A new oil and gas reporting bill, Senate Bill 1281, sponsored by State Senator Fran Pavley, was signed by Governor Brown on September 25, 2014. The California Department of Conservation – Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (“DOGGR”) issued a Notice to Operators containing important information on the new law’s reporting mandates on December
The Fifth Circuit’s Latest Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Ruling
In its most recent decision regarding Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) coverage, namely New Orleans Depot Services, Inc. v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 718 F.3d 384 (5th Cir. 2013) (en banc), the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals defined “adjoining” as used in the LHWCA to mean “bordering on or
International Employers Watch Out: China Will Assign Hefty Fines for Worker Safety Violations
By Wan Li, Brent I. Clark, and Craig B. Simonsen
According to Cai Renjun, an official from the People’s Republic of China, Legislative Affairs Commission, of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, “about 70,000 people died in work safety cases last year, [with] about 60,000 of them in road accidents.” Policy Watch,
Work Related Stress: It Comes With The Job for a Jones Act Seaman
In a recent decision, the Eleventh Circuit in Skye v. Maersk Line Limited, Corp., 751 F.3d 1262 (11th Cir. 2014), reversed a district court ruling awarding damages to a Jones Act seaman for injuries stemming from “excessive work hours and an erratic sleep schedule.” The Court’s decision in Skye reaffirms a now decades old prohibition
US EPA Updates List of TSCA “Work Plan” Chemicals for Risk Analysis
US EPA has updated its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan for Chemical Assessments, the Agency’s list of priority chemicals for analysis, adding 23 new chemicals to the list while removing or consolidating 16 others.
US EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) produced the original list of Work Plan chemicals in
Controversial “Waters of the US” Rule Proposal Draws Criticism as Public Comment Period Expires
The extended public comment period for the US EPA and Army Corp of Engineers’ proposed rule to redefine “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (CWA) expired November 14, 2014. The proposed rule has come under intense scrutiny for its apparent expansion of CWA jurisdiction. US EPA received nearly 500,000 public comments
Food Information for UK Consumers – Allergen Information to Represent a Business Opportunity?
We have blogged previously on the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (the “EU FIC”), which will apply in the UK from 13 December 2014. The EU FIC will mean a number of significant changes for the labelling of pre-packed food. However, it will also affect the provision of information on non-pre-packed/ loose foods, including
What the 2014 Mid-Term Congressional Election Results Mean for Key Environmental Issues in the Run Up to the 2016 Presidential Election
Major policy developments that will drive the agenda in Washington DC over the next two years are outlined in Squire Patton Boggs’ 2014 Mid-Term Congressional Elections Analysis, What to Expect From the 114th Congress in the Run-Up to the 2016 Presidential Election. Key environmental policy developments include the following:
- Climate Change
Look for the President
California Adopts Historic Groundwater Laws
For a state that has 840 miles of sweet Pacific Ocean coastline, it might seem ironic that California is hurting for water. But years of drought and unregulated groundwater use have devastated groundwater aquifers, forcing the California legislature to finally step in with what some farmers in California’s Central Valley are calling “draconian”
Thinking About Natural Resource Damages
My column this month in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly considers natural resource damages and their measurement. NRDs are available under a number of federal programs. To my knowledge, however, Pennsylvania state trustees have only sought to recover NRDs twice.
We have to think about whether that might change. The Supreme Court’s plurality opinion in