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Vinson & Elkins is a sponsor of the UT Law CLE 2025 Oil, Gas, and Energy Taxation Symposium, taking place Wednesday, November 19 in Houston, Texas.

Partner Jenny Speck is speaking with the Clean Fuels Alliance America (CFAA) Board in Washington, D.C. at 9:15 am on "45Z Transferability."

With the deadline to publish SB 261-compliant climate risk reports rapidly approaching (January 1, 2026), and with legal challenges slowly moving through the court system in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit, it perhaps comes as little surprise that industry groups have now sought the emergency involvement of the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”).

On November 7, 2025, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a final rule granting Texas primary permitting authority over Class VI Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) permits within the state.

On October 23, 2025, Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, relying on his authority under Section 403 of the Department of Energy Organization Act, directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the “Commission” or “FERC”) to consider an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANOPR”) and initiate rulemaking procedures to address potential reforms to “ensure the timely and orderly interconnection of large loads to the transmission system.”

An oil major (“the Company”) filed suit in federal court on October 24, 2025, challenging California’s Climate Laws — the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (“SB 253”) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (“SB 261”) — on the basis that the laws violate the Company’s First Amendment rights.

In a potential watershed moment that could reverberate across companies that have set climate goals or made claims regarding climate ambitions (e.g., “net zero” or carbon neutrality), on October 23, 2025, a European oil major (the “Company”) was handed a potentially significant greenwashing ruling by the Paris Judicial Court (the “Court”), which found the Company’s claims about its role in the energy transition and its net zero ambitions were likely to mislead consumers.

From October 14–17, 2025, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (“MEPC”) of the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”) convened an extraordinary session in London to consider formal adoption of draft amendments to Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, including the IMO Net-Zero Framework.

On September 30, 2025, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor entered final judgment following a bench trial in a class-action lawsuit against American Airlines and its Employee Benefits Committee (the “EBC”), finding the defendants breached their duty of loyalty under the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) by allowing an investment manager’s environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) objectives to influence its investment decisions with respect to the company’s retirement plans (the “Plan”).

The California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) hosted a public workshop on August 21, 2025 to provide information on Senate Bills 253, 261 and 219 (the “California climate laws”) and solicit feedback from consumers and investors.

On August 13, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied a motion for preliminary injunction to enjoin California Senate Bills 253 and 261.

On August 15, 2025, the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released guidance for wind and solar facilities under Sections 45Y and 48E (the “Tech-Neutral Tax Credits”) in the form of IRS Notice 2025-42 (the “Notice”).