Prompted by concerns heightened by several recent high profile train derailments and accidents, coupled with the boom in the number of oil-carrying trains, the Obama administration, through the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), has proposed two new sets of rules aimed at addressing the perceived risks posed by the increase in rail transportation…

On May 30, 2014, in an unanimous decision in National Environmental Development Association’s Clean Air Project v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated EPA’s policy limiting the reach of the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Summit Petroleum Corp. v. EPA.

In Summit,…

On March 25, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) jointly released a proposed rule purporting to clarify the scope of the “waters of the United States” protected under the Clean Water Act. The agencies claim that, as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rapanos v. United …

On January 6, 2014, TCEQ requested comments on a proposal to revise the agency’s penalty policy. See Revised Penalty Policy (PDF). According to TCEQ, the proposed revision to its Policy simply incorporates recent statutory changes and documents existing enforcement practices.

Recent Statutory Changes

House Bill 2615 (PDF) (83rd Legislature, 2013) significantly increased the administrative…

By Jillian Marullo

House Bill 2767, which took effect on September 1, 2013, was enacted to encourage recycling of the wastewater produced in hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) and other oil and gas operations.

A hotly contested issue is the consumption of water by fracking activities. Fracking involves the injection of several millions of gallons of…

By Jillian Marullo

Senate Bill 514, signed into law on June 14, 2013, authorizes saltwater pipeline operators in Texas “to install, maintain, and operate” saltwater pipelines “through, under, along, across, or over a public road” in order to transport the wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing operations to disposal sites. The bill, which was introduced by…

On September 13, 2013, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied Plaintiff-landowners’ writ application seeking review of an opinion of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal granting Defendants’ exception of no right or cause of action based on the subsequent purchaser doctrine. Day v. Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Inc., 13-0952 (La. 9/13/13), 2013 La. LEXIS …