The first round of bills on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) went forward this Thursday, April 4. Five bills aimed to regulate or restrict CCS activities were heard by the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee. Four bills were defeated and one moved forward with amendments to the House floor.
Continue Reading Update From the Legislative Session: Positive Outlook for Louisiana Carbon Capture Projects
The House Committee is scheduled to hear several CCS bills this coming Thursday, April 4. Five of those bills are seeking to restrict or prohibit CCS activity and will be heard in the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee.
Continue Reading Louisiana Carbon Capture Legislation Update
We recently reported on the National Labor Relations Board’s McLaren Macomb decision, which held that employers commit an unfair labor practice by merely proffering a severance agreement including broad confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses, regardless of whether the employee actually signs the agreement. The Board’s General Counsel (“GC”) has now issued a Guidance Memorandum explaining her
Louisiana Senate Bill 268, one of a pair of lithium-focused bills filed by senator Stewart Cathey Jr., would establish a state sales tax rebate program for Louisiana lithium projects. This rebate would apply to sales tax paid for “all equipment, machinery, materials, improvements, and other items purchased in connection with the development, production, operation, storage, processing, or transportation of lithium or lithium refined products in connection with a qualified lithium recovery project.”
Continue Reading Proposed Law Would Create Louisiana Sales Tax Rebate for Lithium Recovery Projects
The Louisiana Legislative Session for 2024 officially began on March 11. Nine bills have already been filed on CCS. Read the full update here.
Continue Reading Louisiana’s Latest Carbon Capture Legislation and Its Impact on Projects
As a matter of first impression, in Cheapside Mins., Ltd. v. Devon Energy Prod. Co., L.P., No. 23-40591, 2024 WL 886951 (5th Cir. Mar. 1, 2024), the Fifth Circuit held that an oil-and-gas royalties class action belongs in federal court based on its interpretation that the “principal injuries” prong of the CAFA local controversy
On March 11, 2024, Liskow lawyers Kathryn Gonski and Melanie Derefinko secured the denial of a motion to remand on improper joinder grounds and the dismissal of an intentional tort claim against Methanex, a major Louisiana plant owner, in Knight v. Turner Industries Group, L.L.C., et al., No. 23-469 (M.D. La.). The court’s rulings
We are now seeing the Louisiana legislature address some of these uncertainties head on with Senate Bill 285, which was filed on March 1, 2024 by Louisiana senator Stewart Cathey, Jr. Namely, SB285 would grant authority to the Office of Conservation to establish units for brine production. Furthermore, the proposed legislation would revise the Mineral Code to expressly include brine among the substances to which the Mineral Code applies.
Continue Reading Proposed Brine Legislation May Pave the Way for Louisiana Lithium Projects
Environmental groups are asking the federal appellate courts to vacate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) recent decision to grant Louisiana primacy over Class VI injection wells.
Continue Reading Environmental Groups Challenge Louisiana’s Primacy Over Class VI Injection Wells
In a much-anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court held that choice-of-law provisions in marine insurance contracts are presumptively enforceable under federal maritime law with a few narrow exceptions. In Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Raiders Retreat Realty Co., LLC, 601 U.S. ___ (2024), the country’s highest court overturned a Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision that had created a circuit split regarding the applicability of choice-of-law provisions in marine insurance contracts and when the law of the forum state can override the choice made by the parties to the contract.
Continue Reading Choice-of-Law Provisions in Marine Insurance Contracts Upheld by the Supreme Court