Climate Change
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of December 11, 2023
Climate Change: New Jersey Adopts Rule Requiring 100% of Light-Duty Vehicle Sales to be Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035 ⚡
On November 21, 2023, the New Jersey Office of the Governor announced the next stages for Advanced Clean Cars II rule, requiring all “light-duty vehicle” manufacturers to incrementally increase sales of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) beginning in 2027 to reach 100% of vehicle sales by 2035. The rule was proposed on August 21, 2023 by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and, according to the announcement, is now scheduled to be confirmed on December 18, 2023. The rule is modeled […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of November 27, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: Alaska Court Rules in Favor of Willow Project, Permitting ConocoPhillip to Explore and Develop on the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska ⚡
On November 9, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska upheld ConocoPhillips’s authorization to explore and develop oil on its leases in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic et al. v. Bureau of Land Management et al., No. 3:23-cv-00058-SLG (D. Alaska Nov. 9, 2023) (unpublished); see also U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, Bureau of Land Mgmt., Record of Decision for the […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of October 16, 2023
Offshore Drilling: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Publish Proposed Final Program for Lease Sales in Gulf of Mexico ⚡
On October 2, 2023, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), DOI, published a Notice of Availability for the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (PFP) and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). 88 Fed. Reg. 67,798 (Oct. 2, 2023). The PFP proposes three lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico Program Area – scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029. The PFP includes various lease requirements that are meant to provide protection to sensitive […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of October 2, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: Louisiana District Court Orders BOEM to Hold Offshore Lease Sale Without Additional Protections for Endangered Whales ⚡
On Thursday, September 21, 2023, the West District Court of Louisiana granted a Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed by the state of Louisiana and three oil companies in their lawsuit against the government and several environmental justice groups. The suit arose after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) withdrew six million acres from Lease Sale 261, a proposed lease on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, and restricted “vessel activity in the lease area” to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of July 03, 2023
Post-Production Costs: Title: District Court Denies Diversified’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings in Abandoned Wells Class Action Suit ⚡
On Thursday, June 1, 2023, the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia denied Defendant Diversified Energy Co.’s (Diversified) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings in the case of McEvoy v. Diversified Energy Co. PLC. Plaintiffs had filed a class action against Diversified, alleging Diversified had a duty to plug and decommission thousands of abandoned gas wells in West Virginia. On May 10, 2023, Diversified filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings for Failure to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of May 08, 2023
Pipelines: Supreme Court Reopens Landowner Eminent Domain Case Against Mountain Valley Pipeline ⚡
On Monday, April 24, 2023, the Supreme Court granted an appeal filed by six landowners in their case brought against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a statute that has allowed private companies, like Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, to exercise eminent domain authority to construct pipelines across Virginia and West Virginia. Cletus Woodrow Bohon et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission et al., No. 22-256, The D.C. Circuit originally affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the suit, holding that, as required by the Natural […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of April 3, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: Federal Pause on Oil and Gas Leases on North Dakota’s Public Lands and Waters Overruled ⚡
On Monday, March 27, 2023, the District Court of North Dakota decided in favor of a motion for preliminary injunction filed by the State of North Dakota in an ongoing lawsuit against the Department of Interior (DOI). State of North Dakota v. United States Department of Interior et al, No. 1:21-cv-00148. The underlying complaint was filed after the DOI and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in accordance with Executive Order Number 14008, paused all but one quarterly lease […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of March 6, 2023
GHG Emissions: DOE Announces $2.52 Billion in Funding for Carbon Capture Projects ⚡
On February 23, 2023, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that two programs created to support the development of carbon capture technology will receive $2.52 billion in funding. The carbon management technologies in development include systems capture, transport, and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Both programs will focus on these technologies in order to make coal and natural gas use more effective. The first program, called “Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots,” will receive $820 million in funding for testing up to ten large-scale projects aimed at […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of October 31, 2022
Climate Change: Appeals Court Rules States Lack Standing to Challenge Interagency Working Group Social GHG Estimates ⚡
On October 21, 2022, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion affirming dismissal of a lawsuit by a coalition of states, led by Missouri, for lack of standing. Missouri, et al. v. Biden, et al., Case No. 21-3013. The court ruled that the states’ requested injunction against an Interagency Working Group’s Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases estimates is outside federal courts’ jurisdictions, as the states could not “plausibly allege…concrete and particularized actual injury…fairly traceable to defendants’ conduct.” […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of October 24, 2022
National Energy Policy: Department of Energy Oil Sale and Repurchasing Policies Announced ⚡
On October 18, 2022, a fact sheet posted on the White House website announced a Notice of Sale by the Department of Energy to release up to 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), beginning on October 19, 2022. The purpose of the release is to lower energy costs, according to a press release by the DOE. Additionally, the DOE finalized a rule to repurchase crude oil for the SPR once the price oil is “at or below about $67-$72 per […]
