In memoriam: Louisiana officials have identified the man who died in a Nov. 20 explosion at an oil platform in the Gulf. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office says the victim was 24-year-old Jerrel Hancock, who lived in Abbeville with his wife and two children. According to preliminary autopsy results, he died from blunt force trauma to the head and chest. Three other workers—two with ringing ears and one with visible injuries—were treated at West Jefferson Hospital and released. Friends and colleagues, many of whom also toil offshore, described Hancock as a family man and someone who was committed to safety. FuelFix.com has the full story.
Gun fight: Twenty-one states, including Louisiana, have asked a federal appeals court to overturn Maryland’s tough gun-control law, contending that its provisions banning 45 assault weapons and limiting gun magazines to 10 rounds violate the Second Amendment right to keep firearms at home for self-protection. A coalition led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed the friend-of-the-court brief last week in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The document supports an appeal by groups whose challenge to the law was rejected in August by the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The Associated Press has the full story.
Down the road: From offshore drilling to methane emissions, the Obama administration is delaying some planned rules that will affect the oil and gas industry, while announcing new measures on the horizon. As FuelFix.com reports, the update comes courtesy of the Fall 2014 “Unified Agenda,” which is a rough outline of the rules federal agencies are drafting and their plans for putting those new regulations in place. Some of the timelines are ambitious, and it is common to see the dates for action published in twice-yearly editions of the Unified Agenda slide over time. Still, it is the best federal government overview of what’s on tap. Read the full story.
