Enforcement

The Texas House is expected to discuss the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) Sunset Bill (HB 1818) on Tuesday. As it stands, the bill would reauthorize the commission for 12 years and require it to establish a policy that encourages use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), among other things.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) secured $13.7 billion during fiscal year (FY) 2016 from companies to control pollution, including several in the oil and natural gas industry, the agency said Monday in its annual enforcement results release.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) secured $13.7 billion during fiscal year (FY) 2016 from companies to control pollution, including several in the oil and natural gas industry, the agency said Monday in its annual enforcement results release.

Staff of FERC’s Office of Enforcement (OE) sought to recover more than $567 million in civil penalties and $45 million in disgorgement through litigation work in Fiscal Year 2016. The most significant shift in the nature of the Division of Investigations (DOI) work during the year was the amount of time spent litigating in federal District Court, OE officials said Thursday.

FERC enforcement staff rejected Total Gas & Power North America Inc.’s (TGPNA) arguments against staff’s allegations of natural gas market manipulation against the company and two of its trading managers Friday, but in a highly unusual move, staff also requested that the Commission schedule a hearing on certain factual matters before an administrative law judge (ALJ).

Total Gas & Power North America Inc.’s (TGPNA) efforts to move its defense against FERC enforcement staff allegations of three years of natural gas trading manipulation from the regulatory agency to a federal district court were hamstrung Friday when the court tossed out that request.

A market manipulation case brought against Total Gas & Power North America Inc. (TGPNA) by FERC’s enforcement staff “suffers from multiple infirmities” and doesn’t include documentary evidence of intent to manipulate any market, according to the company.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is restarting a process to improve statewide consistency in the way it conducts inspections of regulated entities, ensures compliance with state and federal laws, and handles enforcement cases, the agency said Tuesday.

Heading into 2016, energy companies are having to adapt their regulatory compliance efforts to increasingly account for risk, according to Deloitte & Touche LLP’s “Top Regulatory Trends for 2016 in Energy.”