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As the electric vehicle (“EV”) market gains traction, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) appear to be stepping in to alleviate a common concern of current and potential EV drivers: Where will I charge?

On March 19, 2024, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to approve revisions to NERC’s Rules of Procedure (“ROP”) that would require certain small (over 20 MVA) inverter-based resources (“IBRs”) – like solar and wind power generators – to register with NERC, and eventually be subject to existing and new reliability standards applicable to larger IBRs.

In a key development relating to the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”), on March 1, 2024, U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke of the Northern District of Alabama issued a memorandum opinion and final judgment ruling the CTA unconstitutional on the grounds that it exceeds the Constitution’s limits on Congress’ power.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a host of new obligations for upstream and midstream oil and gas owners and operators.

Last week, the Governor of New Mexico signed House Bill 41 (“HB 41”) into law, establishing the Clean Fuel Standard (“CFS”), which, similar to programs in California, Oregon, and Washington, focuses on reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels.

ExxonMobil (“Exxon”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Sunday, January 21, 2024, seeking a declaratory judgment to exclude a shareholder proposal from its proxy statement pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Rule 14a-8”) and not present the proposal for a vote at its 2024 annual shareholder meeting.

The California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) reviews the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) program every five years as part of the broader scoping plan required under the California Global Warming Solutions Act.

On November 29, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a critically important administrative law case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, No. 22-859.

We have recently seen an increase in audits by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) Office of Enforcement (“OE”) that take issue with the way electric utilities and interstate natural gas pipelines allocate overhead costs to construction projects.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC” or “Commission”) October 18, 2023 Open Meeting (the “October Open Meeting”) and October 27, 2023 issuance of rehearing of remand orders for the Texas LNG Brownsville LLC and joint Rio Grande, LLC and Rio Bravo Pipeline Company, LLC projects provide further evidence of the re-solidification of the Driftwood Compromise we discussed in our earlier update following the September 21, 2023 Open Meeting (the “September Open Meeting”).

On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order (“Order”) that drastically increased the U.S. government’s engagement with artificial intelligence (“AI”).

On October 25, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association’s (“LEPA”) challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) rulings, including two rehearing orders, from its most recent five-year review of the oil pipeline rate index (Nos. 22-1257 and 22-1258).