A Texas Railroad Commission administrative law judge has rejected allegations based on a study from Southern Methodist University that XTO Energy, Inc., had contributed to small earthquakes atop the Barnett Shale. After a highly technical proceeding, the hearing examiner determined that the SMU study presented data that indicated only a weak connection between injection and seismic activities that was “too small to imply a causal relationship.” XTO Energy pointed to natural tectonic forces deep in the Fort Worth Basin as the likely culprit of seismic events near Azle, Texas, in late 2013 and early 2014.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed new regulations on Tuesday intended to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by up to forty five percent from 2012 levels by 2025. The proposed regulations, the first-ever of its kind, ...
On August 11, 2015, the State of Arkansas joined 16 other states in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to seek review of the final Clean Power Plan released last week. The Petition alleges that EPA erroneously concluded that the plaintiff states' State Implementation Plans are substantially inadequate with respect to periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction and must be revised. Arkansas is represented in the lawsuit by Assistant Attorney General Jamie Leigh Ewing.
Super Lawyers magazine has selected the annual 2015 top Arkansas attorneys within their respective practice areas. Four PPGMR attorneys have been selected for the Super Lawyers list and four for the Rising Stars list.
