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Inflation Reduction Act
When is a Seat not a Seat? English High Court grants anti-suit injunction preventing the challenge of an arbitral award in Pakistan
The recent English High Court decision in Atlas Power Ltd -v- National Transmission and Despatch Co Ltd [2018] EWHC 1052 concerns a number of power purchase agreements entered into by Pakistani independent power producers and the national grid company of...
The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives? GDPR Activist Complaints Allege Shortcomings and Seek Maximum Penalties
This is not an email about what the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is. We assume you've received dozens of those recently (including from us) . As those emails promised, GDPR Day 1 finally came. And it began with a...
Invoking the ‘Necessity Defense’ in Pipeline Sabotage Prosecutions
Opposition to new pipeline construction has grown in recent years, moving from public comment to litigation to physical protest and vandalism. In 2016 alone, several coordinated actions led to trespass and vandalism of pipelines and pipeline facilities in multiple states...
Partes On! Survival of Inter Partes Review May Signal an SOS for Parties Entering the Uncharted Waters of Inter Partes Review in the Post-SAS World
The Supreme Court issued decisions in the cases of Oil States v. Greene’s Energy and SAS v. Iancu , addressing the constitutionality of inter partes review (“IPR”) and determining whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) must decide the...
Continuing Review of New Pipeline Projects
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) officially announced that it is going to review its policy framework for certification of new interstate natural gas and LNG pipelines in the U.S. and issued a Notice of Inquiry (Notice or NOI)...
Force Majeure, Now What?
As discussed in our last alert , the possibility of parties turning to force majeure clauses as an excuse for performance in the face of steel and aluminum tariffs has become a reality. While the government deals with numerous applications...
Federal Agencies Agree to Speed Project Permitting
The U.S. DOT and 10 other federal agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 9, 2018, which became effective on April 10, 2018. The MOU [1] is intended to implement Executive Order 13807 (Aug. 15, 2017), which established...
Final Gas Mega Rules Expected to be Issued in 2019
The Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) convened in Washington D.C. at the end of March, 2018, to continue discussions from May and December 2017 regarding PHMSA’s proposed gas and gathering pipeline mega rule (“Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines”...
Court Provides Further Clarity Regarding Scope of FERC’s Enforcement Authority
On March 30, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued an opinion granting in part and denying in part motions to dismiss the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) action seeking to enforce its assessment of...
As Steel Tariff Becomes Effective, Commerce Issues Rule for Exclusions
Building off of President Trump’s “Made in America” campaign commitment, the Trump Administration issued a tariff on steel imports on March 8, 2018. The proclamation finds that the imposition of duties on steel articles is necessary to ensure that steel...
PHMSA Opens Enforcement Hearing to the Public
In a surprising turn of events this week, PHMSA approved a request from the media to attend a hearing in the Agency’s Southwest Region offices in Houston yesterday. An environmental reporting service (E&E News) submitted a request to PHMSA last...
FERC Asserts Right to Impose Retroactive Surcharges
Historically, Sections 205 [1] and 206 [2] of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) have been viewed as authorizing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) to order refunds when a rate has been suspended and placed in effect...
Regulatory Rollbacks Continue for Energy Industry
In the past few weeks, the Trump Administration’s Department of Interior (DOI) has taken significant steps to roll back several environmental policies and/or rules affecting the energy industry. On December 22, DOI issued a memorandum interpreting the scope of the...
All I want for Christmas is … regulatory certainty?
Last week, PHMSA’s oil and gas pipeline technical advisory committees convened to review and discuss significant pending rulemakings and regulatory reform initiatives, among other topics. At the same time, the White House touted its deregulation efforts, including the purported elimination...
Advisory Committee Meetings May Add Insight to Policy Priorities
Oil and gas pipeline technical advisory committee meetings will be held on December 13-15 in Washington, D.C. The agenda covers updates on PHMSA pipeline safety programs and policy issues. The oil and gas peer review committees, comprised of federal and...