Environmental

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The group of petitioners challenging the EPA rules imposing strict limits on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants filed its opening briefs on Friday, February 19.  The lawsuit, West Virginia v. EPA (D.C. Cir. No. 15-1363) is unusual because of its sheer volume.  Petitioners include thirty States, State agencies, and local government entities and…

On February 1, 2016, a federal district court issued a ruling in Moore v. Denbury, — F.3d — (W.D. La. 2016), with important implications for “legacy” lawsuits in Louisiana.  The court interpreted the 2014 amendments to Act 312 (La. R.S. § 30:29) to hold that “a plaintiff cannot directly recover additional remediation damages…

The Louisiana Supreme Court recently issued a decision in a downhole damages case, reversing the Third Circuit’s misguided application of the manifest error standard of review. Hayes Fund for the First United Methodist Church of Welsh, LLC v. Kerr-McGee Rocky Mt., LLC, No. 2014-C-2592, 2015 La. LEXIS 2530 (La. 2015). The dispute arose out…

Last week, a federal jury in Mobile, Alabama, convicted a Norwegian-based shipping company of one count of conspiracy, three counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (“APPS”), three counts of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering.  Three vessel crewmembers were convicted for obstructing justice, violating APPS, witness tampering and…

In what may appropriately be called a “swing and a miss”, the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio has rejected plaintiffs’ attempt to avoid the need for medical expert testimony in a toxic tort case by pleading damages for “symptoms of discomfort” instead of disease.  Cerny v. Marathon Oil Corp, et al.,…

Background

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion regarding criminal liability under environmental statutes.  United States v. Citgo Petroleum Corp., et al., No. 14-40128, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 15865 (5th Cir. Sept. 4, 2015).  In what may be considered a warning shot to overzealous federal prosecutors looking to obtain criminal convictions…

A Texas appeals court recently ruled in ConocoPhillips Company v. Vaquillas Unproven Minerals, Ltd. that a lease’s retained acreage clause invoked the Texas Railroad Commission’s field spacing rule as well as the statewide drilling unit rule, Rule 38, which operated to reduce the acreage the lessee was permitted to retain under the lease from 640…

On June 16, 2015, the EPA published a notice of final permit issuance for the NPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Industrial Activities (commonly referred to as the Multi-Sector General Permit or “2015 MSGP”). Click here to see the Multi-Sector General Permit. Many permittees will understandably focus on any changes made to the specific…

Recently, when there was talk about Houston-based ATP Oil and Gas’ (ATP) legal problems, it was inevitably about its bankruptcy and its effort to bring the overriding royalty interests it had conveyed back into the bankrupt estate as debt instruments. That should change now that the Department of Justice (DOJ), acting jointly on behalf of…

As if crude producers and midstream transportation companies don’t already have enough problems trying to get crude oil from production fields to refineries thanks to inadequate pipeline infrastructure, tank car supply, rail safety concerns, and new regulations, they now also have to address a new, potentially market-busting lawsuit. In September, the Sierra Club, one of…