The Vital Importance of Pipeline and Transmission Infrastructure to Decarbonization - Energy Law Insights
Eminent Domain: First Principles, Kelo, and In Service of Infrastructure Buildout
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
Nota Bene Episode 97: The Seismic Changes Renewables Are Bringing to Energy Transmission and Its Infrastructure with Mark Sundback
Policy Minute: TSA Cybersecurity Roadmap for Pipelines
Late last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in New Jersey Conversation Foundation, et al. v. FERC, unanimously vacated the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of the...more
Citizen suits begin with private parties sending “notice letters” to potential defendants apprising them that, if a specified action isn’t done within a certain period, litigation will be filed. A primary purpose of these...more
Does a former working-interest owner of a well bear continuing responsibility for a defective gas line despite having conveyed its ownership interest? The line was constructed by the former owner as operator of record, and it...more
On March 14, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) revisited the issue of the rejection of filed-rate contracts in bankruptcy where such contracts are governed by the Federal...more
Last week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals again rejected a FERC NEPA review for failure to assess the climate impacts resulting from the downstream use of natural gas supplied by a gas pipeline upgrade project...more
The Court of Appeal held that a CEQA challenge to a decision approving removal of trees adjacent to PG&E gas pipelines was time-barred because an agreement to toll the statute of limitations did not include PG&E, which was an...more
On 12 February 2021, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the high profile case of Okpabi v Shell, in which it allowed a jurisdictional appeal relating to group claims brought by claimants against a UK domiciled parent...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a case that will have far-reaching consequences for interstate pipeline projects. The case, PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey, involves a FERC-approved natural gas pipeline...more
Last week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed vacatur of the easement issued to the Dakota Access Pipeline by the Army Corps of Engineers. As I noted last month in connection with the Biden Executive Order...more
...The absurdity of the current United States pipeline permitting process was on full display last week in two nearby states in the Upper Midwest. On Thursday, Enbridge, the Canadian pipeline company, received notice from...more
Earlier this week, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The Court did so with a two-sentence order stating that an opinion would follow. The order was issued hours after oral...more
Later this year, it is likely that the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will vote on whether to approve a new natural gas export terminal to be located on the Delaware River in Gibbstown, New Jersey, just southeast of...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”) addressed in a September 2nd Order a Petition filed by MPLX challenging a permit condition that the federal agency placed in a...more
On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the injunction requiring the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline. It’s a victory for the operator, Energy Transfer LP, simply because it lives to fight another day. ...more
On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted in part and denied in part the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ application for stay of the order issued by the U.S. District Court of Montana....more
On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc, denounced the practice of the secretary of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in issuing tolling orders, which provide FERC with...more
On June 30, 2020, in an en banc review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cannot delay judicial review of its decisions by issuance of tolling orders. The...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) can no longer delay judicial review of its orders under the Natural Gas Act by issuing a tolling order that takes no action on a rehearing request other than granting itself...more
Porter Hedges recently scored a significant victory for landowners Terrance and Kenneth Hlavinka and their families (“the Hlavinkas”) against HSC Pipeline Partners, a subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners. On June 18,...more
Bricker attorneys Frank Merrill and Christine Rideout Schirra will be presenting 'Environmental Permitting Appeals and Pipeline Construction: Are the circuit courts the new environmental review courts?' for the Institute of...more
Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused the appellants’ request for a partial stay of the injunction recently issued against use of the Army Corps Nationwide Permit 12 for oil and gas pipeline projects...more
Last week, on May 13, 2020, the Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) and TC Energy filed notices of appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seeking an immediate stay of the Federal District...more
On Tuesday, February 25, 2020, the Fifth Appellate District invalidated Kern County’s 2015 Oil and Gas Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), which was intended to streamline the permitting process for a variety of oil and gas...more
In early February, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the “damaged goods” approach to valuing property crossed by a pipeline. In UGI Sunbury LLC v. A Permanent Easement For 1.7575 Acres et al., the appeals court...more
On January 31, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court (the “Court”) affirmed the 2017 judgment of the Dallas Court of Appeals that Texas law upholds the rights of contracting parties to agree not to be partners unless certain...more