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Inflation Reduction Act
NLRB Revises Test for Evaluating Workplace Policies
On August 2, 2023, in Stericycle, Inc. (Stericycle), the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) revised the test for determining whether an employer’s workplace policies comply with the National Labor Relations Act (the NLRA). Stericycle reverses the Board’s 2017 decision...
The Multi-Sector Fuel Dilemma
Confusion persists among industry stakeholders regarding the correct structuring approach to renewables. The truth is that renewables traverse sectors and is not a sector itself. Electrical power generated through sustainable means is a service, much like fossil fuel powered power...
FERC Finalizes Interconnection Queue Reforms
On July 28, 2023, following up on its June 2022 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Generator Interconnection Reform NOPR”), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) issued its long-awaited rulemaking order, Order No. 2023, requiring reforms to FERC’s pro forma...
FINRA Facts and Trends: July 2023
Welcome to the latest issue of Bracewell’s FINRA Facts and Trends, a monthly newsletter devoted to condensing and digesting recent FINRA developments in the areas of enforcement, regulation and dispute resolution. This month, we report on a challenge in the...
What Once Was Old Is New Again: DOJ and FTC Issue Draft New Merger Guidelines
On July 19, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a draft version of new Merger Guidelines (Merger Guidelines), which would replace the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines (the...
Voluntary Carbon Credits – A Free Market Solution
OVERVIEW In February of this year, the International Emissions Trading Association (“IETA”) published a comprehensive set of standardised agreements for the sale and purchase of voluntary carbon credits (“VCCs”). The international market for VCCs has been growing at a substantial...
Texas UIC Class VI Update: Proposed Amendments to 16 TAC Ch. 5
In Volume 48, Number 26 of the Texas Register, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) published proposed amendments to 16 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 5 (relating to Carbon Dioxide and related storage activities). These proposed rules are essential to Texas’...
BOEM Releases Proposed Rule on Supplemental Financial Assurance for OCS Lease and Grant Obligations
On June 29, 2023, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a proposed rule that, if adopted, would substantially revise the financial assurance requirements applicable to offshore oil and gas operations.[1] The proposed rule is designed...
Supreme Court “Clarifies” Employer Duty to Make Religious Accommodations
On June 29, 2023, in Groff v. DeJoy, the US Supreme Court unanimously adopted a new interpretation of the standard for when an employee’s religious accommodation poses an “undue hardship” for an employer under Title VII of the Civil Rights...
An Evil Bear May Provide High Court TM Ruling Clarification
The US Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Jack Daniel's v. VIP Products leaves unanswered questions about the intersection of the First Amendment and trademark rights, which may be answered by the reconsideration of a dismissed case involving Disney and Lotso the bear from "Toy Story 3."
There Ought to Be a Law Before Enforcing Unwritten Crypto Rules
Bracewell’s Keith Blackman assesses government agencies’ gradual regulation by enforcement approach to penalizing cryptocurrency failures, and how the future of this regulation might look.
Treasury Department and IRS Issue Additional Guidance on the New Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program
The low-income communities bonus credit (the LIC Bonus), which was introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the IRA), provides an enhanced tax credit for certain wind and solar facilities located in designated low-income communities. On February 13, 2023...
FTC Proposes Sweeping Changes to US Merger Filing Requirements
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in concurrence with the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), announced a proposal to drastically overhaul the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification process. The proposed rulemaking is yet another...
DSAs: Calculating Security and the Role of Expert Determination
Decommissioning. A word familiar to all of those who are involved in oil and gas exploration and production around the globe. It is defined in the Cambridge English Dictionary as “taking a factory or other industrial building out of use...
Supreme Court Reaffirms Registering To Do Business May Subject You to Lawsuits
Last week the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of state laws requiring businesses to consent to lawsuits in the state after registering with state authorities to conduct business there. In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.,[1] the Court resolved...