2015 - JSH

April 7, 2015

Injection wells, fracking, and earthquakes

There are two ways that oil and gas activity can cause earthquakes. The first is the use of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), the high pressure underground explosive activity that can itself provoke lands to shake. The second is the use of waste injection wells, which can trigger geologic faults to shift.

read

April 1, 2015

Commercial Litigation

Jury reaches verdict in first of many cases brought by Stanford receiver against former Stanford insiders

A jury trial was held last month in federal court in Dallas against Peter Romero, a former U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador and former advisor to R. Allen Stanford. The Romero trial represented the first of a dozen trials scheduled for 2015 and 2016 in cases brought by the Stanford receiver,…

read

January 26, 2015

Environmental Litigation

Supreme Court to review EPA rule on power-plant emissions

On November 25, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States granted a petition to review three related cases regarding power plant emissions of mercury and other listed hazardous air pollutants. These cases have been consolidated for hearing to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s…

read

January 26, 2015

Environmental Litigation Commercial Litigation

Massey Energy CEO faces criminal indictment for impeding federal regulators

Few thought that the politically powerful chief executive of West Virginia’s Massey Energy would face criminal charges stemming from a 2010 explosion that killed 29 workers at the Upper Big Branch coal mine. But a November grand jury indictment took cynics by surprise. The indictment’s accusations are many. Don Blankenship,…

read

News and Analysis