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Inflation Reduction Act
In Line With Recent Precedent, Trump Administration Directs Federal Agencies to Halt New Regulations
As expected, one of President Trump’s first actions after being sworn in to office was to issue a memorandum outlining his administration’s plans for managing new or pending federal regulations. As shown in the Table below, the memorandum from President...
Federal Court Sets Timeline for EPA to Reconsider Regulation of Oil and Gas Waste Under RCRA
In yet another example of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) “sue and settle” approach to regulation, in late December 2016, EPA entered into a Consent Decree with an environmental group and agreed to reconsider the Agency’s current treatment of...
PHMSA Proposes Plans to Revise Volatility Standard for the Transport of Crude Oil
Today, PHMSA released an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), announcing that it is considering revising the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to establish vapor pressure limits for the transportation of crude oil and potentially all Class 3 flammable liquid hazardous...
Obama Bans Drilling Offshore Atlantic, Arctic – But For How Long?
With a new President on the White House doorstep, President Obama has announced a ban – ostensibly permanent – on offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters along the Eastern seaboard and offshore Alaska. President Obama appears to be...
Bracewell Environmental Law Seminar – Fall 2016: Highlights on “The Desktop Regulator”
On November 15, 2016, Bracewell’s Environmental Strategies Group hosted its third biannual Environmental Law Seminar in Houston. The seminar was attended by nearly 100 industry representatives and featured five guest speakers, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, CSB Board Member Rick...
Supreme Court Decision in Salman
Yesterday, the Supreme Court confirmed a more expansive application of criminal insider trading violations when it unanimously affirmed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Salman v. United States . In doing so, the Court upheld the insider trading...
FERC and CFTC Annual Enforcement Update
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) recently released their annual reports on enforcement activities for fiscal year 2016 (October 2015 through September 2016). In addition, FERC enforcement staff released two white papers...
FINRA Fines Lincoln Financial Sub $650,000 For Cybersecurity Shortcomings
A Lincoln Financial Group subsidiary agreed to pay $650,000 to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to resolve allegations that it failed to implement sufficient security policies to protect confidential customer information after its web-based customer account database was hacked...
Federal Regulators Unveil Proposed Cybersecurity Standards for Large Financial Firms
On October 19, 2016, federal regulators issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Enhanced Cyber Risk Management Standards.” 1 The draft standards, jointly released by the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller...
Attorney-Client Privilege in Washington State No Longer Applies When Employment Ends
In order to preserve the attorney-client privilege, counsel who conduct internal investigations begin employee interviews with an “Upjohn Warning”—a disclosure indicating that counsel represents the employer, not the employee, that the content of the interview is privileged and that the...
Federal Report Identifies New Criteria for Underground Gas Storage Facilities
On October 19, a federal task force released a Final Report outlining recommendations for industry and government in the wake of the 2015 natural gas leak at Aliso Canyon in southern California. The Interagency Task Force on Natural Gas Storage...
PHMSA Releases Civil Penalty Policy Framework, Sets its Sight on Higher Penalties “Across the Board”
This week, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) released a General Policy Statement announcing its intent to make available to the public a Civil Penalty Policy Framework. Previously only available by request, the civil penalty framework provides insight...
PHMSA Implements New Emergency Safety Authority Effective Immediately
On October 3, 2016, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced an Interim Final Rule (IFR) establishing when and how it will issue Emergency Orders to address imminent safety hazards across the oil and gas pipeline industry. See...
SEC's New Rule Requires Additional Disclosures on Form ADV
On August 25, 2016, the SEC adopted Release No. IA-4509 (the “New Rule” or the “amendments”) that amends Form ADV to increase the amount of information that registered investment advisors (“Advisors”) must disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)...
Advisory Firms Fined for Disseminating Misleading Performance Claims Made by Another Firm
On August 25, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced fines against 13 investment advisory firms for distributing false claims originally made by F-Squared Investments. In a prior SEC enforcement case, F-Squared admitted that it substantially inflated the performance of...