On April 29, 2020, the National Center of Energy Control (“CENACE”) released an administrative resolution (the “Resolution”) to guarantee the efficiency, reliability, quality, continuity and safety of the Electric National System due to the pandemic disease COVID-19 ...
In April 2020, SEMARNAT published the Accord by means of which the public is made aware of the days that will be considered as non-business days for purposes of the acts and administrative procedures ...
Legislative Decree No 1476 (hereinafter referred to as the Legislative Decree) was published on May 05 2020. This Legislative Decree, through which - as expressly established - the aim would be to guarantee the transparency of information in the provision of services provided by private educational institutions (hereinafter referred to as Schools), to enable users of said services to make an appropriate and timely decision on such services ...
On May 1, 2020, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order declaring a national emergency with respect to threats to the U.S. bulk-power system posed by the unrestricted supply of bulk power equipment by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary, presumably including China, a source for many of the components impacted by the Executive Order ...
At its Voting Meeting today the Commission adopted a new standard offer contract available to any Qualifying Facility (QF) of 20 megawatts or less seeking to sell electricity to a Commission-jurisdictional utility pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). Under PURPA, Commission-jurisdictional utilities must provide QFs the option of executing any existing PURPA contract for which they qualify ...
On April 21, 2020, the EPA and USACE (jointly the "Agencies") had published in the Federal Register the final rule, "Navigable Waters Protection Rule" (NWPR), which has a scheduled effective date of June 22, 2020. Thus, what has been generally known for some time as the Clean Water Rule is replaced with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. Just the name change suggests a new emphasis in implementing the Clean Water Act ...
The President of the Environmental Protection Agency of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (“APrA”), through resolution No 106/2020. ordered (i) To extend, for a period of ninety consecutive days, the validity of the certificates and the corresponding presentations to the administrative processes, whose maturities operate between March 16 and May 31, 2020 ...
In the context of COVID-19, the Undersecretary of Fishing and Aquaculture (Subpesca) issued Resolution No. 1068 (Res. 1068), which provides the extension in a month, of the terms for sanitary rests and harvest regulated in articles 23 Ñ and 23 R of Supreme Decree No. 319/2001, Sanitary Regulation for Aquaculture, in all farming centers. Recommendations In addition, by means of Res ...
The purpose of Resolution No. 15/2020 is to implement the remote filing related to the tax break provided by the Mining Investment Law No. 24.196 (“LIM”) regarding the import of equipment and supplies for mining. It is necessary to bear in mind that Resolutions No ...
Despite the fact that the fall in oil prices and the health crisis caused by COVID-19 have severely hit the hydrocarbon industry worldwide, the National Hydrocarbon Agency ("ANH") published on April 28, 2020 the Addendum No 11 through which it modified the schedule of the Permanent Area Allocation Process (“PPAA”), thus ratifying the interest of the National Government in this industry ...
Key Points Monitoring the movement of the COVID-19 virus in untreated wastewater may provide useful information in tracking the spread of the disease. Current methods for treating wastewater supplies appear to be sufficient to protect against further spread of COVID-19. In the absence of widespread testing and contact tracing, could untreated wastewater hold the key to tracking the spread of COVID-19? Increasingly, the answer appears promising ...
The Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara, and the City of Berkeley have jointly issued new Shelter-in-Place orders superseding their existing March 31, 2020 Shelter-in-Place orders ...
Key Points: EPA is marching forward with its plans to prevent sham COVID-19 cleaners and disinfectants from entering the marketplace. Manufacturers should continue to adhere to EPA's policy regarding products that make disinfectant efficacy claims. EPA warns consumers against injecting disinfectants into their bodies. On April 23, 2020, the U.S ...
Key Points A federal district judge has invalidated the Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 for failure to comply with the Endangered Species Act, in response to a case filed against the notorious Keystone XL pipeline. As a result of the decision, the Army Corps has halted new and pending approvals under the permit, which is required for construction projects that will discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States ...
It might seem that in the time of the "coronavirus", everything revolves around veils, disinfection or restriction of operation of various production facilities, and energy is talked about only in connection with the need to keep the elements of critical energy infrastructure running ...
The U.S. Supreme Court creates a test for when discharges to groundwater trigger NPDES permitting requirement, but its failure to include a bright line will make it difficult to predict whether a particular situation meets that test ...
Key Points: An executive order from the governor's office modifies California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") noticing procedures, requiring local agencies to take extra steps to notify the public that environmental review processes are underway or have concluded for development projects. Extra steps include posting notices on agency websites and active outreach to interested parties ...
Key Points A discharge of pollutants to groundwater may require a permit under the Clean Water Act. The new “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” test will be difficult to apply. It will be a long and arduous process to reach uniformity as agencies, courts, and the regulated community try to figure out how to proceed on a case-by-case basis. On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court published its much-awaited opinion in County of Maui v ...
Amidst price wars, a global pandemic, and the diminished demand for oil, E&P borrowers and secured lenders face inevitable credit agreement defaults ahead (if not already). Although real property foreclosure of oil and gas assets is often seen as a secured lender’s primary remedy, negative oil prices, operational challenges and the potential for liability may leave some banks contemplating whether a real property foreclosure is the best course of action ...
The negative pricing for West Texas Intermediate oil (“WTI”) on Monday has raised alarm bells for many of our clients in the exploration and production and midstream industries. This article will clarify the issues for these companies and explain the forces at work that have created this situation. The root cause of the current dilemma arises from the dramatic drop in demand starting with the onset of the COVID-19 virus on the United States ...
With an additional $310 billion in funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) signed into law, energy companies should consider applying for PPP loans in order to maintain daily operations during the COVID-19 crisis. Generally speaking, companies may receive a maximum loan amount of the lesser of two-and-a-half times their average monthly payroll costs, or $10 million ...
The National Mining Agency ("ANM") published, in recent days and after receiving comments from the public, the Resolution 100 of March 17, 2020 (the "Resolution"), which sets forth the conditions and periodicity for the submission of information on mineral resources and reserves in respect to a concession area ...
Through Circular 4011 of 2020, the Ministry of Mines and Energy presents the considerations regarding the application of the exceptions to the restriction of free movement for the Mining Sector, as established in Article 3 of Decree 531 of April 08, 2020, by means of which"(...) it gives instructions under the health emergency caused by the Coronavirus COVID-19 and set measures for the maintenance of public order ...
