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
A petition filed on July 19 by Sierra Club and Healthy Gulf seeks review of a “dredge and fill” permit granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Driftwood LNG – a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal under construction near Lake Charles. The permit was issued under the Clean Water Act in March
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
On July 20, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced it is seeking public comments on two draft wind energy areas (WEAs) in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
As illustrated on the map, below, the first WEA, covering 188,023 acres, is located 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles
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
On June 23, 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a draft guidance on mitigating potential impacts of offshore wind development on commercial and recreational fishing. The final guidance document will set forth required information that lessees must submit to BOEM at each stage of a wind project, i.e., Site Assessment Plan (SAP)
The carbon credit market continues to evolve as oil and gas companies face increasingly stringent regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Operators may now have the potential to sell carbon credits in exchange for the P&A of inactive, shut-in, or temporarily abandoned wells.
The EPA estimates that there are over 3 million known abandoned and