Energy

Supreme Court Holds State Wage and Hour Laws are Inapplicable to Offshore Drilling Platforms

By Jackie E. Hickman & Thomas J. McGoey II on June 17, 2019

On June 10, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion holding that California’s wage-and-hour laws do not apply to workers on oil and gas platforms located in open water on the Outer Continental Shelf. In Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton, offshore rig workers filed a class action asserting that their employer violated California’s minimum wage and overtime laws by failing to pay them for stand-by time while they were on the drilling…

Rocky Mountain Energy Essentials

Potential Oversupply and Slower Demand: Will OPEC Extend Production Cuts?

By Melissa J. Lyon on June 13, 2019

There is one thing on the mind of many folks involved in the oil and gas industry – the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna. On June 25, 2019, the 176th OPEC meeting will be held. In fact, there are already reports out there attempting to predict the potential impacts of the upcoming OPEC meeting and other global factors on the price of oil – check out this recent article from Bloomberg entitled, Bulls Beware: The …

The Energy Law Blog

Latest Guidance on Fiduciary Duties

By John C. Anjier on June 13, 2019

The June 5 Releases Today we focus on the new SEC interpretative release on the fiduciary duties of investment advisers and provide a brief summary of its contents (“The Fiduciary Duty Release”).[1] This Release is part of a package of new rules and interpretations adopted by the SEC on June 5, 2019. In total, there are four new rules and interpretations: Regulation Best Interest (“BI”); Form CRS, a new form for advisers and brokers;…

Energy & the Law

What’s the Bidding on the Green New Deal?

By Charles Sartain on June 13, 2019

Just because anthropogenic climate change is a legitimate concern doesn’t mean that the most radical pronouncements from the idealogues aren’t fair game for criticism. Not an idealogue, Bjorn Lomborg, thinks we should worry about it … a little bit. That caution has earned him derision as a skeptic or worse, a denier merely because he believes the “threat” is overstated and the proposed cures are needless and far more expensive than the disease. Now for…

Inside Energy & Environment

President Trump Issues Executive Order Directing Significant Changes to the Regulation of Genetically-Engineered Organisms

By Thomas Brugato on June 12, 2019

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On June 11, 2019, President Trump issued an Executive Order that would require the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration—the three main agencies with regulatory authority over genetically-engineered (“GE”) plants and animals in the United States—to revise their regulations governing GE organisms. These changes follow closely on the heels of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (“APHIS”) recent proposed regulations that would increase the number of genetically-engineered…

Energy & Environmental Law Adviser

Project Proponents: Five Tips to Use ESG Criteria in Drawing More Infrastructure Investors

By Jane E. Montgomery & Caitlin M. Ajax on June 12, 2019

Businessman in energy efficiency concept.

As investors become more interested in incorporating sustainability into investment portfolios, many project proponents find that incorporating ESG into infrastructure planning provides a “leg up” in securing investors and financing. An ESG disclosure, or an “environment,” “social,” and “governance” framework designed to disclose risk, makes it easier for investors to match projects with their own sustainability goals.…

Legacy Advisors

Proposed Regulations for Qualified Foreign Pension Funds that are Exempt from U.S. Tax on Disposition of U.S. Real Property Interests

By Pallav Raghuvanshi on June 12, 2019

The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980, as amended (FIRPTA), imposes tax on gain realized on disposition by nonresident alien individuals or foreign corporations (non-U.S. persons) of a U.S. real property interests (USRPI) by treating such gain as effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business by such non-U.S. persons (effectively connected income, or ECI). The FIRPTA tax is enforced by requiring the purchaser (or other transferees) of a…

Washington Energy Report

FERC Grants Commonwealth Edison’s Formula Rate Revisions and Request for an Abandoned Plant Transmission Rate Incentive

By Miriam Archibong & Miles Kiger on June 12, 2019

On May 28, 2019, FERC issued an order approving Commonwealth Edison Company’s (“ComEd”) proposal to modify its formula transmission rate (“Formula Rate”) to recover its portion of the costs to construct, operate, and maintain the Superconductor Cable Development Project (the “Project”). FERC also approved ComEd’s request for a transmission rate incentive to recover 100 percent of its prudently incurred costs if the Project is cancelled or abandoned for reasons outside ComEd’s control (“Abandonment Incentive”). FERC…

Competition Chronicle

VERTICAL AGREEMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA: A NEW DAWN?

By Neil MacKenzie on June 12, 2019

This article considers the potential for changes in the treatment of vertical agreements under South African competition law as a result of recent amendments to the Competition Act, as well as current policy views within the law-makers and regulators. Section 5(1) of the South African Competition Act prohibits vertical agreements that substantially prevent or lessen competition, unless technological, efficiency or other pro-competitive gains arising from the agreement outweigh the anti-competitive effect. This provision is not…

Washington Energy Report

D.C. Circuit Questions FERC’s Actions, but Ultimately Upholds Approval of Broad Run Pipeline Project on Appeal

By Katherine O'Konski & Miles Kiger on June 11, 2019

On June 4, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) upheld FERC’s authorization for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (“Tennessee”) to build a new natural gas compressor station as part of its Broad Run Expansion Project (“the Project”). Petitioners had argued, among other items, that FERC’s decision to approve the Project violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by failing to address the reasonably foreseeable indirect environmental impacts resulting from: 1)…