Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates
P.C.
75 Ponce De Leon Ave NE Ste 101
Atlanta,
GA 30308(470) 294-1674
www.garymartinhays.com
By Steven M. Taber | July 25, 2017
On March 28, President Donald Trump signed the presidential executive order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth. This executive order hopes to be the catalyst to "unleash America's $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves." And by doing so, it aims to make the United States the global leader in fossil-fuel production and achieve not just "energy independence," but "energy dominance"—a phrase that was front and center during the Trump administration's (June 26–30, 2017), "Energy Week."
By Paul M. Schmidt | July 25, 2017
Location, Location, Location. This remains one of the critical aspect of real estate development. The other is that "it's not about the money, it's about the money." So, while the redevelopment of Brownfields makes people feel good, at the end of the day, a Brownfield site has to be in the right location for a redeveloper or buyer, and has to make economic sense. Currently, a number of trends in real estate desirability are making Brownfield sites the perfect location for redevelopment and reuse. At the same time, as programs concerning cleanup, funding and risk management have become more favorable, the return on investment, or economic viability, of properties has also increased.
By Nichole Morford | The Legal Intelligencer | July 25, 2017
In The Legal's Energy/Environmental Law supplement, read about EPA budget cuts, endangered species and project planning, and the scope of the ERA.
By Jonathan E. Rinde | July 25, 2017
Rusty patched bumble bees, part of a group of native pollinators with an economic value of $3 billion per year in the United States, are declining in number. Rusty Patched Bumble Bee (Bombus affinis), according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species. Historically, the species inhabited 28 states throughout the eastern United States and the upper Midwest, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
By Matthew G. Brouse and Phillip T. Glyptis | July 25, 2017
Anyone associated with oil and gas development has probably had a conversation about what constitutes a trespass, and whether there is an improper taking associated with drilling activities.
By thelegalintelligencer | The Legal Intelligencer | July 21, 2017
Fiscal enactments diverting proceeds from sale and lease of public natural resources away from environmental conservation into the general fund violated commonwealth's obligation as trustee, since proceeds from trust assets were required to be returned to corpus of trust or dedicated to trust purposes. Order of the commonwealth court reversed.
By Max Mitchell | July 14, 2017
Pennsylvania landowners who have been fighting with Sunoco over the Mariner East 2 pipeline project have so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to bar the energy giant from using their land for the natural gas pipeline. Over the past year, they have seen a handful of unfavorable decisions from the Commonwealth Court, but with cases potentially on their way to the state Supreme Court and a recent pronouncement on environmental law by the justices, plaintiffs are hoping the litigation won't be over so quickly.
By Margaret Anne Hill, Michael L. Krancer, Frank L. Tamulonis III and Stephen C. Zumbrun | July 13, 2017
On June 20, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its opinion in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) v. Commonwealth, 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1393 (Pa. June 20), in connection with the so-called Environmental Rights Amendment or ERA (Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution). Suffice it to say, the opinion has reopened the debate as to the meaning of the ERA, and more importantly, how the ERA is implemented as a practical and legal matter. In brief, the court ruled that amendments to the state's fiscal code (which sought to address budgetary shortfalls by redirecting money from a fund containing rents and royalties from oil and gas leases on commonwealth land to the general fund) violated the ERA. While the facts before the court were narrowly drawn, the court used the opportunity to revisit the decades old "test" applied in evaluating ERA claims, an issue it first addressed in its 2013 plurality opinion in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, 83 A.3d 901 (Pa. 2013). It abruptly rejected the well-established Payne v. Kassab test and roughly 45 years of ERA-related case law, thereby placing the ERA, and industry, back into legal limbo. Despite some legal uncertainty, this opinion should not be interpreted as a major stumbling block to key energy and infrastructure projects.
By Michael Dillon | July 6, 2017
On June 2, the Commonwealth Court weighed in on the long-simmering national debate surrounding questions of when two or more facilities must be regulated as a single source under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and state air pollution control statutes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies have sought to aggregate facilities where certain factors support a finding that the facilities are operationally related, and especially where the level of emissions from the combined source would trigger heightened regulatory or permitting requirements. National Fuel Gas Midstream v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, No. 116 CD 2016 (June 2, 2017), provides some clarity about the meaning of the term "common control," one of the three factors for determining if facilities should be aggregated for air permitting purposes. The decision finds that regulated facilities should not be combined as a single source merely because they are each owned by a separate subsidiary of a shared corporate parent.
By thelegalintelligencer | The Legal Intelligencer | June 30, 2017
Board properly held that petitioner failed to establish that department's issuance of a permit for a well to be drilled on a slant with the bottom under a refinery storage tank was unreasonable or contrary to law because the board correctly applied the burden of proof, credible expert evidence supported the decision and Pennsylvania courts had held that hydraulic fracturing was not an abnormally dangerous activity. Affirmed.
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