On December 17, 2024, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) adopted new comprehensive regulations governing the handling, storage, treatment, and disposal of oil and gas waste. The rules were published January 3, 2025, in...more
5/21/2025
/ Final Rules ,
Hazardous Waste ,
New Regulations ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Railways ,
RCRA ,
Recycling ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Texas ,
Trains ,
Transportation Corridor ,
Waste Disposal ,
Waste Management
Port Arthur Community Action Network (PACAN) v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality et al. (Tex. Feb. 14, 2025) presented the Texas Supreme Court with a unique opportunity to provide defined guideposts to understand...more
2/21/2025
/ Air Pollution ,
Air Quality Standards ,
Clean Air Act ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Infrastructure ,
Natural Gas ,
Permits ,
Pollution Control ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Texas ,
TX Supreme Court
President Trump hit the ground running, issuing more executive orders, memoranda, and other actions on Inauguration Day than any previous president. Agencies are already working to implement those actions. Many of the actions...more
2/13/2025
/ Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
NEPA ,
PFAS ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Renewable Energy ,
Sustainability ,
Trump Administration
The one-two punch of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (“Loper Bright”) and Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Corner Post”) this past week spun...more
INTRODUCTION -
For many years, oil and gas companies, or O&Gs, and their lawyers have been living with the environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, movement and its ever-increasing demands on the industry....more
I. Background.
On February 7, 2024, EPA issued a final rule lowering the annual health-based air quality standard for fine particulates (pm 2.5) to 9 ug/m3 from 12 ug/m3. The Rule will impact industries and many...more
EPA’s efforts to regulate per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are not ending with lowering PFAS drinking water standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is headline news....more
Background -
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) are in the crosshairs of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”). PFAS are substances that have been used heavily in manufacturing and are prevalent in many...more
On August 26, 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication version of a highly-anticipated proposal to add two of the most widely-used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of...more
On June 30, 2022 the Supreme Court decided West Virginia v. EPA. This case not only has environmental law implications, but also speaks directly to executive agency overreach in potentially many other contexts. On its face,...more
On June 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dramatically lowered its lifetime health advisories levels (HALs)[1] for two per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPA previously established a combined...more
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed new rules (the “Proposal”) that, if finalized, will require reporting companies to disclose climate-related risks, metrics, and other information in...more
On September 22, 2021, the SEC released its Sample Letter to Companies Regarding Climate Change Disclosure (“Letter”). The Letter is not only important for what it will seek, but for what it portends. The Letter invokes the...more
Background -
In 1982 a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) was crafted between the Texas Railroad Commission (“RRC”) and a predecessor to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”) outlining the division of...more
Background -
On May 15, 2020 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its “Summary of Input on Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Practices Under the Clean Water Act” (“Summary”). The Summary is...more
Federal and State environmental agencies are modifying their usual compliance procedures, including deadlines, to accommodate the various challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. While a number of States initially...more
On March 29, 2019, EPA issued its Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Facilities New Owner Audit Program (“Audit Program”). The Audit Program is voluntary and intended to encourage new upstream facility owners to audit,...more
Recent regulatory pronouncements indicate the oil patch will continue to face heavy regulatory scrutiny in 2018 and beyond. Recent action at both the federal and state levels will put increasing pressure on the exploration...more
A perspective on new Texas legislation HB 1794 by Gerald Pels one of the leaders of the Texas environmental legal community for over 30 years....more
On December 19, 2014 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two memoranda outlining the Agency’s planned response to the Supreme Court’s June 2014 decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) v. Environmental...more