oil industry – Overlawyered

Show trials for fossil fuel execs? Candidates divided on that

Walter Olson — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:04:20 +0000

My new Bulwark piece: “He does not say what criminal law he thinks they have broken, despite the plain current legality under current law of operating refineries, at-pump gas sales and so forth. But note that Sanders’ language is not forward-looking — it’s retrospective. He’s not just talking about passing some new law and then arresting executives who proceed to violate it. He is talking about prosecuting past lawful behavior….

“America needs a politics with fewer authoritarian impulses, not more.”

Tags: Bernie Sanders, climate change, climate deniers to the wall, crime and punishment, oil industry, WO writings

Show trials for fossil fuel execs? Candidates divided on that is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“In liberal Takoma Park, a bold new climate proposal: Banning fossil fuels”

Walter Olson — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 05:05:13 +0000

Oh! Takoma! “Takoma Park, the liberal enclave just outside Washington known as the ‘Berkeley of the East,’ is debating whether to outlaw gas stoves, leaf blowers and water heaters. The proposal… would ban all gas appliances, close fossil fuel pipelines, and move gas stations outside city limits by 2045. The cost to the average homeowner could reach $25,000, officials wrote.” [Rebecca Tan, Washington Post]

Tags: climate change, Maryland, oil industry

“In liberal Takoma Park, a bold new climate proposal: Banning fossil fuels” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“That huge opioid verdict? Watch out — the energy industry is next”

Walter Olson — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 09:57:35 +0000

Can the lawful sale of products be retrospectively declared a “public nuisance” and tagged with enormous damages, based on theories that the products caused harm after being used by third parties not in court? Before such theories succeeded in an Oklahoma courtroom against Johnson & Johnson over its promotion of opioid painkillers, they had been unsuccessfully deployed against the makers of guns used in crime, while another set of recent lawsuits attempts to deploy them in hopes of making the sellers of fossil fuels pay for the harms of climate change. Scott Keller, Houston Chronicle/Texans for Lawsuit Reform:

Public nuisance claims traditionally have been limited to conduct interfering with truly public rights. For example, courts for decades have recognized public nuisance claims brought by governments to remove impediments from their public highways or waterways. Even then, courts generally did not recognize such claims where a legislature or administrative agency had already regulated an industry. After all, if the political branches of government regulated an industry, then they were telling courts what did and did not qualify as an unlawful “nuisance.”

But a series of recent lawsuits wants courts to ignore these limits on public nuisance claims and obliterate entire industries. These lawsuits seek to massively expand what counts as a public right, and they want courts to destroy companies that are already complying with existing regulations.

Similarly: “’A loss on the public nuisance theory in the Oklahoma opioid public nuisance theory would have been a potentially devastating state court precedent for the climate change public nuisance cases now pending in state courts,’ said Richard Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard.” [Dino Grandoni, Washington Post]

Which raises a question: when trial lawyers were pitching Oklahoma politicos on the large sums to be gained by pursuing strained public nuisance theories against opioid makers, do you think they mentioned that the theories if embraced might work to shut down the locally popular oil and gas business?

Tags: climate change, oil industry, Oklahoma, public nuisance

“That huge opioid verdict? Watch out — the energy industry is next” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Supreme Court roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 09:59:00 +0000

Nice little Supreme Court you got there, be a shame if anyone came around to mess it up, say Sens. Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Gillibrand, Hirono, and Durbin in incendiary “enemy-of-the-court” brief [Robert Barnes, Washington Post/Laredo Morning Times; David French, National Review; James Huffman, Inside Sources]
Cato podcast triple-header, all with Caleb Brown: Trevor Burrus and Ilya Shapiro on Gundy v. U.S. and the limits of Congressional delegation, Ilya Shapiro and Clark Neily on the aftermath of double-jeopardy case Gamble v. U.S., and Trevor Burrus on the First Amendment case Manhattan Community Access Corporation v. Halleck (cable public access channel not a state actor);
Criminal forfeiture, where used, should track lines of individual owner and asset responsibility, not the loose all-for-one joint-and-several-liability standards of some civil litigation [Trevor Burrus on Cato certiorari petition in Peithman v. U.S.]
Federalist Society National Student Symposium panel on “The Original Understanding of the Privileges and Immunities Clause” with Randy Barnett, Rebecca Zietlow, Kurt Lash, Ilan Wurman, and moderated by Judge Amul Thapar;
On the independence of administrative law judges, issues left over from Lucia v. U.S. are now coming back up in SEC proceedings [William Yeatman on Cato Fifth Circuit amicus brief in Cochran v. U.S.]
Take-land-now, pay-later procedures may get pipelines built faster but at the expense of property owners’ rights. SCOTUS should act to assure just and timely compensation [Ilya Shapiro on Cato certiorari petition in Givens v. Mountain Valley Pipeline]

Tags: constitutional law, eminent domain, forfeiture, oil industry, Richard Blumenthal, Supreme Court

Supreme Court roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Energy and climate roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 09:58:45 +0000

“The Supreme Court Should End Pipeline Companies ‘Build First, Pay Later’ Use Of Eminent Domain” [Andrew Wimer, Institute for Justice/Forbes, Robert Thomas, Inverse Condemnation on cert petition in Like v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line] Plus: Federalist Society teleforum on pipeline eminent domain battles with Robert J. McNamara of IJ and Peter Tolsdorf of NAM;
New nuclear format: “Enough communities in Utah and elsewhere have agreed to purchase nuclear power from a small modular reactor planned at the Idaho National Laboratory, triggering a next phase in its development.” [Amy Joi O’Donoghue, Deseret News, Idaho National Lab/Energy Department, Adrian Cho/Science Mag]
“National manufacturers group warns Florida a ‘climate litigation’ target” [John Haughey, Center Square]
“Transportation Department Proposes New Criminal Thresholds For Anti-Pipeline Protests” [Western Wire, earlier here, here, here, etc.]
The better to pressure you, my dear: groups demand that California insurers disclose fossil fuel insureds [Insurance Journal]
“New Orleans coastal lawsuit will kill jobs, critics say” [Bethany Blankley, Center Square Louisiana, earlier]

Tags: climate change, eminent domain, Florida, insurance, New Orleans, oil industry, Supreme Court

Energy and climate roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Now you’re (not) cooking with gas

Walter Olson — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 10:05:02 +0000

A New York utility says the politically arranged blockage of a pipeline project may mean an end to new gas hookups for residential and commercial customers [Bernadette Hogan and Ben Feuerherd, New York Post]

A demand for “no new fossil fuel infrastructure” seems to be rapidly emerging from the green wing of world politics (Seattle, IEA, Vermont, Maryland, New York, earlier), making clear that its objection is not to a particular pipeline or fracking project or oilfield development or export terminal but to any and all of them, period.

I wonder whether the demand, if taken seriously, would also entail disallowing new gasoline stations.

More/related: strangling the New York power grid [Robert Bryce, Crain’s New York Business]

Tags: climate change, New York, oil industry, utilities

Now you’re (not) cooking with gas is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Banking and finance roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:02:40 +0000

“In the banking world, with which I am familiar, the general belief has been that you disobey supervisory guidance at your peril. That sounds like law and regulation, but without the open process and accountability. Over many years it has certainly felt that way.” [Wayne A. Abernathy, Federalist Society commentary]
Some House Democrats use hearings to badger banks into cutting off clients in industry areas like guns, pipeline construction [Zachary Warmbrodt, Politico]
New U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform papers on reforming securities litigation: “Risk and Reward: The Securities Fraud Class Action Lottery” [Stephen J. Choi, Jessica Erickson, Adam C. Pritchard]; “Containing the Contagion: Proposals to Reform the Broken Securities Class Action System” [Andrew J. Pincus]
“A pot banking bill is headed to House markup with bipartisan support” [Jim Saksa, Roll Call]
Your periodic reminder that corporate law *is* a form of public interest law [Stephen Bainbridge quoting Hester Peirce]
“History Shows Forcing Companies to Put Workers on Boards Is a Bad Idea” [Ryan Bourne, UK Telegraph/Cato, earlier on Elizabeth Warren proposals]

Tags: banks, corporate governance, guns, oil industry, regulation and its reform, securities litigation

Banking and finance roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Biofuels mandate: a renewable road to ruin

Walter Olson — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 11:01:24 +0000

“A decade ago, the U.S. mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation — and a huge spike in carbon emissions.” A New York Times/ProPublica investigation by Abrahm Lustgarten. Excerpt:

In the mid-2000s, Western nations, led by the United States, began drafting environmental laws that encouraged the use of vegetable oil in fuels — an ambitious move to reduce carbon dioxide and curb global warming. But these laws were drawn up based on an incomplete accounting of the true environmental costs. Despite warnings that the policies could have the opposite of their intended effect, they were implemented anyway, producing what now appears to be a calamity with global consequences.

The tropical rain forests of Indonesia, and in particular the peatland regions of Borneo, have large amounts of carbon trapped within their trees and soil. Slashing and burning the existing forests to make way for oil-palm cultivation had a perverse effect: It released more carbon. A lot more carbon.

Tags: climate change, oil industry

Biofuels mandate: a renewable road to ruin is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Environment roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:01:56 +0000

Auto fuel economy standards: “The indirect CAFE program costs the economy at least six times as much as a carbon tax that reduces emissions equivalently.” [Peter Van Doren and Randal O’Toole, Cato]
Whether grounded in official discretion or legislation, cash exactions levied on land development should still need to meet constitutional standards [Ilya Shapiro and Reilly Stephens on Cato Institute certiorari amicus brief in Dabbs v. Anne Arundel County]
A stumbling block for Boulder: “With Two High-Profile Losses, When Do Climate Plaintiffs Start Worrying About Sanctions?” [Daniel Fisher; John O’Brien (views of former Colorado AG Gale Norton and current Colorado AG Cynthia Coffman); Adam Morey, New York Post] Issue isn’t whether climate change should be addressed, but what the Constitution and prudence tell us about whose job that is [Donald Kochan, L.A. Times] And a Federalist Society podcast with Kochan on municipal climate lawsuits;
“Contract Dispute Cracks the ‘Thin Green Line’ Activists Are Drawing to Stop U.S. Fossil Fuel Exports” [Greg Herbers, Washington Legal Foundation, earlier]
Neigh-ligence: latest effort to get courts to create standing for non-human plaintiffs is suit on behalf of neglected horse [Karin Brulliard, Washington Post/SFGate, earlier on animal rights]
EPA announces intention to make regulatory science more transparent by making scientific work on which it relies open to public. Pressure groups erupt with outrage [Adam J. White, City Journal]

Tags: animal rights, CAFE, climate change, Colorado, Environmental Protection Agency, land use and zoning, oil industry

Environment roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

No duty for gas station to paint pavement grooves

Walter Olson — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 04:58:17 +0000

“Woman catches her shoe in groove in pavement at Tewksbury, Mass. gas station; she falls, is injured. Woman: The station had a duty to warn me of the danger, perhaps by painting the grooves (which are mandated by state law to contain spills) brightly. First Circuit: There is no such duty. But here’s a Judge Selya vocab quiz for your trouble: pellucid, behoof, animadversions, and rescript.” [John Kenneth Ross, Short Circuit on Potvin v. Speedway LLC]

Tags: First Circuit, oil industry

No duty for gas station to paint pavement grooves is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system