Attorney

ExxonMobil Corp. won a partial victory Thursday after a Texas district court judge opened the door to allow Massachusetts Attorney (AG) General Maura Healey’s internal phone records and depositions be examined regarding a multi-state investigation into whether the oil major intentionally hid research concerning the impact of its operations on the environment.

House Republicans and Democrats on the Science, Space and Technology committee sparred Wednesday about whether they have the legal authority to require state attorneys general (AG) to give them documents related to an investigation of ExxonMobil Corp.’s climate change research.

ExxonMobil Corp. has scored a win in the wide-ranging inquiry into its climate change research, with the Virgin Islands Department of Justice agreeing to withdraw a subpoena that was requesting years of internal documents.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Christopher Abruzzo, along with the agency’s top attorney, resigned on Thursday following a rapidly unfolding scandal involving sexually explicit emails that were exchanged among dozens of former and current staffers in the state attorney general’s office.

One week after the U.S. Senate confirmed the Obama administration’s appointment of Timothy Massad as the new chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), he got down to business on Wednesday by naming Aitan Goelman as the agency’s director of the Division of Enforcement.

An attorney hired by two companies navigating their way through bankruptcy court has demanded that the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) complete a supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS) on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) within two weeks or face additional legal proceedings.

President Obama Wednesday announced his intent to nominate a prominent Washington, DC, attorney with extensive experience in environmental law to a high-level position in the Department of Interior.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Meadhas namedBridget Hillas director of theOffice of State Lands and Investments, which is involved in, among other things, associated wellhead natural gas flaring and coalbed methane leases (seeDaily GPI,June 20, 2012). Hill, who was an attorney for the lands office for six years, replacesRyan Lance, who is moving to the private sector. The office supports the state’s Board of Land Commissioners and the Loan and Investment Board, which are composed of the top five elected officials, including Mead.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which includes under its regulatory umbrella much of the state’s natural gas and oil industry, needs to open its doors wider to public scrutiny, said acting DEP secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo.