Energy Lawyer & Attorney : Liskow & Lewis Law Firm : Gulf Coast, Offshore

By Katie Caswell

The House Ways and Means Committee has introduced HR 5351, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, which eliminates the manufacturing tax credit for major oil and gas companies and locks the credit at six percent for other producers and refiners. Further, this bill would force oil and gas companies to change the manner in which foreign tax credits are calculated and claimed for resources extracted overseas. HR 5351 would raise taxes on current energy companies by $17.5 billion and transfers the funds to energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, ethanol, and other renewable energy sources in the form of tax credits and bonds.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-5351

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In Bowden v. Phillips Petroleum Co., No. 03-0824 (Feb. 15, 2008), the Texas Supreme Court again addressed the propriety of class actions for gas royalty claims.  The class affirmed the denial of two subclasses, but reversed the denial of a third subclass of royalty claimaints.  The Court followed its prior holding in Yzaguirre in concluding that an "implied duty to market claim" is not susceptible to class treatment in a class containing both "market-value" and "proceeds" type leases.  The Court also addressed the nature of the implied duties in oil and gas leases, whether the ambiguity of the underlying agreement precludes class treatment, and the extent to which class representatives may abandon individualized claims in order to preserve class treatment for common claims.

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