Overturned

A federal judge in Louisiana last week overturned the Department of Interior’s decision imposing an additional regulatory burden on offshore oil and natural gas operators in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal judge in Louisiana has overturned the Department of Interior’s decision imposing an additional regulatory burden on offshore oil and natural gas operators in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

With Pennsylvania’s 2010 legislative session winding down, Gov. Ed Rendell on Friday asked leaders of the General Assembly to gather with him and energy industry leaders in Harrisburg Monday to work on a severance tax on gas produced from the state’s portion of the prolific Marcellus Shale play.

A federal judge in Wyoming has overturned water quality rules that gas producers and the state had alleged were too restrictive and not based on complete consideration of related science by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The rules were intended to protect cropland in Montana from the downstream discharge of water from Powder River Basin coalbed methane (CBM) production.

A federal judge in Wyoming has overturned water quality rules that gas producers and the state had alleged were too restrictive and not based on complete consideration of related science by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The rules were intended to protect cropland in Montana from the downstream discharge of water from Powder River Basin coalbed methane (CBM) production.

A district court judge has overturned a jury verdict that Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas underpaid $7.55 million in federal royalties on oil production, concluding that the plaintiff in the case, a former auditor of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), failed to meet one of the conditions necessary to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government against the producer under the False Claims Act (FCA).

A district court judge Friday overturned a jury verdict that Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas underpaid $7.55 million in federal royalties on oil production, concluding that the plaintiff in the case, a former auditor of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), failed to meet one of the conditions necessary to bring a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit on behalf of the government against the producer.

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling Tuesday lost a bid to have his convictions on 19 criminal counts overturned. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who presided over the four-month trial of Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay, gave no explanation last week when she denied Skilling’s request.

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling Tuesday lost a bid to have his convictions on 19 criminal counts overturned. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who presided over the four-month trial of Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay, gave no explanation when she denied Skilling’s request.