I recently wrote a column for The Legal Intelligencer’s Pennsylvania Law Weekly, reposted on this blog here, raising questions about whether the Pennsylvania courts have correctly identified the public natural resources that ought to be valued and conserved as the corpus of the public trust established by the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. In a series of decisions in litigation brought by the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, the Commonwealth’s appellate courts have grappled with whether, and how much of, the proceeds of leasing oil and gas resour ..read more

Last month, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided another in a series of cases applying the Environmental Rights Amendment to municipal land use decisions involving the oil and gas industry. That opinion may reflect some lack of judicial clarity with implications for ordinary government processes and therefore business. Click here to read the full article, “What Impact Review Does the ERA Require?” – published by The Legal Intelligencer Feb. 11. Reprinted with permission ..read more

Paul M. Seby, a shareholder in the Environmental and Energy & Natural Resources Practices, is quoted in an Aug. 24 Law360 article titled “Justices Must Restore Trump-Era GHG Rule, Supporters Say.” Click here to read the full article (subscription required). Additionally, Seby is mentioned in an article titled “ND Urges Court To Force Gov’t To Restart Oil And Gas Leasing,” also published by Law360 on Aug. 24. Click here to read the full article (subscription required ..read more

On July 21, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court revisited the Environmental Rights Amendment, Article I, Section 27, of the Pennsylvania Constitution when Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth returned to the court after remand. The Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court and held that all the amounts received by the commonwealth when it leased state lands for oil and gas development had to be appropriated to conservation and protection of public natural resources ..read more

Roughly 15 years ago, many Pennsylvania landowners entered into oil and gas leases in the expectation of receiving royalties for the extraction of shale gas and oil underlying their properties. Today, as natural gas prices remain low, and fossil fuels generally—including methane leaks specifically—encounter policy and regulatory resistance because of attention to climate change, lessees may not move as rapidly to develop marginal leaseholds. Indeed, some may not continue exploration or production at all, raising the question of when a lease ends. Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court offe ..read more

On April 29, 2021, Administrator Michael Regan announced that EPA plans to add Natural Gas Processing (NGP) facilities to the list of industries subject to Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements. TRI requires facilities to report releases of toxic chemicals if the facilities’ manufacture, process, or other use of the chemicals exceed regulatory thresholds. TRI reports (Form Rs) must be filed annually on or before July 1 for the preceding calendar year. While the TRI program does not require facilities to acquire any new data, compliance requires a significant amount of analysis ..read more

Jordan W. Cowman and Robert J. Downing, shareholders of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will participate in the virtual Columbia Business School: Guyana – Suriname Conference Series, on April 21 and April 28. Downing will moderate and Cowman will speak during Session I of the conference on April 21. Additionally, Downing will speak during Session II on April 28. The discussions will focus on opportunities in the oil and gas sector, renewable energy, infrastructure, education, training, supply chain, and social programs of nations and surrounding neighbors as they co ..read more

Four attorneys from the Energy & Natural Resources Practice at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, were recognized in the 2021 edition of the prestigious legal services directory Chambers Global. The Mexico City office was also recognized among the publication’s energy ranks, and Rodrigo Vazquez del Mercado-Rivera was recognized as an “Associate to Watch.” Chambers and Partners, a UK–based publisher, selects attorneys for inclusion in its guides based on thousands of interviews with practicing lawyers and clients from around the world. The firm’s four energy at ..read more

On Dec. 26, 2020, Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER) published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF), a resolution that establishes the goods for which import and export activities are subject to regulation by SENER (the Resolution), whereby SENER amends the existing regulation related to such import and export activities and its corresponding permits. Continue reading the full GT Alert, “Amendments to Regulations for Import/Export of Hydrocarbons and Hydrocarbon Products in Mexico ..read more

On Dec. 26, 2020, Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (SENER) published in the Federal Official Gazette (DOF), a resolution that establishes the goods for which import and export activities are subject to regulation by SENER (the Resolution), whereby SENER amends the existing regulation related to such import and export activities and its corresponding permits. Continue reading the full GT Alert, “Amendments to Regulations for Import/Export of Hydrocarbons and Hydrocarbon Products in Mexico ..read more