On March 26, 2012, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (“the Court”) vacated and remanded EPA’s disapproval of Texas’s request for approval of the minor source standard permit for pollution control projects (“PCP”) as part of its air quality state implementation plan (“SIP”). The Court’s reasoning may also affect other pending disputes between EPA and Texas regarding air quality permitting and other issues ...
On Wednesday, March 22, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a compliance order issued under EPA’s Clean Water Act enforcement authority to individuals for allegedly filling part of their property without the necessary “dredge and fill” permit could be challenged in federal district court. The ruling marks a major loss for EPA’s enforcement practices under the Clean Water Act ...
In the 2012 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature, several resolutions were passed with potential future impact on the shale gas industry. Below is a summary of those significant resolutions. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 52 This resolution requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study the viability of increasing severance tax rates on shale gas ...
On March 13, 2012, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development issued recommendations for improving the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) process (click on Print Format for the complete report). The recommendations focus on: improving timeliness; decreasing duplication with provincial processes; improving aboriginal consultation processes; and improving outcomes ...
On March 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the much-publicized case of Sackett v. EPA (No. 10-1062), less than three months after oral argument, holding that the Sacketts were not precluded from judicially challenging EPA’s issuance of an administrative compliance order ...
At the end of 2011 the Polish utility sector received a present from the government in the form of a long-awaited package of proposed energy legislation. How could it change the rules of the market? February was the deadline for public comment on a legislative package including the proposed new Energy Law, Gas Law and Renewable Energy Sources Act ...
On February 1, 2012, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) and its Office of Oil and Gas (“OOG”) conducted what it named the “Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act Industry Workshop” at the Marriott Town Center in Charleston, West Virginia (“Workshop”). For those of you who may have missed all or a portion of the Workshop, the following is a summary of the presentations by the various DEP speakers ...
The Energy Act 2011 deals with securing energy supplies and the regulation of renewable energy resources. It also sets out the framework to facilitate the "Green Deal" to be launched, with the support of secondary legislation this coming Spring. The Green Deal offers “no upfront cost” in respect of the installation of energy saving measures ...
On February 21, 2012, in Anshutz Exploration Corp. v. Town of Dryden, a New York court upheld a municipality’s effort to restrict production of oil and natural gas within city limits. The case arose from the Town of Dryden’s effort to ban horizontal-well fracking by amending a zoning ordinance to prohibit all activities related to exploration for, production and storage of oil and natural gas. Anshutz challenged Dryden’s ordinance, arguing that it was preempted by state law ...
On February 24, 2012, two years after oral argument, the Texas Supreme Court issued its watershed decision in Edwards Aquifer Authority (the “Authority”) v. Day. The Court’s long-awaited decision included two significant pronouncements on groundwater that are likely to have ripple effects throughout the water community and could open the flood gates to a wave of litigation ...
On 6 February 2012 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine amended its Resolutions No. 1297 and No. 1298, dated 30 November 2011 (the "PSA Resolutions"), which determine tender terms for conclusion of production sharing agreements ("PSA") on exploration and production of hydrocarbons, in particular non-conventional gas, in Oles'ka and Yuzivs'ka subsoil blocks. These amendments (the "Amendments") are apparently made to address some of the foreign investors' concerns ...
President Obama has renewed his proposal to cut over $40 billion in tax breaks for oil, gas and coal producers over the next decade in an attempt to spend more for alternate energy and conservation. The $3.8 trillion budget proposal represents a 29% increase in renewable energy funds in 2013, as compared to 2012 ...
Ukraine is a civil law country with the Constitution being a principal source of law. The main sources of civil and commercial law are acts promulgated by the legislative and executive branches of the state. International treaties ratified by Parliament become part of national law and prevail in a conflict with domestic law ...
On November 15, 2011, existing facilities subject to the federal Spill Pollution Control and Countermeasure Rule (“SPCC Rule”), 40 C.F.R. Part 112, were required to finalize and implement a plan—known as an “SPCC plan”—detailing the equipment, workforce, procedures and steps to be taken to prevent, control and provide adequate countermeasures to a discharge of oil to navigable waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines ...
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The Supreme Court of Canada confirms that only those modern practices that maintain a reasonable degree of continuity with the practices, customs or traditions that were integral to an Aboriginal group’s pre-contact dist inctive culture will be protected as an Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. On November 10, 2011, in the case of Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band v ...
2011 saw significant developments in the courts in relation to the issue of directors’ liability for the costs of remediation of waste sites, an issue which is particularly crucial where the company which disposed of the waste is not in a position to pay ...
2011 saw steady increases of production throughout the Marcellus Shale play, a heavy emphasis on strengthening and expanding pipeline infrastructure, and a boom in the level of activity in the Utica Shale play ...
The honourable justice Louis-Paul Cullen of the Superior Court rendered a judgment on September 23, 2011 which dismissed a motion for authorization to exercise a class action instituted by Mr. Kerfalla Toure (hereinafter "Toure") against Brault & Martineau (hereinafter "B & M) . (1) In order for a class action to be authorized by the Superior Court, the Code of Civil Procedure sets out the four conditions which must be fulfilled ...
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On December 10, 2011, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin issued a proclamation calling for a special session of the Legislature for the purpose of considering and acting upon legislation regarding horizontal natural gas well operations. The bill presented by the governor (SB 4001; HB 401) drew heavily from the draft legislation developed by the Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale ...
There has been considerable activity at the state and federal level over the past few months regarding when companies must “aggregate” emissions from operations to determine whether they are subject to the more stringent “major source” permitting requirements under the New Source Review (“NSR”) and Title V provisions of the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) ...
On November 15, 2011, the Supreme Court of Yukon released its decision in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of Yukon, 2011 YKSC 84. 1 The case is important as it is the first court decision to consider the issue of whether the Government of Yukon has a duty to consult with First Nations when recording quartz mineral claims under the Quartz Mining Act (the “Act”) ...
EPA recently made an announcement of interest to those in the oil field services sector as well as in the energy sector itself. On November 23, the agency announced that it was granting in part a petition by Earthjustice to initiate rulemaking under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), relating to chemical substances and mixtures used in oil and gas exploration or production ...
