Environmental and Energy Law Blog

Now that the 1975 ban on oil exports has been lifted, the first week in January will see a shipment of 600,000 barrels of domestic crude oil transported by tanker in the Houston Ship Channel. Sold to Vitol Group, the oil will most likely be sent to Europe. This will be the first shipment since President Obama signed the bill that repealed broad restrictions against the export of unrefined crude oil. Announcement of this shipment was made only a week after the bill was signed.

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Businesses create an enormous amount of hazardous and non-hazardous waste.  Due to the mass amount of garbage they produce, we expect large companies to follow strict rules and regulations when it comes to disposing their waste.  Now, a large Texas company will not have to change the way they dispose of their non-hazardous waste.

Since 2013, the City of Austin has contracted with Republic Services to allow the dumping of waste generated by Read more . . .

What was the basis for Obama's rejection of the pipeline legislation?

President Obama announced on Friday, November 6th that his administration would not be issuing the permit for the Keystone Pipeline. This settles, at least in the present, a controversial issue that has dogged his presidency. While Obama stated in his final decision that the pipeline would have undermined the U.S. effort to curb greenhouse gases, and in so doing delighted environmentalists, his opponents remain disappointed and angered.
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Do advanced biofuels have lower life-cycle carbon density than gasoline?

An environmental group contends advanced biofuels made from switchgrass and leftover corn stalks are greener than first-generation alternatives made from corn. An analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) draws on evaluations of gasoline carbon intensity that support calls to overhaul federal biofuel mandates.

Now, some oil industry organizations and other groups have seized on these studies that question the environmental benefits of traditional corn-based ethanol. Meanwhile Corn Belt lawmakers who support the present mandates argue some of the next-generation biofuels now in production threaten the corn growers’ business model. But the working group claims the current mandate is crowding out next generation biofuels.
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