coal Ash - Energy Law Insights
Litigating During COVID: What You Need to Know
Coal ash – the byproduct of two centuries of burning coal to generate power – continues to roil the U.S. energy sector. Troutman Pepper’s Brian Harms and Brooks Smith discuss the dilemmas facing utilities and other energy...more
FERC Warned Renewables Planning Can Strand Grid Assets - "But at a FERC technical conference, others highlighted a potential risk for overbuilding and the cost it could incur for consumers." Why this is important: It's...more
The long anticipated 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) kicked off last week in Glasgow and we have been closely monitoring the events of the conference, particularly where Singapore and the...more
Yesterday, we highlighted some of the developments on coal at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), including issuance of a “Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement” committing to...more
Texas is now the third state with an approved CCR permit program. On June 28, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency published the approval of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s partial State Coal Combustion...more
Gas Stations Run Dry as Pipeline Races to Recover From Hacking - "Gas stations along the U.S. East Coast are beginning to run out of fuel as North America’s biggest petroleum pipeline races to recover from a paralyzing...more
WV Legislature Adopts Compromise Amendment to Natural Gas Property Tax Bill - "HB 2581 would provide a revised methodology to value oil and natural gas properties by the State Tax Commissioner in response to a West...more
The local economies of many communities in the southwest are tied to the operations of large coal-fired power plants. As those plants start closing, the communities can face significant disruption in their local economies...more
New Law Pushes Appalachian Power Toward More Renewable Energy - "Appalachian — which for years has relied heavily on coal and more recently natural gas to serve about 500,000 western Virginia customers — will acquire 210...more
On March 3, 2020, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) filed with the Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board) proposed regulations establishing standards for coal combustion residue (CCR) surface impoundments,...more
Court Ruling Vindicates ExxonMobil in New York ‘Climate Change’ Fraud Case - “'The Office of the Attorney General failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that ExxonMobil made any material misstatements or...more
Russian, Colombian Competition Continuing to Slow U.S. Thermal Coal Exports - "'Central Appalachian and Northern Appalachian exports remain out of the money for shipment to Europe and Illinois Basin coal has significant...more
Big Oil’s Climate Change Reckoning Finally Arrives in Court - "New York’s $1.6 billion lawsuit arose from a national effort to hold Big Oil responsible for global warming." Why this is important: The most important...more
Trump's EPA Grants 31 Small Refinery Waivers from Biofuel Laws, Angering Corn Lobby - "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has granted 31 small refinery biofuel waivers for 2018, infuriating the ethanol and corn...more
On June 19, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final “Affordable Clean Energy” (“ACE”) rule to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), which was suspended by the U.S. Supreme Court after...more
Analysts Say U.S. Coal Merger Not Anti-Competitive- "The proposed 'extraordinary' joint venture between U.S. coal majors Peabody Energy and Arch Coal will be structurally beneficial, rather than anti-competitive for U.S....more
Romney Helps GOP Look for New Path on Climate Change - "But a group of Republicans -- Romney and Sens. Lamar Alexander and Lindsey Graham, who worked with Democrats in 2009 and 2010 to cap carbon emissions, as well as others...more
West Virginia Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in EQT Doddridge County Trespassing Case - "The state Supreme Court will decide if a lower court judge got it right when he ruled natural gas production company EQT trespassed...more
United States Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) sent a December 13th letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: . . . expressing grave concerns regarding the...more
Several environmental organizations filed a Petition for Review (“Petition”) in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”)...more
President Donald Trump’s recently signed Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth (the Order) includes significant revisions to the regulatory landscape both (1) directly in the case of oil and...more
On January 4, 2017, at the start of this year’s legislative session, Assemblymember Marc Levine of Marin County introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 79, which is intended to cap the amount of coal-generated electricity used in...more
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) have ordered local authorities to stop construction of coal-fired power plants in 13 provinces where capacity already...more
The United States Department of Interior’s (DOI) Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement has proposed new regulations requiring coal mining companies to protect and restore streams impacted by nearby mining...more
In This Issue: - Energy and Climate - Congress - Administration - Department of Commerce - Department of Energy - Department of Interior - Environmental Protection Agency ...more