In a recent decision, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded to state court a case brought by landowners against the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and several past and present owners and operators of an industrial facility (“Facility Defendants”), finding that LDEQ was not improperly joined, and therefore the case could
On September 14, 2022, the 19th Judicial District Court revoked air permits issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) under Louisiana’s Prevention and Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) regulations[1] for a Formosa Plastics facility (“FG LA”) planned to be built in St. James Parish.[2] The court ruled that LDEQ erred in issuing
In a unique twist on a common challenge to the deductibility of post-production expenses, plaintiffs in Grayson L.L.C. (Of Louisiana), et al. v. BPX Operating Co., et al. sued the unit operator for breach of contract to recover transportation costs incurred as a result of alleged regulatory violations of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”)
On August 30, 2022, the Texas Railroad Commission approved proposed regulations relating to Class VI wells utilized for injecting and sequestering carbon dioxide in geologic formations. This is an important step towards obtaining primary enforcement authority (or “primacy”) over the Safe Drinking Water Act Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) Class VI well permitting program, which currently
In a recent blog post, we discussed a proposed ordinance before the Livingston Parish Council to ban injection and disposal wells in Livingston Parish. Yesterday, the council unanimously voted to pass the ordinance, which places a one-year moratorium on injection and disposal wells. To read more, click here.
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Last week, the Livingston Parish Council introduced a proposed ordinance that would place a moratorium on “the construction of disposal wells and injection wells in the Parish of Livingston.”[1] Although not limited to Class VI injection wells—which are those wells utilized for the injection and permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide—the proposed ordinance is clearly
In response to multiple requests from stakeholders and interested parties during the third Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management agreed to extend the public comment periods for the two potential wind energy areas (WEAs) and the draft Environmental Assessment (EA). Both 30-day comment periods
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held its third Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force meeting on July 27, 2022 (3rd Meeting). The first two meetings were held on June 15, 2021, and February 2, 2022, respectively. The primary purpose of this meeting was to present the preliminary
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior released its proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) five-year program for offshore oil and gas leasing. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) requires the Secretary of the Department of the Interior to “prepare and periodically revise and maintain an oil and gas leasing program” (i.e., a five-year
The post-pandemic era has brought about some of the largest jury verdicts seen to date. This post-pandemic verdict inflation is of concern to many different industries, including the energy industry. This recent trend could be the result of many different factors, such as social media, the COVID-19 pandemic, a generational shift as millennials take over