By Robert S. Winner, Andrew L. Berg, and Ashley M. Hymel

Energy sources conseptSeyfarth Synopsis: In this edition of Seyfarth Shaw’s Energy Insights Newsletter, our Energy and Clean Technologies team covers important developments in Q1 2016 for the energy industry including 1) the fate of the Clean Power Plan and potential impact on U.S. compliance with the Paris Agreement,
Continue Reading Energy Insights: An Update from the First Quarter of 2016

By Kevin A. Fritz and Craig B. Simonsen

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB)’s FracFocus 2.0 database houses information collected from Federal and State regulatory agencies required as part of their regulatory requirements to disclose the composition and quantities of fracturing fluids that are injected into unconventional oil and gas wells.

In 2013, Secretary of Energy Moniz charged SEAB
Continue Reading Federal Energy Advisory Board Seeks Comment on Draft “FracFocus” Report

By James L. Curtis and Craig B. Simonsen

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its preliminary “Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.”  The findings show an increase of twenty-three percent in the oil and gas extraction industries, a fourteen percent increase in the mining sector, and a five percent increase in the construction industry.

The BLS Report
Continue Reading Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Shows Oil and Gas, Construction, and Mining Industries Rates Climbing

By Meagan Newman

While large and small companies across the globe have been addressing issues of corporate responsbility and sustainability for many years now, India has became the first country to pass a law that requires large companies to spend a percentage of their profits on corporate sustainability initiatives.  The law, which updates India’s Companies Act of 1956, applies
Continue Reading World’s First Corporate Responsibility Mandate Passed in India

By Ilana R. Morady and Meagan Newman

By now it seems most large employers have implemented or are developing some form of sustainability program.  In recent years these efforts have moved beyond “green” iniatives such as reducing waste, water consumption and energy use, cutting emissions, changing lightbulbs or going paperless.  Today, sustainabilty programs and goals set by employers often include
Continue Reading Sustainability Programs: More Than Just “Green”, May Help Retain Talent

By Philip L. Comella and William R. Schubert

Earlier this week, we blogged about the broad range of “reform options” for energy incentives that members of Congress are drafting, and the fast pace at which this area of public policy can move.

Now the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University has spotlighted an EPA alternate energy initiative
Continue Reading EPA Initiative Recognized as Leading Government Innovation

By Philip L. Comella and William R. Schubert

Changes in regulation and investment incentives seem to happen at a frenetic pace in the energy sector.

For example, we have previously blogged about the last-minute extension of renewable energy credits and the year-to-year changes in EPA’s biofuel standards. As we pointed out in a recent one-minute memo about possible funding
Continue Reading Reforming Energy Incentives: Everything from Carbon Tax, to Performance-Based Standards, to Complete Repeal is an Option

Seyfarth Shaw’s Rob Winner, Corporate Partner in the Chicago Office and Chair of the firm’s Energy and Clean Technologies Specialty Team, will serve as a judge in the Clean Energy Challenge to be held in Chicago on April 4th.  

The Clean Energy Challenge is a two-level competition that allows clean energy entrepreneurs with companies in different points of

Continue Reading Seyfarth to Judge at Clean Energy Challenge Competition

By Jeryl L. Olson and William R. Schubert

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed its renewable fuel standards for the year 2013.  The proposed rule would require producers, importers, and distributors of gasoline and diesel to add greater proportions of renewable fuels to their products.

The 2013 proposed rule includes a standard for the nationwide volume of “cellulosic biofuel”
Continue Reading EPA Proposes 2013 Renewable Fuel Standards

By Roy Meilman and Michael Rosenthal

After many months of discussion and opposition, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the Act), signed into law by President Obama on January 2, 2013, to avert the fiscal cliff, extended and modified the laws surrounding renewable energy credits through January 1, 2014, some of which were set to expire December 31, 2012.

Continue Reading Last Minute Extension and Modification Finally Comes for Renewable Energy Tax Credits