Posted in Alert
On Feb. 28, the Captured Carbon Utilization Parity Act (CCU Parity Act) was introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. The CCU Parity Act would increase the tax credit available for carbon capture and utilization to match the tax credit available for carbon capture and sequestration for both the direct air capture and the power and industrial sectors.
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Posted in AlertCarbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is primed to play a crucial role in setting the global energy system on a path to net zero. As a result, the United States has endeavored to incentivize investment in large-scale CCUS projects through substantial financial incentives such as the Section 45Q tax credit. More recently, the Biden administration and Congress have taken steps to promote the deployment of CCUS technology through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which allocates billions of dollars for the industry, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which further enhances the 45Q tax credit.
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Posted in Alert
Part I of this three-part methane update discussed the state of substantive methane regulation in the United States and touched on the Inflation Reduction Act’s (“IRA” or “the Act”) addition of Section 136 to the Clean Air Act. This Part II covers Section 136’s first-ever federal “charge on methane emissions[.]” Part III will cover currently proposed changes to the substantive regulation of methane emissions.
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Posted in Alert
As carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects proliferate across America, hints of conflict around the relatively new and large-scale business endeavors are beginning to appear. On Tuesday, Oct. 18, international chemical company Air Products filed a lawsuit against Livingston Parish in Louisiana, asking that a recently passed moratorium on the drilling of injection wells be deemed “invalid and unenforceable.” The lawsuit represents one of the few instances in which courts have been asked to adjudicate a dispute between a CCS project developer and a municipality seeking to hinder the project’s development.
Indiana is the most recent state to build out a regulatory structure in anticipation of significant carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) project deployment. Last week, Governor Eric Holcomb signed into law H.R. 1209, which addressed common issues to carbon sequestration regulation, including pore space ownership, liability, permitting, monitoring and mineral rights primacy. Many provisions of the bill are similar in terms and effect to legislation passed by early adopters in the CCUS space, including Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. Relevant provisions of H.R. 1209 include the following:
Mineral Rights Primacy: The bill makes clear that “all rights and requirements” relating to carbon sequestration set forth in the bill are subordinate to “rights pertaining to oil, gas, and coal resources” and may not adversely affect such resources.
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Posted in CCUS
The newly passed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is poised to transform the carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) industry through significant tax credits and benefits, including through enhancements to Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code. The IRA encourages additional capital investment in CCUS projects by developers and sponsors through at least the following:
Posted in Emerging Chemical Issues
Last month, the IRS published Notice 2021-66, issued in response to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (Jobs Act) reinstatement of the previously expired “Superfund Tax”—an excise tax imposed on manufacturers, producers, and importers of certain chemicals (i.e., “taxable chemicals”) found in fuels and numerous other industrial products. Understanding whether, and how, the Superfund Tax affects businesses’ tax liabilities will be critical when the tax becomes effective later this year. But given the lack of current IRS guidance and the fact that the Superfund Tax was last in effect over 25 years ago, affected taxpayers will likely face sizable challenges and uncertainties moving forward.
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When the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) was originally enacted in 1980, the excise tax was used, in part, to fund the Superfund cleanup trust for contaminated sites based on certain sales or uses of taxable chemicals. That taxing authority expired at the end of 1995. Now, however, the Jobs Act reinstates the tax effective July 1, 2022, with an initial expiration date of Dec. 31, 2031. The new Superfund Tax is expected to infuse $14.5 billion into the Superfund program over the next decade.[1]
Posted in Oil and Gas
In our last article, we introduced the recently finalized New Rule of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which expands safety and reporting requirements to previously unregulated onshore gas gathering lines.[1] PHMSA has now dubbed those previously unregulated lines Type C, for new safety and reporting requirements, and Type R, for new reporting requirements only. In this article, we focus on some of the practical requirements for operators of Type C and Type R lines implicated by the New Rule – specifically, what must be reported, how and by when.
Incident and Annual Reports
Under 49 C.F.R. part 191, operators of Type C and Type R lines must now notify PHMSA of incidents and submit incident and annual reports.[2] Type R lines, however, remain exempt from reporting certain operational changes and safety-related conditions under sections 191.22(b) and (c) and 191.23.[3]
Posted in Oil and Gas, Texas
Throughout the oil patch, it has become common for parties to enter into agreements that contain Texas choice-of-law provisions, regardless of where the work is being performed or the extent of the parties’ sometimes tenuous relationship to the state of Texas. In Wyoming, parties will occasionally use Texas choice-of-law provisions as a vehicle to bypass the state’s restrictive anti-indemnity act, which forbids oilfield indemnity agreements outright, to instead avail themselves of the less restrictive Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act, which allows oilfield indemnity agreements to stand in limited circumstances. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 127.005. However, on Dec. 10, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion suggesting that these exercises in circumvention are inappropriate, even under Texas law.
The case, Cannon Oil and Gas Well Services Inc. v. KLX Energy Services LLC, No. 21-20115, 2021 WL 5856796 (5th Cir. Dec. 10, 2021), concerns a Master Equipment Rental Agreement (Agreement) entered into by Wyoming-based exploration company Cannon Oil and Gas Well Services (Cannon) and Texas-based KLX Energy Services (KLX). The Agreement contained a mutual indemnity provision under which Cannon and KLX agreed to “protect, defend [and] indemnify” each other against losses involving injuries sustained by the other’s employees. Cannon, 2021 WL 5856796 at *1. It also contained a choice-of-law provision stating that Texas law governs the Agreement. Id.
Posted in Oil and Gas
Alexander K. Obrecht and Aidan Slavin
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently finalized the second of three gas transmission and gathering-line safety rules, originating out of a nearly 10-year rulemaking.[1] The focus of the New Rule: extending reporting and, for certain specifications, safety requirements to previously unregulated onshore gas gathering lines. Practically, the rule will shift regulatory requirements normally imposed on the midstream industry further upstream to exploration and production companies that own their own gathering systems.
The New Rule contains plenty to unpack. For example: Which previously unregulated gathering lines are now regulated? What are the reporting requirements and deadlines? What are the safety requirements? Where do production and gathering begin and end? As the first in a series, this post will break down PHMSA’s expansion of regulated gathering lines.
