January, 2010

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Fifth Circuit Considers Gas Price Manipulation Allegations

The Energy Law Blog

By Michael A. Mahone, Jr. In U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Dizona, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently considered allegations by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission that a natural gas trader had attempted to manipulate the price of natural gas by knowingly delivering false and inaccurate price and volume data to reporting services.

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EPA Issues Final Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding

The Energy Law Blog

By Stephen Wiegand On December 15, 2009, EPA published in the Federal Register its final endangerment findings with respect to greenhouse gases. See 74 Fed. Reg. 66496 (Dec. 15, 2009) [[link] This rulemaking is a response to Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), in which the Supreme Court held that greenhouse gases were “pollutants” under the Clean Air Act and ordered EPA to determine whether greenhouse gases “may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare” under Section

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Secretary of Interior Announces Reform in Nation’s Oil and Gas Development Policy

The Energy Law Blog

By Matthew Simone On January 6, 2010, the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced plans to reform the nation’s policy on oil and gas development in an effort to shift from the Bush Administration’s “anywhere, anyhow” policy. The goals of this reform are to improve environmental protection and to reduce costly litigation and protests. Under the reformed policy, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will provide more detailed environmental review prior to leasing oil and natural gas resour