On November 10, 2016, Judge Ann Aiken, a federal district judge in Oregon, issued a remarkable environmental law decision in which she found that a climate system “capable of sustaining human life” is a fundamental constitutional right.[1] Juliana v. United States challenges the constitutionality of the United States’ decades-long policy on climate change.[2] The plaintiffs, a group of 21 children and young adults, sued the United States and various government officials[3] alleging that they have known for more than five decades “that the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels was destabilizing the climate system in a way that would ‘significantly endanger plaintiffs, with the damage persisting for millennia.’”[4] According to the plaintiffs, the defendants have failed to take necessary action to curtail fossil fuel emissions, and the government and its agencies “have taken action or failed to take action that has resulted in increased carbon pollution through fossil fuel extraction, production, consumption, transportation, and exportation.”[5]
Energy & Natural Resources
Senator John Kennedy’s Letter to President Donald Trump: A First Step in Reviving the Oil & Gas Industry in Louisiana
By Liskow & Lewis on
In December of 2016, Republican John Kennedy won the United States Senate runoff election in Louisiana. On the campaign trail, Senator Kennedy promised to do his part in strengthening the declining oil and gas industry in Louisiana by easing restrictions imposed by the Obama Administration and fighting to bring back old jobs and create new ones in the energy sector. Now that President Donald Trump has taken office and Republicans control the United States House and Senate, Senator Kennedy has taken action.
Louisiana Third Circuit Addresses Payment of Royalties in Situations Involving Production Under a Mineral Lease Pursuant to a Conditional Allowable Prior to Unitization
In Gladney v. Anglo-Dutch Energy, L.L.C., the Third Circuit addressed the question of whether or not a mineral lessee must pay its lessor full lease-basis royalties for production undertaken during the effective period of a conditional allowable but prior to the effective date of a unit order.[1] In the case, the Plaintiffs granted a mineral lease to the Defendant-Lessee that provided for a 1/5 royalty in 2009.
Continue Reading Louisiana Third Circuit Addresses Payment of Royalties in Situations Involving Production Under a Mineral Lease Pursuant to a Conditional Allowable Prior to Unitization
FERC Rejects Sierra Club’s Request for Rehearing and Green Lights $3.5B LNG Export Facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana
By Court C. VanTassell on
On November 23, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) confirmed its authorization of the construction of a $3.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana and rejected the Sierra Club’s request for rehearing on the matter.
In an April 15, 2016 Order, FERC authorized Magnolia LNG, LLC to site, construct, and operate a new LNG terminal and liquefaction facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana designed to export 8 million metric tons of domestically-produced natural gas per annum, with a capacity equivalent to pipeline receipts of up to 1.4 billion standard cubic feet per day (Magnolia LNG Project).
Continue Reading FERC Rejects Sierra Club’s Request for Rehearing and Green Lights $3.5B LNG Export Facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana
EPA Publishes Proposed Renewables Enhancement and Growth Support Rule
On November 11, 2016, the EPA published a proposed rule designed to update its Renewable Fuel Standards Program and support the growth of renewable fuel use. With the stated goal of removing barriers to production and distribution of renewable fuels, the proposed rule has three main components:
(1) Updated Regulatory Structure to Address Biofuel Processing at Multiple Facilities – In some circumstances, biofuel producers can decrease the costs of production by processing feedstock at one facility and converting that material—called a biointermediary—into a biofuel at another facility.
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Fifth Circuit Limits Effect of Collateral Source Rule Under General Maritime Law
By Devin C. Reid & Alex Baynham on
In DePerrodil v. Bozovic Marine, Inc., No. 16-30009, 2016 WL 6810728, at *1 (5th Cir. Nov. 17, 2016), a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently limited the effect of the collateral source rule in a maritime employee’s personal injury action against a non-employer. DePerrodil held that the collateral source rule allows a plaintiff, in a maritime personal injury action against a third party, to recover only the amount of medical expenses paid by the plaintiff’s employer’s Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”) insurer.
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THE DISPUTE BETWEEN GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS AND ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF LANDRY OVER THE APPOINTMENT OF PRIVATE LEGAL COUNSEL CONTINUES…
By Jonathan J. Fox on
On September 30, 2016, Governor John Bel Edwards sued Attorney General Jeff Landry to compel him to approve several contracts between the Governor’s office and private legal counsel. In his Petition, the Governor alleged that the Attorney General’s role in approving the Governor’s contracts with private legal counsel is a ministerial duty that the Attorney General improperly refused to perform and requested that the Court order the Attorney General to approve the contracts at issue.
Continue Reading THE DISPUTE BETWEEN GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS AND ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF LANDRY OVER THE APPOINTMENT OF PRIVATE LEGAL COUNSEL CONTINUES…
New Government Contractor “Blacklisting” Reporting Requirements Put on Hold
Posted in Arbitration, Business, Employment Law, Energy & Natural Resources, Environmental, Litigation, Texas
Hours before a controversial set of new reporting requirements for government contractors was set to take effect, a federal court in Texas enjoined implementation of the requirements across the country.
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Contra Non Not Applicable: Louisiana Appellate Court Refuses to Find Exception to Running of Prescription
By Erin Bambrick on
Sophisticated plaintiffs beware. In Bayou Fleet, Inc. v. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., et al., the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal concluded that contra non valentem, a judicially created exception to prescription, did not apply to prevent the running of prescription on a claim for wrongful conversion when the plaintiff company, the owner of a destroyed crane boom, was run by sophisticated businessmen who failed to check up on a more-than-a-million dollar asset more than once a year.
Continue Reading Contra Non Not Applicable: Louisiana Appellate Court Refuses to Find Exception to Running of Prescription
Servitudes: Didn’t They Get the Memo?
By John Wilson, Matt Simone & Cheryl M. Kornick on
The question often arises whether, in Louisiana, a party can file in the public record a “memorandum of servitude” rather than the full servitude. If the parties do that, any unrecorded provisions may not be binding on third parties. Other states’ laws may provide that recordation of such a memorandum of easement, the common law equivalent of a servitude, suffices to bind third parties to all the provisions in the unrecorded easement.
Continue Reading Servitudes: Didn’t They Get the Memo?