Most companies have been involved in a situation where they want to end their relationship with another company, or with an employee, and to permanently terminate their mutual obligations (e.g., a settlement agreement resolving end-of-project litigation). In 1992, a California Court of Appeals, in Winet v. Price, confirmed that upholding…
Articles Posted in Energy
“Buy American” Executive Order Expands Potential Reach to Private Recipients of Federal Assistance
President Trump signed an Executive Order yesterday January 31, calling on executive branch departments and agencies to encourage recipients of defined types of new federal awards to use cement, iron, steel, aluminum and certain manufactured products produced in the United States. The order builds on prior authority (Executive Order 13788 (April…
BSEE Requests Comments on Potential Impacts of Decom-in-Place on the OCS
Recently, our colleagues Amanda Halter, and Ashleigh Acevedo published their Client Alert titled BSEE Decommission-in-Place Discussions Present Opportunity discussing the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) Request for Information Regarding Potential Impacts of Decommissioning-in-Place of Pipeline-Related Infrastructure in Deepwater. Takeaways include: BSEE is asking for input on technical,…
CO Supreme Court Held Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Properly Declined to Engage in Rulemaking Proposed by Environmental Activists
On January 14, the Colorado Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (Commission) properly declined to undertake a rulemaking proceeding that was designed to preclude the Commission from issuing new permits unless the “best available science,” as confirmed by the findings of an independent…
Updates to the CEQA Guidelines Have Been Finalized
The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) recently posted final adopted text for amendments to the CEQA Guidelines. The result of over five years of development efforts by the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research and CNRA, the amendments are the most comprehensive update to the CEQA Guidelines since 1998. In…
Post-Election Outlook
Pillsbury attorneys Stephan E. Becker, Charles F. Donley II, Emily B. Erlingsson, Brian E. Finch, Aimee P. Ghosh, Meghan C. Hammond, Laura E. Jennings, The Honorable Gregory H. Laughlin, Jeffrey S. Merrifield, Elizabeth V. Moeller, Matthew Oresman, Craig J. Saperstein, Edward W. Sauer, and Deborah S. Thoren-Peden discuss the 2018 Midterm…
Insight: U.S. Energy 2019
Pillsbury energy partner Rob James authored Energy 2019: USA, in which he provides an overview of the current U.S. energy marketplace and discuss Ongoing incentives at the state level for offshore wind, other forms of renewable power, and electric storage; Impacts of dueling tariffs and trade restrictions on the energy…
Illinois Supreme Court Reverses Circuit Court Finding Lack of Jurisdiction Over Public Utility Administrative Actions
On October 18, the Illinois Supreme Court decided the case of Ameren Transmission Co. of Illinois v. Hutchings, et al. According to the Illinois Supreme Court, there is no presumption that Illinois courts have subject-matter jurisdiction over administrative actions. The availability of any review of this determination was controlled by the…
DC Circuit Rules on Challenges to EPA’s 2015 Final Rule Governing Disposal of Coal Residuals Produced by Electric Companies and Independent Power Plants
On August 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided the “coal combustions residuals” case: Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, et al. , v. EPA. This new Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) case could have important implications for the coal industry and powerplants that use coal. In April 2015,…
A Trio of Environmental Decisions from the Fourth Circuit
Within the past few weeks, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has issued some very significant rulings regarding the construction of new natural gas pipelines. These cases are Berkley, et al. v. Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, decided July 25; Sierra Club, Inc., et al., v. U.S. Forest Service,…