Rule

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on Monday issued an interim final rule that will allow it to issue emergency orders on oil and natural gas pipelines, satisfying a requirement from a comprehensive pipeline safety bill enacted last summer.

The Department of Energy (DOE) released a revised version of its updated efficiency standards for residential gas furnaces late last week, quickly drawing a strong rebuke from industry lobbyists.

The Department of Interior (DOI) said Royal Dutch Shell plc’s misfortunes in the Arctic served at least part of the basis for a new final rule governing offshore oil and gas exploration by floating vessels in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. But critics say the new rule will hamper development by making it even more expensive to drill there.

Attorneys for the federal government have appealed last week’s ruling by a federal judge in Wyoming that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have the authority to enforce a rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands.

In a win for the oil and gas industry and its supporters, a federal judge in Wyoming ruled Tuesday that the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have the authority to enforce a rule governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public and tribal lands.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a final rule that applies to the Commission’s margin requirements for uncleared swaps in the context of cross-border transactions. It would limit the ability of banks and other traders to move swaps business abroad to avoid U.S. trading requirements.

In a surprise move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit this week canceled the traditional three-judge hearing in a case that could decide the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP), its landmark rule to limit carbon dioxide CO2 emissions from the nation’s power sector.

In a surprise move, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit this week canceled the traditional three-judge hearing in a case that could decide the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP), its landmark rule to limit carbon dioxide CO2 emissions from the nation’s power sector.

Streamlined rules that update federal oversight of oil, natural gas and sulfur leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) are to take effect at the end of May, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said.