President Donald Trump signed several energy-focused executive orders aimed at increasing production and distribution of domestic fossil fuel resources, including development of Alaska’s natural resources....more
Donald J. Trump became the 47th president of the United States on January 20. His second inaugural address focused significantly on energy policy, where he promised to declare a national energy emergency. Making America...more
The US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has advanced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, a bipartisan energy bill that would facilitate permitting for energy infrastructure and mining projects....more
Through its more recent enforcement actions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) has sent a clear message to the energy industry, with its Office of Enforcement (OE) shifting enforcement efforts...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders to two natural pipelines—Rover Pipeline and Midship Pipeline Company—following its December 2021 open meeting, and sent a related dispute involving Midship for...more
A report presented on September 23, 2021, into the February 2021 power outages in Texas and the US Midwest caused by extreme cold weather identified the causes of the outages and outlined a series of recommendations....more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced last week that it has obtained another admission from a trader of violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations ...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) announced during its March 18 open meeting two recent actions to promote greater use of distributed energy resources and demand response. ...more
In the wake of the February extreme cold weather that caused record levels of electric generation to be taken offline, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) has scheduled a two-day technical...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced on February 22 that its Office of Enforcement would examine wholesale natural gas and electricity market activity during last week’s extreme cold weather ...more
2/24/2021
/ CFTC ,
Electricity ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Policy ,
FERC ,
Government Investigations ,
Infrastructure ,
Market Manipulation ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Price Gouging ,
Severe Weather ,
Wholesale
After severe winter weather forced Texas into experiencing power outages and rolling blackouts, there will likely be resulting federal and state investigations into the outages, federal investigations into commodity and...more
2/18/2021
/ CFTC ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Futures ,
Government Investigations ,
Natural Gas ,
NERC ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Power Grid ,
Reliability Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Storm Damage
A natural gas trader pleaded guilty in federal district court last week to conspiring to commit commodities fraud and wire fraud in an insider trading scheme over natural gas futures. His co-conspirator had pleaded guilty...more
2/12/2021
/ Anti-Manipulation Rule ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Fraud ,
Futures ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Insider Trading ,
Market Manipulation ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Wire Fraud
It’s been a difficult several days for the oil industry. First, the Biden administration revoked the border-crossing permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on January 20. Another executive order, among other things, directed the...more
2/1/2021
/ Bakken Shale ,
Biden Administration ,
Crude Oil ,
Dakota Access Pipeline ,
Easements ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Native American Issues ,
Natural Gas ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Tribal Lands ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Vacated
The US Department of Energy (DOE or Department) finalized a rulemaking proceeding last week that revises its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures pertaining to certain authorizations under the...more
12/8/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Exports ,
FERC ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Reform
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will hold a two-day public meeting on February 26–27, 2020, to discuss with pipeline safety stakeholders the implementation of two final rules published in...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed and settled charges on October 24 against Upstream Energy Services LLC (Upstream Energy) for acting as an unregistered futures commission merchant. The Commission’s order...more