Inflation Reduction Act
Engaging Environmental Specialists and Preserving Privileges
The lines between legal, technical, and strategic communications often get blurry in the context of site investigations, incident response, and other environmental projects. Many company personnel equate "cc-ing" in-house counsel with preserving confidentiality. As a result, the parameters of the...
Supreme Court Rules That Arbitrators Must Decide Whether A Dispute Is Arbitrable, Not Courts, When The Contract So Provides
Yesterday, in the first opinion issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the United States Supreme Court held that courts may not use a “wholly groundless” exception to disregard contractual provisions delegating the question of whether a dispute is arbitrable to the...
Webinar: Disability Law Developments 2018 – What Employers Need to Know
Speakers: Jim Kizziar and Chris Jaynes Info: Please join labor and employment lawyers Jim Kizziar and Chris Jaynes for a complimentary webinar to address four significant developments in disability law. The webinar will analyze recent court decisions and provide practical...
Long Awaited Plastic Pipe Rule Finalized
The federal agency tasked with pipeline safety, PHMSA, has issued a long-awaited rule regarding plastic pipe . Plastic pipe is primarily used in distribution gas pipeline systems, as a corrosion resistant and cost effective alternative to steel pipelines. This rule...
International Sanctions and the Energy Sector – Part 2: Russia
In the first part of this three part series we considered the impact of President Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran’s energy sector with effect from 5 November 2018. However, Iran is not unique. Other nations whose economic strength...
Inspector General to Audit LNG Safety Oversight
The Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General within the (DOT OIG) announced recently that it will audit oversight of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). DOT OIG notes that the “self-initiated”...
International Sanctions and the Energy Sector – Part 1: Iran
Economic sanctions, in one form or another, have been applied for centuries to effect change in the activities or policies of states, groups or individuals. Sometimes they are perceived as geopolitical economic weaponry, leveraging the intertwined nature of the world’s...
Legal Professional Privilege: The New Status Quo
Legal professional privilege (“ LPP ”) has been a feature of the common law for centuries, developed through the public interest in protecting confidentiality of communications between a lawyer and its client. As a concept understood, in one form or...
Industry Impact from Criminal Verdict in Pipeline Oil Spill
On September 7, 2018, a jury in a California state court found Plains All American Pipeline guilty on 9 criminal counts, stemming from a release of 140,000 gallons of crude oil from a Plains pipeline near Santa Barbara in 2015...
Hurricane Preparedness in High Gear on East Coast
Hurricane season is upon us, with Hurricane Florence making its way towards landfall in the Carolinas, currently expected to reach the coast by early Friday morning, September 14, 2018. Tropical storm force winds and heavy rain will reach the coastal...
Draft Pipeline Risk Modeling Report Issued for Public Comment
As part of its integrity management regulatory scheme, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is requesting comments on a draft risk modeling report . In certain densely populated or environmentally sensitive areas, PHMSA integrity management rules require the...
Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: Time to Dust Off the Price Adjustment Clause?
The continued and controversial imposition of tariffs has not only resulted in global economic and political fallout but has also adversely affected contractual relationships for suppliers, manufacturers, contractors and project owners far downstream from the government. Whether you are the...
As LNG Permitting Delays Continue, PHMSA to Assist FERC
The liquified natural gas (LNG) export boom has strained the resources and technical expertise of the two federal agencies that oversee LNG facility siting, design, construction, and operation: FERC, (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) and PHMSA (the Pipeline and Hazardous...
Does the Prevention doctrine thwart contractually allocated Concurrent Delay risk? The English Court of Appeal says not
Energy sector participants will be familiar with the law of physics that states energy is neither created nor destroyed but can be converted from one form into another. Fossil fuels in the ground contain chemical energy and air currents in...
IMPLIED TERMS: Fairness in hindsight is insufficient
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Bou-Simon v BGC Brokers LLP [2018] EWCA Civ 1525 reaffirms the law on implied terms. The Court also offered some interesting non-binding views on the circumstances in which words deleted from a draft contract...