Environmental Litigation and Regulation

The 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana issued a decision on September 14, 2022, vacating a proposed industrial facility’s permit issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and finding that LDEQ violated the federal Clean Air Act and its duty under the Public Trust Doctrine.[1] Although the decision concerns

The U.S. Interior Department recently announced that it is awarding Louisiana with about $47 million to be used to plug and abandon the orphaned well sites throughout the state.  This is part of phase one of many under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed by President Biden in November.

Louisiana first turned

On December 22, 2021, Taylor Energy Company LLC (“Taylor Energy”), a Louisiana based oil and gas company, and the United States Department of Justice reached a settlement concerning Taylor Energy’s role in the longest running oil spill in United States history. The oil spill began in September 2004 when Hurricane Ivan crossed the northeastern Gulf

The current administration’s focus on climate change has prompted a renewed interest in carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS). In July of this year, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a report to Congress stating the Biden administration “is committed to accelerating the responsible development and deployment of CCUS to make it

As part of an ongoing investigation led by the Delaware Attorney General’s Office into the potential environmental impacts of legacy industrial activities in the state, Delaware has reached a $50 million settlement agreement with DuPont Co., Corteva, and the Chemours Co. for alleged damages resulting from these companies’ use of chemicals called PFAS.

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Originally published in the Ark-La-Tex Association of Professional Landmen Register

Carbon capture and storage (“CCS”) is the process of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from large point sources, and then transporting it to a storage location for deposit in underground formations where it will not re-enter the atmosphere.  By returning CO2 emissions that resulted from the

The Louisiana Legislature has directed the Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) to promulgate regulations allowing for “voluntary environmental self-audits.” [1]  The self-audit regulations are to include provisions protecting confidential information and providing incentives to facilities for conducting a self-audit.

Environmental self-audit programs are designed to allow a facility to identify compliance issues and address them

The case is Scalia [Secretary of Labor] v. Wynnewood Refining Co., LLC, et al, No. 19-9533 (U.S. Tenth Circuit, October 27, 2020). Wynnewood LLC’s refinery in Oklahoma processes crude oil and on a daily basis produces 70,000 barrels of gasoline, propane, propylene, butane, fuel oils, and solvents. In 2012, one of Wynnewood Refining Co’s boilers—the

Just a quick reminder that in 2007, the Louisiana State Police (“LSP”) adopted regulations requiring special reporting requirements for persons “engaged in the transportation of hazardous materials by railcars, vessels, or barges, or the temporary storage of hazardous materials in any storage vessel not permanently attached to the ground” if that activity is within “a