Energy

Email Updates Blogs
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2018 4:00 PM – Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks Hearings to examine national parks legislation. Thursday, Aug 16, 2018 10:00 AM – Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing to consider the following nominations: Mr. William Cooper to be General Counsel at the Department of Energy; and Mr. Lane Genatowski to be Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy at the Department of Energy. 10:00 AM – Senate Environment and Public Works…
GettyImages-692224596
Administrative deference is a fundamental tenet of environmental law. A recent decision in Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. Pruitt, however, provides an important reminder that agency deference is bound by the four corners of the underlying statute. In this case, a district judge in the Central District of California awarded judgment to two environmental NGOs by compelling the EPA to exercise powers granted under the Clean Water Act’s residual designation authority (RDA), precluding the EPA from…
As the sustainability movement grows, so too do the ambiguities under which boards of directors govern. In this article published by the National Association of Corporate Directors, Thomas R. Burton and Benjamin D. Stone, members of our Energy & Sustainability practice group, provide suggestions for how boards can navigate this exciting but still developing sector and help corporations generate both profits and positive impact. “It is encouraging to live in a time where society…
In today’s international nuclear marketplace, foreign investment is a significant source of capital for U.S. next-generation nuclear ventures. However, about-to-be signed legislation has the potential to broadly expand the ability of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) to review foreign investment into the United States directed towards the nuclear industry, as well as the ability of the U.S. government to control exports of emerging nuclear technologies. The new legislation, expected to…
Soil or groundwater cleanups can take a long time. When one person conducts the cleanup and another has an interest in its completion, the two can disagree over the pace of the project. That is typically a three-party issue involving the regulator—for example, the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Environmental Protection. Resolving the dispute by litigation poses challenges. Last month, the Commonwealth Court offered some guidance on some of these challenges in Delaware…
Burning grass in the field, shrubs and plants are burned, land covered with dark
Deliberate burning dry grass in early spring. Causing damage to nature. Ukraine.
In a tweet released August 6, President Trump offered his analysis of how to combat the ongoing human and ecological tragedy of one worst fire seasons of record. The president then directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to take action to free up all that wasted water and solve the fire problem, which the Secretary dutifully did. On August 8, Secretary Ross directed NOAA Fisheries, the agency within the Department of Commerce that implements the…
Supplemental Comments in Docket No. AD 16-16 In testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee as well as other venues, FERC Chairman McIntyre has made clear his desire to update PURPA, which has led to several entities submitting supplemental comments to FERC in Docket No. AD16-16. Supplemental comments have been filed by ELCON, et al., North American BioFuels LLC (BioFuels), EEI, and NARUC. Largely, these comments reiterate prior positions taken…
This post is part of our ongoing series translating the lawyer-gibberish of Pennsylvania lawsuits into something understandable. For the definitions of the terms in bold check out the post that launched this series. A list of the all of the posts in the series is at the tail end of this article. So it’s time to go to the Court of Common Pleas. Whether you tried other steps first or elected to start here, today…
clean energy
A law recently enacted by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by Governor Charlie Baker will increase the use of renewable fuels to produce electricity, allow the development of more offshore wind farms, enable more technologies to qualify for energy efficiency incentives and increase the use of technologies that store electricity. It is the third clean energy law enacted in Massachusetts since 2016. Passed by a vote of 150-1 in the House of Representatives and 36-0…
On August 6, 2018, the U.S. District Court in Wyoming upheld the vast majority of a Obama-era rule issued by the Department of Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue against a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute (API).  The Rule related to enforcement of noncompliance and civil penalties for parties that are subject to the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act.  API challenged the Rule, arguing that it is arbitrary and capricious and exceeded the…