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Energy
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May 13, 2013
High Court Won't Review FERC's Entergy Power Deal Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision allowing two Entergy Corp. units to back out of a joint power agreement without penalty, ignoring an argument that FERC had neglected its duty to protect energy customers from an unfair rate hike.
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May 13, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Partnership Assurance, UBS, Euronext
A private equity-backed British life insurance group is plotting out an initial public offering that would value it around $1.5 billion, while higher-ups at UBS have agreed to meet with representatives from an activist investment firm urging the bank to split itself up and consider an alternative ownership structure.
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May 13, 2013
Elliott's Hess Nominees Say They'll Work For No Bonuses
Elliott Management Corp.’s five nominees for the board of Hess Corp. said Monday that if elected Thursday, they'll forgo a performance-based cash bonus Elliott had promised them, putting an end to one of this proxy season’s more creative tactics.
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May 10, 2013
Clement Brief Backs BP In Row Over $8B Deepwater Settlement
Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement on Friday filed a Fifth Circuit amicus brief on behalf of accounting experts who support BP PLC’s allegations that a judge misconstrued the terms of its $7.8 billion settlement with Gulf of Mexico businesses claiming losses from the Deepwater Horizon spill, allowing an administrator to overpay them.
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May 10, 2013
NJ Watchdog Blasts State's $446M Solar Projects Deal
New Jersey’s utility watchdog on Thursday issued sharp criticism of Public Service Electric & Gas Co. and the state’s Board of Public Utilities after the regulator approved up to $446 million in solar power projects, saying the settlement was improperly struck behind closed doors.
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May 10, 2013
Ex-DOE Lab Workers Win $3M In Wrongful Firing Case
Five former longtime employees of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scored a $2.7 million victory Friday when a California jury found that the lab had breached its employment contracts by laying them off in 2008 rather than eliminating temporary employees first.
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May 10, 2013
4 Tips For Evaluating An M&A Target's Legal Risks
Chevron Corp.'s long-running dispute over alleged pollution in Ecuador by Texaco Inc., which it acquired in 2001, and Bank of America Corp.'s legal woes over mortgage-backed securities sold by 2008 acquisition Countrywide Financial Corp. are high-profile examples of legal headaches companies can inherit following mergers or acquisitions. Here, M&A attorneys offer four ways a buyer can properly assess the legal liabilities of its target before moving forward with a deal.
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May 10, 2013
Rep. Floats Bipartisan Ethanol Reform Bill
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Friday introduced bipartisan legislation that would reform the federal ethanol mandate, highlighting the harmful impacts of a federal ethanol production requirement on farmers, consumers and sportsmen.
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May 10, 2013
Ince & Co. Taps DLA Piper Energy Pro In Singapore
International firm Ince & Co. has tapped an energy finance and projects expert from DLA Piper LLP to join its Singapore office, where he will head up its Asia Energy practice, the firm said Friday.
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May 10, 2013
Deepwater Securities Suits Belong In UK, BP Tells Court
BP PLC asked a Texas federal judge Friday to toss suits brought by public retirement funds in multidistrict litigation over losses they suffered on the London Stock Exchange following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, arguing the cases should be heard in the U.K.
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May 10, 2013
Oil Co. Sees Claims Trimmed In $15M Katrina Coverage Row
Oil field operator Cox Operating LLC on Friday lost its bad faith claim against an insurer from whom it has been seeking up to $15 million for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
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May 10, 2013
Exxon, QPI Outline Export Plans For $10B Texas LNG Terminal
Exxon Mobil Corp. and state-run Qatar Petroleum International have worked out a formal plan to export 15.6 million metric tons a year of liquefied natural gas from their proposed $10 billion terminal facility at Sabine Pass, Texas, according to a Thursday statement.
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May 10, 2013
Edison Unit Gets FERC's Tariff Ruling Nixed In DC Circ.
The D.C. Circuit on Friday backed Southern California Edison Co.’s challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to nix its proposed transmission tariffs, affirming the agency’s methodology but saying it illegally updated the return on equity without properly considering evidence provided.
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May 10, 2013
Fortis Rips Late Bid For Hearings In $1.5B NY Utility Deal
An eleventh-hour demand for evidentiary hearings into whether Fortis Inc.'s planned $1.5 billion purchase of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. would be good for New York state ratepayers and the environment has "absolutely no justification" and comes far too late, the companies said Thursday.
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May 10, 2013
Tata Power Buys 40% Stake In $700M Eurasian Hydro Project
Tata Power Co. Ltd. has inked an agreement with Norway's Clean Energy Invest AS and the World Bank's investment arm, the International Finance Corp., to develop a $700 million hydroelectric project in the nation of Georgia to provide power to Turkey, the Indian integrated power giant said Friday.
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May 10, 2013
Undersea Oil Exploration Blasts In Gulf Draw Federal Scrutiny
The U.S. Department of the Interior is launching a full-scale environmental investigation examining the impact of underwater blasts set off in the Gulf of Mexico to detect energy resources beneath the sea floor, the agency said Friday.
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May 10, 2013
Stoel Rives Lands Natural Resources Pro From Birch Horton
Stoel Rives LLP gave a recent boost to its environment, land use and natural resources group by hiring away a partner from Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot PC with 18 years of expertise in oil, gas and mining issues to work in its Anchorage, Alaska, office, the firm said Thursday.
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May 10, 2013
Hess Shuffles Management Plan As Proxy Showdown Looms
Hess Corp. outlined plans Friday to separate the roles of CEO and chairman and appoint a onetime General Electric Co. executive to lead its board, the oil company's latest play in a fiery fight with an activist hedge fund.
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May 10, 2013
Markey Says BP's Federal Contract Ban Should Stay In Place
A leading House Democrat said Friday that BP PLC hasn't turned over information detailing how it misled Congress about the amount of oil released during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and urged regulators to keep the company's federal contracts ban in place until it adequately responds.
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May 10, 2013
Aban Secures $329M In 2 Mexico Offshore Rig Contracts
Aban Offshore Ltd. has reached agreements on two charter contracts for its offshore rig units in Mexico for roughly three years each, worth a combined $329 million, the Indian oil and gas services firm said in a stock exchange filing Friday.
Expert Analysis
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9th Circ. Clears The Air For Mine Owners
In the recent case, Center for Biological Diversity v. Salazar, the Ninth Circuit ruled that mining plans of operations do not expire after temporary closures. This decision marks notable, favorable precedent for the mining industry and project proponents and helps settle expectations for mining plans of operations, says Tyler Welti of Perkins Coie LLP.
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Dissecting FATCA: Oil And Gas Trader Edition
Under the U.S. Department of Treasury's Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, foreign oil and gas traders must take steps now to ensure that they are on the correct path to compliance. On the other hand, the Treasury should issue additional guidance allowing withholding agents to apply for refunds on behalf of the recipients of withholdable payments. Otherwise, there may be too much administrative burden, creating a tax windfall for the Treasury, say attorneys with Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.
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Will AIA Power Clean Technology?
The creation of cost-effective, efficient means to challenge the validity of a patent will certainly become one of the long-lasting impacts of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. For clean technology companies, the proceedings offer a way to navigate the tidal wave of industry patents issued under fast-paced examination programs, say attorneys with Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.
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Calif.'s Road To Fracking Regulation Will Be Bumpy
For the foreseeable future in California, fracking regulation will continue to move forward on three parallel paths: through the courts, legislature and agencies. Unfortunately, however, none of these paths are likely to provide the industry with clear rules regarding fracking activities in the next year, say attorneys with Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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Sharpen Your Pencils For Conflict Minerals Disclosures
As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-mandated conflict minerals disclosure deadline draws near, companies must push forward with their diligence and compliance efforts, using this as an opportunity to rethink certain aspects of their operations and derive efficiencies when possible, says Barbara Jones of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
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Power Plays: EPA's Role In Electric Power Generation
Although unlikely, it is possible that legislation could be passed in the next Congress that would impact a number of electrical generation regulatory developments — for example, legislation that could preempt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate coal combustion residuals in favor of the states, says Henry Eisenberg of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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Act Now To Harness IRS Energy Tax Credits
With $150 million of advanced energy manufacturing tax credits now available from the Internal Revenue Service, eligible applicants should act quickly to meet the April 9, 2013, submission deadline and review a few basic considerations about the credits, say attorneys with Nixon Peabody LLP.
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A Few Thoughts On FERC's Civil Penalty Calculations
Recently, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued policy statements that describe the guidelines it follows to calculate civil penalties for violations of FERC regulations. While the statements provide a good road map for calculating the amount of potential liability, there are a few unclear areas that can have a great impact on the results, says Hugh Hilliard of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
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6 Areas Often Underestimated In Law Firm Mergers
While mergers in other industries are driven by cost efficiencies or economies of scale, law firm mergers are typically focused on the potential to leverage clients and the overall quality of the attorney population, branding and market position. As a result, full disclosure of third-party vendor or support function operating costs can be a secondary concern until after the deal closes. Firms need to hit the ground running the moment the merger is inked, says Matthew Sunderman of HBR Consulting LLC.
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How FERC Is Fueling New Merchant Transmission Projects
Recent guidance from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should provide greater flexibility for new nonincumbent, cost-based, participant-funded transmission projects. For example, developers may now select a subset of customers and negotiate directly with those customers to reach agreement on rates, terms and conditions, say attorneys with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.