http://energy.law360.com/ The Newswire for Legal Professionals Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://energy.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://energy.law360.com/ http://energy.law360.com/articles/135390 A federal appeals court has vacated a $6.2 million jury verdict against Century Indemnity Co. in an environmental cleanup suit, ruling that the district court’s all-sums approach and jury instruction were not necessarily accurate in light of recent determinations by Massachusetts’ highest court. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135390 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135501 Stallion Oilfield Services Ltd. has secured a bankruptcy court order approving the disclosure statement for its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, setting the wellsite support company’s restructuring plan up for a creditor vote by the year’s end. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135501 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135519 Four environmental groups have informed Mirant Corp. that they intend to sue the power company for alleged Clean Water Act violations at a Maryland coal ash landfill. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135519 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135447 The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed to extend its target date for completion of an investigation into whether variable-speed wind turbine parts imported by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. infringe two General Electric Co. patents. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135447 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135438 A pipeline leak that poured 227 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, triggering a $3 million cleanup, is not covered by the insurance belonging to Jefferson Block 24 Oil & Gas LLC because the energy company did not specifically list the structure in its Mineral Management Service forms, the insurers have contended in a recent motion http://energy.law360.com/articles/135438 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135327 A federal judge has denied oil field services company Davis-Lynch Inc.’s request to throw out rival Weatherford International Inc.’s inequitable conduct defense in a patent infringement suit over oil and gas drilling technology. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135327 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135197 The U.S. Department of the Interior has put out advance notice of a proposed rule designed to safeguard streams from pollution stemming from surface coal mining, announcing efforts to increase oversight of permitting for those operations. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135197 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135291 The Delaware Supreme Court has affirmed a $10 million default judgment for Italiana Coke SpA and Energy Coal SpA, which had enforced a settlement deal that ended the coal companies' fraud litigation against two energy investors. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135291 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135193 A federal judge has appointed a receiver to handle the remaining assets of bankrupt oil and gas securities firm Heartland Resources Inc. following a magistrate's finding that, without a receiver, plaintiffs alleging a $14 million fraud would suffer irreparable injury. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135193 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135306 Alcoa Inc. has put smelting operations at two Italian aluminum plants on hold following a European Commission ruling that preferential electricity tariffs the company has received from Italy since 2006 violate European Union state aid rules and must be reimbursed. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135306 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135256 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has launched an investigation into the rates charged by three interstate natural gas pipelines to determine whether the companies are overrecovering costs, harming consumers with unfairly high prices. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135256 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135284 AES Corp. has reached an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that requires the energy company to keep investors in the loop about the financial risks of global warming and climate change. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135284 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135136 Ohio residents who say Chevron USA Inc. should be held liable for land contamination caused by a refinery are appealing the dismissal of their negligence, strict liability and conversion state law claims. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135136 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135150 New Mexico-based creditor Chisos Ltd. is objecting to Edge Petroleum Corp.’s prepackaged Chapter 11 plan and asset sale because it claims it would potentially subvert its preferential rights to oil and gas leases in New Mexico. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135150 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135279 Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil ASA has agreed to pay $21 million to the U.S. government to settle charges stemming from a 2002 contract with Horton Investments Ltd. that was allegedly a cover to send bribes to Iran. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135279 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135201 Stallion Oilfield Services Ltd., which filed a prepackaged bankruptcy in October, has submitted a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that would provide secured lenders about $25 million in principal payments, permanently reducing the company's obligations outstanding under a secured credit agreement. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135201 http://energy.law360.com/articles/134167 Any expansion of offshore oil and natural gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf must take environmental concerns into consideration, according to experts who testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday. http://energy.law360.com/articles/134167 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135236 A couple from Petros, Tenn., has filed a $30 million lawsuit against the Tennessee Valley Authority in connection with a “tidal wave of sludge” triggered when a retaining wall at a coal-waste containment pond broke last year, discharging the pond's contents into Roane County and its waterways and onto the couple's property. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135236 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135090 California's Orange County Water District has asked a federal judge to reconsider her ruling that put an end to 45 of 60 claims against several oil companies of contaminating groundwater with the gasoline additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135090 http://energy.law360.com/articles/135041 After reporting safety violations to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, two managers at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station had their duties stripped, promotions denied and professional reputations attacked by plant management, according to complaints filed Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Labor. http://energy.law360.com/articles/135041