Feeling the heat: the draft Climate Change Bill, 2018 Earlier this year, the South African Minister of Environmental Affairs (the “Minister”) published the draft Climate Change Bill, 2018 for public comment. Since then, the Department of Environmental Affairs (“DEA”) has undertaken a road show across the country to solicit comments to the Bill and held further bilateral meetings with stakeholders earlier this year ...
Earlier this year, the Minister of Mineral Resources (the “minister”) published a notice amending Chapter 4 of the regulations relating to explosives, binding in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996. The regulations will come into effect at the end of the 2018 year ...
Towards the end of 2018, the South African Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe (the “Minister”), published the Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry, 2018 (the “2018 Mining Charter”). It is indicated that “implementation guidelines” are to be published in the near future. What follows is a summary of a few of the salient features of the 2018 Mining Charter ...
On 1 January 2020, the maximum allowable sulfur content of marine fuels will be drastically reduced from the current 3.50% to 0.5% m/m. 2020 is rapidly approaching, but is the shipping industry really prepared? In this article, we provide an overview of the regulations and the main alternatives for compliance that shipowners and operators are faced with. Introduction On 1 January 2020, the maximum allowable sulfur content of marine fuels will be drastically reduced from the current 3.50% to 0 ...
A new round of U.S. tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports became effective on September 24, 2018.1The 10 percent tax on Chinese consumer products is only the latest escalation in an ever-widening trade war between the United States and its global trading partners. While it appears that, subject to Congressional approval, trade disputes between the U.S ...
A new round of U.S. tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports became effective on September 24, 2018.1 The 10 percent tax on Chinese consumer products is only the latest escalation in an ever-widening trade war between the United States and its global trading partners. While it appears that, subject to Congressional approval, trade disputes between the U.S ...
Not-for-profit Reforesting Scotland’s "Thousand Huts" campaign has spearheaded the regrowth of the hutting community, previously almost entirely eradicated by increasingly strict building regulations. The new Building (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 sets out the framework for ecologically sustainable hut development. What is a Hut? A hut must be a single storey building used as recreational accommodation ...
The California Court of Appeal recently upheld a lower court decision that, as we previously discussed, expanded the scope of the "public trust doctrine" to include groundwater. In Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board, the appellate court held that agencies permitting groundwater pumping must consider how pumping may harm "public trust interests ...
Although Hurricane Lane’s substantial weakening from a Category 5 storm as it approached land likely spared Hawaii a disaster, the storm still caused much harm. Areas of the Big Island got inundated with well over three feet of rain, causing landslides and major road closures, and high winds stoked brush fires on Maui, burning 2,300 acres of land, damaging multiple homes, and forcing hundreds of evacuations ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral resources ("MEMR") issued Press Release No. 00022/04/SJI/2018 to continue arranging dozens of overlapping regulations and permits ("Simplification"). So far, 90 regulations and 96 certifications/recommendation/permits ("Regulations") have started since 22 January 2018 ...
Earlier this year, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (the “MEMR”) issued Regulation Number 10 of 2018 on The Second Amendment to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation Number 10 of 2017 on the Principles of Power Purchase Agreements (“MEMR Reg 10/2018”) which came into effect on 13 February 2018 ...
The Ministry of Energy published the General Administrative Rules on Social Impact Assessment of Projects in the Energy Sector (“Rules”). The Rules set forth requirements for drafting and filing an Assessment report, as well as the procedure for the issuance of a Resolution and Recommendations. After a 3-year public consultation process, on June 1st, 2018, the Rules were finally published on the Official Gazette of the Federation, entering into force on June 2nd ...
In the Loop: With the Hanson Bridgett Government Group Not long ago, the state of California suffered through a crippling six-year drought, and water conservation was the name of the game. But California’s last two winters have been wetter, and water conservation feels a lot less urgent when the stuff is literally falling from the sky ...
Earlier this year, the government released a proposal paper: Extending Unfair Contract Terms Protections to Insurance Contracts outlining a model to extend unfair contract term (UCT) provisions to insurance contracts regulated under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) (IC Act) for consultation. The consultation period closes on 27 July. A high level summary of the proposed model is below ...
As the Trump administration is pushing forward on its deregulatory agenda and, in particular, its efforts to improve the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its implementation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together, the Services), the Supreme Court is poised to hear a landmark case on designation of critical habitat under the ESA that could provide some guideposts for the Services’ new regulations ...
In the latest ruling from the contentious Gloria’s Ranch case (Gloria's Ranch, L.L.C. v. Tauren Exploration, Inc., 2018 La. LEXIS 1694), the Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed the lower courts’ decisions that held Wells Fargo Energy Capital, Inc ...
Proposition 65 is a 1986 California right-to-know law requiring businesses to provide “clear and reasonable” warnings of potentially harmful exposures to chemicals appearing on the growing list maintained by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) ...
The English High Court issued its judgment in the case ofSeadrill Ghana Operations Limited v Tullow Ghana Limited1on 3 July 2018 in respect of a dispute under a long-term drilling contract between Seadrill and Tullow regarding the use of the semi-submersible drilling rig “WEST LEO” for operations offshore Ghana. The contract was signed in 2012 and its term was due to continue through to June 2018 ...
The South African Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, published a notice in the government gazette on 28 June 2018 stating that there will be a restriction, in terms of section 49(1) of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (“MPRDA”), on the granting of applications for technical co-operation permits, exploration rights and production rights in terms of section 76, 79, and 83 of the MPRDA, from the date of publication of the notice (28 June 2018
2018 Summer Associate Molly Barham contributed to this alert. Two years ago, right after crude oil prices hit rock bottom in the middle of the worst downturn for U.S. producers since the 1980s, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) revised its Handbook for Examination of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Lending (“E&P Handbook”) ...
Earlier this year, Marcelin Fortier (hereinafter the “applicant”) sued his insurer in a case. The Superior Court rendered a decision1 whereby it reiterates the principles applicable to the notion of increased risk in insurance. The case also insisted on the importance of the questions asked by insurers at the time an insurance contract is purchased. On 8 January 2015, the applicant’s home was seriously damaged by fire ...
