Off The Tracks: Quantifying Potential Monetary Exposure From Crude-By-Rail Incidents

On August 22, 2011, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) issued an emergency rule outlining several new requirements governing the development of horizontal wells in the Marcellus Shale.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office plans to award up to $60 million for projects that expand domestic energy production through innovative chemicals, fertilizers, fuels, and feedstock technologies. The funding opportunity will focus on three key areas: biointermediate depots, refinery integration with alternative feedstocks, and hydrogen/natural gas blending pilot sites. Applications are expected to open in November 2026 for research, development, and scale-up projects l

California has enacted the nation's most comprehensive data center legislation, fundamentally reshaping how electricity costs, grid upgrades, and energy reporting obligations are allocated. The new laws require data centers to bear full transmission upgrade costs, comply with clean energy procurement mandates, and submit detailed operational disclosures to state regulators.

The Department of Energy has launched a rulemaking process to implement new restrictions on foreign-sourced bulk-power system equipment, seeking industry input on critical issues ranging from equipment scope...

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has issued Executive Order 658, establishing comprehensive permitting and regulatory standards for data centers exceeding 25 MW of peak electricity demand. The Order mandates community benefits agreements, clean energy procurement protocols, and coordination across multiple state agencies to ensure responsible development that protects ratepayers, communities, and the environment. This action positions Massachusetts alongside other states implementing stricter oversight o

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed state regulators to conduct a comprehensive audit of data center projects seeking grid access, while ERCOT has paused its Batch Zero interconnection process. This regulatory shift introduces immediate uncertainty for developers regarding timelines, financing, and project approvals, signaling that political engagement has become as critical as securing land and power in the Texas data center market.

California Governor Newsom signed seven data center bills into law on September 21, 2026, establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework that takes effect January 1, 2027. These bills create new tariff regimes administered by the California Public Utilities Commission, impose extensive reporting requirements on data center operators, and establish water disclosure mandates and CEQA treatment protocols.

The Act restores the ITC eligibility of qualified fuel cell property that begins construction after 2025. Under the IRA, qualified fuel cell property was required to have begun construction prior to 2025 in order to be eligible for the ITC.

As U.S. utilities commit record capital to grid expansion, equipment procurement has emerged as a critical constraint. Lead times for transformers now stretch beyond two years, while material scarcity, inflation, and labor shortages compound delays across conductor, switchgear, and substation components.

On September 30, 2026, Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee Chair Mike Lee (R-UT), and Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) unveiled the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA; S. 5653), a comprehensive permitting reform package aimed at accelerating approvals for energy, infrastructure, transmission, mining, manufacturing, and other major projects. The legislation represents the most significant bipartisan permitting reform effort in years and follows months of negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats.

The SEC has announced the creation of a new enforcement team focused on auditing-related misconduct, signaling heightened scrutiny of auditors and potential SOX violations.

Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced charges against four individuals for their roles in Trade Coin Club (TCC)...

Companies selling subscriptions have been busy navigating compliance with the Federal Trade Commission's Negative Option Rule, which is scheduled to go into effect July 14.

On March 24, 2026, Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson signed HB 2225 into law. HB 2225, effective January 1, 2027, introduces mandatory safeguards for artificial intelligence companion chatbots...

A clearly defined carve‑out perimeter grounded in how the target business actually operates is essential to reducing execution risk and enabling a workable stand‑alone or integration plan.

Automatic renewals, more commonly referred to as subscription services, have become a household topic (or maybe just in ours?) of advertising law enforcement.

On Oct. 9, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a subpoena enforcement action in California against an investment trust that failed to respond to an investigative subpoena...

A new California law requires written contracts when engaging most solo independent contractors. The written contracts must contain certain types of information.

On March 6, FinCEN announced a historic enforcement action against Canaccord Genuity LLC, a registered broker-dealer, assessing an $80 million civil money penalty for willful violations of the BSA.

Beginning on April 19, 2017, individuals and companies planning to export to or re- export from Hong Kong will need to obtain certain paperwork prior to shipping.