Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP and an employee were indicted by a California grand jury Monday on 46 total criminal counts for allegedly violating state laws in connection with an oil pipeline leak last year near Santa Barbara.
Criminal
Articles from Criminal
Plains All American, Employee Facing Criminal Charges for California Oil Spill
Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP and an employee were indicted by a California grand jury Monday on 46 total criminal counts for allegedly violating state laws in connection with an oil pipeline leak last year near Santa Barbara.
PG&E Working Through Legal Aftershocks of San Bruno Blast
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) executives said Thursday there is no early resolution in sight for the regulatory and criminal legal proceedings facing the utility for the 2010 explosion of one of its natural gas pipelines, which killed eight and devastated a San Bruno, CA, neighborhood (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27, 2010).
BP’s Macondo Supervisors Denied Bid to Drop Involuntary Manslaughter Charges
Two BP plc employees seeking to have involuntary manslaughter charges related to the Macondo well blowout were denied their motions by a Louisiana court on Monday.
ExxonMobil’s XTO Facing Criminal Charges in Pennsylvania
Criminal charges have been filed by the Pennsylvania attorney general against ExxonMobil Corp.’s XTO Energy Inc. for violating environmental laws in 2010, when more than 50,000 gallons of Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater were spilled.
North Dakota Cracks Down on Improper Wellsite Waste Dumping
Levying the largest civil penalty ever — $1.5 million — for an oil and natural gas violation, the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) last Wednesday found a small operator, Halek Operating ND LLC, guilty of violating state standards for disposing of salt water, a byproduct of oil production, in an injection well.
Boulder, CO, Enacts Permit Drilling Moratorium, Water Ban
The Boulder City Council in Colorado on Tuesday night unanimously agreed to impose a one-year moratorium on issuing new drilling permits, and it adopted on first reading a ban to use or sell water for oil and gas extraction.
State-Federal MOU Could Resolve Fracking Conflict
The federal government and states would reach a compromise on regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if the parties agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the issue, a Texas official told a House panel Wednesday.
People
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider the appeal of former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who was convicted in 2006 on 19 criminal charges. In a 3-0 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans last January denied a request to overturn Skilling’s convictions, which the defense claimed were based on incorrect legal theory, faulty jury instructions, a biased jury and prosecutorial misconduct (see NGI, Jan. 12). However, the three-judge panel ordered that Skilling be resentenced, which could reduce the prison term of 24 years and four months. The court agreed with the defense team’s argument that Judge Sim Lake, who presided over Skilling’s trial, had misapplied federal guidelines in enhancing Skilling’s sentence. When Skilling was sentenced, Lake ruled that Skilling’s conduct had endangered a “financial institution” because his actions had damaged the value of Enron’s pension fund. The circuit court found that Enron’s pension fund was not a financial institution. Skilling’s legal team appealed for a review of the case to the Supreme Court in May (see NGI, May 18). The defense team argues that under a federal fraud statute, prosecutors failed to show that Skilling deprived Enron of his “honest services.” The defense also contends that pretrial publicity in Houston, where Enron was headquartered, had prejudiced the jury and led to an unfair trial.
Supreme Court to Hear Skilling’s Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to consider the appeal of former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who was convicted in 2006 on 19 criminal charges.