Blank Rome LLP announces that Elizabeth E. Klingensmith has joined the firm as a partner in the Corporate Litigation group and member of the Energy industry team. She is based in the firm’s Houston office and joins Blank Rome from Haynes and Boone, LLP.

Klingensmith is the latest addition to the firm’s Houston office, which has experienced steady growth since opening six years ago.

In a news release, the firm said:

Blank Rome launched its Houston presence when it combined with Abrams, Scott & Bickley in June 2011, adding leading litigation attorneys with significant energy industry experience. The firm continued its growth in Houston with the addition of the maritime lawyers of Bell, Ryniker & Letourneau, P.C., in August 2013. Two years later, Blank Rome added 23 attorneys and additional staff from the intellectual property law firm of Wong, Cabello, Lutsch, Rutherford & Brucculeri L.L.P. The Houston office continued to diversify in 2016, adding three attorneys in the labor & employment, real estate, and intellectual property and technology groups. The Firm also continues to expand its national energy team, most recently welcoming Partners Amy L. Barrette and Jeremy A. Mercer from Norton Rose Fulbright in its Pittsburgh office.

“We’re thrilled that Liz is joining us in Houston,” said Alan Hoffman, Blank Rome’s Chairman and Managing Partner. “Liz is a natural go-getter and our Houston office and energy industry team will provide her with the opportunity to further develop her already strong energy litigation practice. Liz is also passionate about engaging young and diverse professionals within the energy sector and we look forward to the mentorship she’ll provide for young attorneys at Blank Rome and beyond.”

Klingensmith’s primary focus is oil and gas litigation. She routinely represents large and small companies in disputes arising from oil and gas operations and transactions in Texas and North Dakota. She has also counseled oil and gas clients in Oklahoma and Louisiana on a pro hac vice basis. Whether in a small-town courtroom or before an arbitration panel comprised of industry experts, she comes prepared with an understanding of the law and facts, and a full appreciation of her clients’ business objectives. She capably simplifies complex issues into a persuasive story whether for judge, jury, or mediator.

“Liz is an all-around talented litigator with impressive experience in the oil and gas sector. There are natural synergies between the energy markets in Houston, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, particularly as it relates to Marcellus Shale work, and Liz will be a great asset to our teams and our clients in these regions,” said Barry Abrams, Administrative Partner of Blank Rome’s Houston office.

In addition to her energy-focused work, Klingensmith frequently handles commercial disputes in the construction, real estate, transportation, banking, and professional services industries. She has extensive experience with disputes that involve claims for breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, post-judgment enforcement, theft of trade secrets, breach of employment agreements, conversion, and declaratory judgment.

“I am very excited to join such a highly regarded and accomplished team of attorneys in Blank Rome’s Houston office,” said Ms. Klingensmith. “It was evident from my first meeting with Blank Rome just how much head and heart the Firm put into establishing and building the Houston office. I cannot wait to continue to build the Firm’s profile in Houston, and collaborate with the Firm’s deep bench of talent in other offices. I know this new chapter at Blank Rome will serve my clients well.”

Klingensmith serves as the Young Energy Professionals Committee Chair for the Institute for Energy Law, and is passionate about engaging the next generation of energy professionals. The YEP Committee held its first National Young Energy Professionals Law Conference in March 2017.

Klingensmith received her B.A. and B.M. from Rice University and her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.

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Veteran energy company in-house counsel Todd L. Grimmett has joined The Lanier Law Firm as a member of the commercial litigation team. His hiring bolsters the firm’s growing focus on lawsuits affecting the oil and gas industry, the firm said in a news release.

Grimmett most recently served as an in-house counsel for Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers. For the past six years, Grimmett represented Chesapeake in a number of civil litigation matters and provided legal counsel for the company’s upstream and midstream divisions. In addition, he directed responses to regulatory inquiries and investigations and was responsible for managing the company’s e-discovery department.

Before joining Chesapeake in 2011, he served as a trial lawyer with several Oklahoma-based law firms and tried cases in jurisdictions throughout the Southwest.

“Todd is an exceptional young lawyer with a deep understanding of the energy sector as well as a wealth of practical experience in the courtroom,” said Mark Lanier, who founded the firm nearly 25 years ago. “This combination of skills will be a great asset as we take on an increasing number of cases related to oil and gas disputes, as well as other civil ligation matters.”

In his new role, Grimmett is reunited with Regan E. Bradford, former Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary for Chesapeake, who joined the Lanier Law Firm in 2016.

Grimmett earned his law degree in 2006 from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and served as an intern in the office of the Oklahoma Attorney General while in law school. He received his undergraduate degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University in 2001.

The firm has offices in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York.

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In an episode of Kane Russell Coleman Logan’s energy law podcast, director Tom Ciarlone discusses the nation’s first legislative fracking ban.

That action came in Maryland when the legislature passed a bill that prohibits petroleum fracking across the state, Ciarlone says. The Maryland governor signed the bill that supplants a two-year moratorium that was set to expire later this year.

The podcast also discusses a lower bar for class certification in royalty underpayment actions, as well as multiple decisions out of the Texas Supreme Court that could spawn a wave of widespread mineral title disputes.

Listen to the podcast.

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On April 18, 2017, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the EPA will convene a proceeding for reconsideration of certain elements of the 2016 rule establishing methane emissions standards for the oil and gas industry, reports Bracewell’s Energy Legal Blog.

Authors Whit Swift and Brittany Pemberton write that the Methane Rule applies to oil and gas facilities for which construction, modification, or reconstruction started after September 18, 2015.

“In particular, EPA will reconsider elements of the fugitive emissions monitoring and repair requirements of 40 C.F.R. § 60.5397a, including the inclusion of low-production wells, and the NSPS Subpart OOOOa provisions relating to approvals for an alternative means of compliance,” they explain.

Read the article.

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ETF Trends has posted an on-demand webinar titled “Navigating the 2017 Oil Market.”

On the recent webcast, Drill Into the Future of Oil With Wall Street’s Top Geopolitical Analyst, Helima Croft, Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity Strategy Global Research at RBC Capital Markets, and Simeon Hyman, Head of Investment Strategy at ProShares, touched upon various factors that could affect the crude oil prices, including OPEC and policy changes, and looked to investment opportunities to potentially capitalize on the energy market.

The discussion coveers:

• OPEC — Its role in the current environment
• Policy — A look at the key decision makers
• Risk — The red herrings versus the real risks
• Investing — Different vehicles and strategies

Watch the on-demand webinar.

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Charles Sartain of Gray Reed & McGraw asks the question: Should the sufficiency of reworking operations under the cessation-of-production clause of an oil and gas lease be limited to the producing well?

In his post in the firm’s Energy & the Law blog, Sartain discusses Crystal River Oil and Gas, LLC et al v. Patton, a suit to terminate an oil and gas lease due to cessation of production.

In the case, a saltwater disposal well servicing a producing became inoperable for a a period in 2011. The appellate court found that the trial court’s prohibition from considering operations on the salt water disposal well was reversible error.

Read the article.

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The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint that the statutory requirement that the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission recover its annual operating costs directly from the entities it regulates results in perceived or actual bias against plaintiffs who contest applications for needed certificates from FERC.

Anthony B. Cavender and Amy Pierce wrote about the case in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP’s Gavel2Gavel blog.

The case is Delaware Riverkeeper Network, et al., v. FERC.

“Because of this bias, the plaintiff asked the District Court either to declare FERC’s reimbursement mechanism to be unconstitutional or declare its power of eminent domain or authority to preempt state and local laws to be unconstitutional,” the authors explain. “Holding that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim because allegations of actual bias cannot create structural bias where the court determines there is none, and the law does not on its face create an unconstitutional funding mechanism, the District Court granted FERC’s motion to dismiss.”

Read the article.

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Reforms in the U.S. tax code proposed by President Donald Trump and Republican Congressional leaders could have significant implications for the energy industry in the U.S., and worldwide, according to an article published on the website of Hogan Lovells.

Authors of the article are Washington partners Jamie Wickett, John Stanton and Robert Glennon.

“Full expensing of capital expenditures and a reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 20 percent or 15 percent will on balance significantly reduce the tax cost of doing business in the U.S.,” they write. “On the other hand, the loss of the deduction for net interest expense proposed in the Blueprint — will raise the cost of debt in the U.S.”

Also, “The ability for U.S.-based corporations to repatriate profits from foreign subsidiaries on a tax free basis (after paying a one-time tax on all accumulated earnings and profits of foreign subsidiaries) should significantly increase the incentive for these companies to repatriate cash and use it to make U.S. investments (or perhaps to pay down debt or pay dividends).”

Read the article.

Only months after the Environmental Protection Agency first contacted thousands of oil and gas companies demanding detailed information regarding methane releases from gas production facilities and related equipment, it has announced that the companies are “no longer required to respond,” reports Akin Gump in its AG Deal Diary.

in 2016 the EPA announced that it planned to send requests for information to approximately 15,000 oil and gas companies involved in onshore production, gathering and boosting, gas processing, transmission, storage and liquefied natural gas import/export. The agency wanted the information to “help the agency determine how best to address methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, including through rulemaking to reduce emissions.”

Now the EPA has announced: ““EPA has withdrawn the 2016 information request for the oil and gas industry, effective immediately. If you received a letter requiring you to fill out a survey, you are no longer required to respond.”

Akin Gump’s David H. Quigley, Christine B. LaFollette and Charles L. Franklin wrote the article.

Read the article.

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Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP reports on a study from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), titled “The Local Economic and Welfare Consequences of Hydraulic Fracturing.”

On its website, the firm says the study looked at “the costs and benefits of hydraulic fracturing on local communities in nine shale basins throughout the United States, making it the most comprehensive assessment of its kind to date.”

The study explored revenue generated in communities where drilling takes place, local income and employment, benefits to local governments, decreases in the quality of life, and increases in housing prices.

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Textron Systems will present a webinar demonstrating how remote sensing and geospatial mapping products can be employed to quickly respond to an evolving oil spill.

The event will be on Thursday, March 16. 2017, beginning at 1 p.m. EST.

“Remote sensing and geospatial data play a pivotal role in disaster management allowing responders to analyze the overall situation on a large scale and continually monitor events using satellite imagery and real-time ground truth,” Textron says on its website. “In the case of the Gulf Oil Spill, remote sensing played a critical role in tracking the movement of the oil slick on the ocean surface and its eventual penetration into sensitive coastal areas. This presentation will demonstrate how remote sensing and geospatial mapping products can be employed to quickly respond to an evolving crisis situation.”

Register for the webinar.

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Chesapeake Energy Corp. and the estate of co-founder and former CEO Aubrey McClendon have agreed to settle a multimillion-dollar dispute over data, stocks and use of a corporate jet, reports The Oklahoman.

The deal calls for Chesapeake to pay $3.25 million in legal fees and drop claims for $445 million related to data McClendon took from the company when he was fired in April 2013.

In exchange, the McClendon estate agreed to drop claims on remaining compensation from the separation, including cash, stock and use of Chesapeake’s corporate jet,” writes Adam Wilmoth.

Read The Oklahoman article.

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Midland, Texas-based energy law boutique Davis, Gerald & Cremer has added Texas appellate specialist Charles “Skip” Watson to its Austin office. Watson, who will join as a shareholder, formerly was with Locke Lord LLP.

“We are very excited that Skip is joining our firm,” said managing shareholder John “Jad” Davis. “He’s on everyone’s short list to handle the most difficult and most important cases at the Texas Supreme Court, and his deep oil-and-gas roots are a perfect fit for our firm. An additional benefit is Skip’s desire to mentor our younger lawyers.  It’s a win-win for our clients and attorneys.”

Watson has served on the Texas Supreme Court’s advisory committee for the last 15 years and chaired the committee that drafted the Standards for Appellate Conduct that the court unanimously adopted.  He was selected as a fellow by the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and he was chair of the State Bar of Texas Advanced Courses for both civil trial law and civil appellate law, the areas in which he is board certified.

“This is a rare opportunity to handle appeals generated by legendary oil and gas litigators at the time the Texas Supreme Court is actively reexamining how decades-old principles fit new technology, new lease clauses, and a challenging economy,” Watson said.

Inn a news release, the firm said Watson recently argued five landmark oil-and-gas cases, two of which are pending before the Texas Supreme Court.

Watson will be the fifth attorney in Davis, Gerald & Cremer’s Austin office. Last month, Texas litigators Shannon Ratliff and Lisa Paulson joined the firm. Rounding out the Austin office are appellate attorney Ryan Clinton, a former Texas Assistant Solicitor General, and title attorney Lauren Shapiro, a former Assistant District Attorney.​

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Thomson Reuters Practical Law will present a complimentary webinar titled “Addressing Environmental Claims and Obligations in Chapter 11.”

The event will be Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

In a release, the company said many companies with significant environmental compliance and clean-up obligations have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in recent years due to decreased demand for oil & gas, coal, steel, and other mined assets. The tension between environmental regulation and bankruptcy law makes environmental liability an issue that must be considered as part of any bankruptcy strategy. A Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession must comply with environmental laws and regulations during bankruptcy. Many environmental claims and obligations cannot be discharged in bankruptcy and contaminated property can be difficult to dispose of; however, a carefully constructed bankruptcy strategy can minimize the negative impact of environmental liabilities on the ongoing business and the restructuring process itself.

Practical Law and IWIRC NY will present the complimentary 75 minute webinar in which leading bankruptcy attorneys and advisors from Debevoise & Plimpton, Morrison & Foerster, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and AlixPartners will discuss strategies for addressing environmental claims and obligations in Chapter 11. During this webinar, attendees will hear insights on ways in which companies are addressing environmentally contaminated property, claims and obligations through Chapter 11 in recent and pending oil & gas, mining, and manufacturing cases, including:

-How environmental claims and obligations are treated in bankruptcy.
-The diligence that a company should perform to assess potential environmental liability and business options.
-How environmental regulators exert influence in Chapter 11 and how companies address their claims.
-Chapter 11 exit strategies for dealing with contaminated property.

A short question-and-answer session will follow.

Presenters:
Jennifer L. Marines, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Claudia R. Tobler, Counsel, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Pilar Tarry, Director, AlixPartners, LLP
M. Natasha Labovitz, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Moderator:
Lara R. Sheikh, Senior Legal Editor, Practical Law Bankruptcy

Register for the webinar.

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Reuters is reporting that opponents of two controversial oil pipelines face an uphill battle if they fight construction of the lines.

The report by Joseph Ax relied on experts who commented after the Trump administration issued orders to advance the Keystone XL and Dakota Access projects.

The orders signed by President Trump could revive Keystone XL, which would bring oil from Canada, and Dakota Access, a nearly completed pipeline that was planned to under a lake near a Native American reservation in North Dakota

“Nevertheless, several groups immediately said they would challenge in court any attempt to resume the projects, which have become hot-button political issues at the intersection of environmentalism, Native American tribal rights and energy needs,” writes Ax.

Read the Reuters article.

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The Texas Supreme Court ruled that a pipeline company could take private property by eminent domain, answering the question of whether or not the pipeline qualified as a “common carrier” under the Texas Natural Resource Code, reports Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. in its S&W Environmental & Natural Resources law blog.

In the article, Rachel M. Lynn explains that, typically, the power of eminent domain is granted to governmental entities rather than private institutions. Under Texas law, however, a common carrier has the right and power of eminent domain.

“The test utilized by the court to determine [the pipeline company’s] common carrier status was whether or not the pipeline would serve the needs of the public, not only those of the builder,” Lynn writes. “To pass this test, the court noted, the pipeline would need to provide reasonable proof of a future customer.”

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Veteran trial lawyer Jay Old has joined commercial litigation firm Hicks Thomas LLP where he will continue to represent construction, insurance, petrochemical and health care companies as part of his client portfolio.

Old’s addition will add offices in Austin and Beaumont. Old joined the firm effective Jan. 1.

“We are thrilled to be adding Jay and his team. He’s an exceptional lawyer with an outstanding track record,” said John B. Thomas, name partner and firm co-founder. “Many of us have known Jay for years, dating back to our days together at Andrews Kurth.”

Old’s clients include refineries, construction contractors, manufacturers, hospital systems and insurers. Joining him is labor and employment lawyer Jim Henges, along with four other lawyers from Old’s firm.

“I like to say I represent the job creators,” Old said. “I’m very excited to be joining the Hicks Thomas team, and hope to add to its reputation as a premier trial firm.”

Old is a frequent speaker at continuing education programs for lawyers across the country. He also is a former president of the Texas Association of Defense Counsel and has chaired the Construction Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

He has defended national clients in statewide and regional mass tort litigation, in toxic torts, construction and product liability cases. He also successfully defended insurance companies in a series of high-profile trials involving hailstorm claims in Galveston and elsewhere.

Old is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has been recognized on the Texas Super Lawyers list every year since 2005. A native of Beaumont, he is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the Texas Tech University School of Law.

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Nuclear plants, which today provide 20 percent of U.S. electric power and 62 percent of U.S. carbon-free electric power, are disappearing – through closures and early retirement – at a faster rate than the EPA forecasted due to a variety of economic, regulatory and political factors, according to an article published by FTI Consulting Inc.

Compliance with the federal Clean Power Plan would require increased reliance on new natural gas, wind and solar capacity will need to be installed to replace the dwindling nuclear power capacity, resulting in higher electricity prices.

A study by FTI Consulting found that current nuclear capacity would need to be preserved for the CPP’s goals to be achieved without a significant rise in wholesale electric prices, especially in the Eastern Interconnection.

Read the article.

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP successfully represented Matrix Petroleum Holdings LLC in a breach of contract suit against Talisman Energy USA Inc. A Texas appeals court decided against lifting an injunction that barred Talisman from proposing to drill mutually owned oil and gas wells on an Eagle Ford shale ranch.

In a release, the firm said the Fourth Court of Appeals ruled that Talisman’s actions threatened injury to real property. While Matrix is a minority stakeholder of the mineral leases, the companies had agreed to jointly develop interests.

The Gardere team was led by partners Alexander C. Chae and Mike Seely.

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The current decline in oil prices is having a great many unexpected and unwanted consequences, many of which may turn into long-lasting troubles for the oil and gas industry − and especially for its investors, according to an article published by DLA Piper.

Michael A. Silva and Vince Slusher write that investors who own shares in companies and partnerships that are suffering from the hard times in the oil patch will face an ever-bigger headache thanks to the tax consequences of the price drop.

“The problem – essentially a situation that requires investors to book income for tax purposes and to pay hefty federal taxes even though they don’t actually receive any cash – is a direct result of the ongoing restructuring of the industry and its debt, triggered by the crash in oil prices,” Silva and Slusher write.

Read the article.

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