Upcoming Events of Interest
- November 29, 2007 - Oklahoma Energy Summit
Oklahoma City, OK Click to view a draft of the conference schedule - November 29, 2007 - Energy Bar Association Mid Year Meeting Energy in the 21st Century
- November 30, 2007 - Energy Bar Association Primer Meeting Climate Change and Renewable Resources
- April 1, 2007 - Dr. Wil Burns, Senior Fellow, International Environmental Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, to speak at The University of Tulsa College of Law on climate change
NELPI Grants
Title: Development and assessment of impacts from liability management in the natural gas industry
Status: Currently underway
Sponsor: The Gas Research Institute
This study is a co-investigation with the Gardere & Wynne Law Firm and will focus on the exploration and production (E&P) segment of the domestic natural gas industry, including the industry's activities in exploration, field development, production operations, and natural gas processing (i.e., gas plants). Both the conventional and coal-bed methane segments of the industry will be considered. Although many potential liabilities may exist within the natural gas industry, we propose to focus this investigation on activities that have resulted in publicly recorded costs to the natural gas industry as the consequence of (1) lawsuits filed, (2) civil judgments entered and (3) administrative fines levied. This approach is based on the following rationales: (1) the transactional cost of litigation is sufficiently great so as to create business drivers for their avoidance; (2) civil judgments reflect public perception of the severity of transgressions against human health and the environment; and (3) administrative penalties reflect the perceived severity of transgressions against public policy as reflected by various state and federal administrative codes (and, to some degree, the level of exasperation of regulatory bodies).
This project was made possible by Dr. Kerry Sublette, who paired NELPI, Gardere & Wynne and the Gas Research Institute.