Law Commons^™

Sustaining An Unsustainable Fuel Source: How Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Limitations Can Improve The Sustainability Of The Tar Oil Industry, Brittany Debord

Brittany DeBord

The United States seeks to achieve energy security and self-sufficiency by acquiring energy from Canadian tar sands and promoting a domestic tar sands industry. However, support for this industry is inconsistent with the greenhouse gas reduction policies of the Energy Independence and Security Act and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, since tar oil extraction creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction. Legislation limiting lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions has already been implemented through the Renewable Fuel Standard Program in response to concerns that plant-based fuel production leads to greater carbon emissions than intended. Since the lifecycle …

The Durability Of Private Claims To Public Property, Bruce R. Huber

Bruce R Huber

Property rights and resource use are closely related. Scholarly inquiry about their relation, however, tends to emphasize private property arrangements while ignoring public property — property formally owned by government. The well-known tragedies of the commons and anticommons, for example, are generally analyzed with reference to the optimal form and degree of private ownership. But what about property owned by the state? The federal government alone owns nearly one-third of the land area of the United States. One could well ask: is there a tragedy associated with public property, too? If there is, here is what it might look like: …

The Next Great Compromise: A Comprehensive Response To Opposition Against Shale Gas Development Using Hydraulic Fracturing In The United States, Monika Ehrman

Monika U. Ehrman

Lights Out In The Bakken: An Analysis Of Flaring Regulation And Its Potential Effect On North Dakota Shale Oil Production

Monika U. Ehrman

Public Lands And The Federal Government’S Compact-Based “Duty To Dispose”: A Case Study Of Utah’S H.B. 148 – The Transfer Of Public Lands Act, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Recent legislation passed in March 2012 in the State of Utah — the “Transfer of Public Lands Act and Related Study,” (“TPLA”) also commonly referred to as House Bill 148 (“H.B. 148”) — has demanded that the federal government, by December 31, 2014, “extinguish title” to certain public lands that the federal government currently holds (totaling an estimated more than 20 million acres). It also calls for the transfer of such acreage to the State and establishes procedures for the development of a management regime for this increased state portfolio of land holdings resulting from the transfer. The State of …

Oil And Gas Joint Operating Agreements: Default Provisions, A Dilemma By Default, Yanal Abul Failat, Birgitte Jensen

Yanal Abul Failat

English law is often the law of choice in complex and high value contracts where issues such as remedies, default, limitation of liability and financing are paramount. Further, English law affords JV partners comfort that their JV agreement will be construed in accordance to its own terms and cannot be declared void on technical grounds as no codified structure exists. However, as the attitudes of the English courts remain uncertain on the question of forfeiture and whether such a remedy would be held to be a penalty, JV partners must tread carefully when agreeing the default provisions in their JOA. …

Repsol, Ypf, And Argentina: A Hypothetical Look At The Pending Icsid Arbitration Over Ypf, Stephen Pelliccia

Stephen Pelliccia

In this paper I will discuss the 2012 expropriation of the Repsol subsidiary, YPF S.A., by the Argentine government and the upcoming ICSID arbitration on the legality thereof. Taking in to account basic tenets of international arbitration law, bilateral investment treaties, and ICSID jurisprudence, I will put forward some of the principal arguments of both parties could make and discuss a likely decision by the ICSID Tribunal. In addition to the ICSID award I will also discuss the difficulties of enforcing ICSID and other arbitral awards against Argentina and will discuss Latin American attitudes towards ICSID in general. Keeping in …

Look Before You Lease: A Lawyer's Guide To Oil & Gas Leasing, Richard A. Grisel

Richard A Grisel

No abstract provided.

Liquid Assets: A Coasian Economic Analysis Of Oregon's Allocation Of Conserved Water Program, Richard A. Grisel

Richard A Grisel

Diversions for residential, agricultural, recreational, commercial, industrial, and other beneficial uses have had the effect of removing water from rivers and tributaries throughout the western U.S. Another, more recent, competing use is ecological, demonstrated by the legal recognition of instream beneficial uses in some jurisdictions. As awareness of the progressively acute need for reallocation has increased in the arid West, so has interest in water markets and other mechanisms to facilitate transfers across beneficial uses. However, governments and water users face a legacy prior appropriation system that prohibits instream beneficial uses, encourages maximal diversion, stifles water right fungibility, and generally …

Recensión A Vergara Blanco, Alejandro (2013): Sistema De Derecho Minero (Legal Publishing Thomson Reuters, Santiago), Marcelo Mardones

Marcelo Mardones

No abstract provided.

Gaming The System: Bio-Economics, Game Theory, & Fisheries Management, Richard A. Grisel

Richard A Grisel

This paper argues that game theory provides powerful, effective new tools to analyze externalities that occur in the context of strategic, multi-party, interactive decision-making. I will attempt to treat this as a non-technical paper and avoid the complex mathematics better left to economists and mathematicians. Instead, a more achievable goal is to illustrate how high-seas open-access fishing is virtually identical to a game situation, treat the fundamentals of game theory, and demonstrate that game theoretic analyses are well-suited and fruitful for designing effective policy responses to fisheries management, particularly with respect to the straddling stocks problem. Indeed, one seminal fisheries …

Injunctions Against The Opening Of Gas Storage Facilities, Jorge E. De Hoyos Walther

Jorge E De Hoyos Walther

A recent decision from the Mexican Supreme Court, clarified the issued as to whether State Courts may issued injunctions against the opening of gas storage facilities related to the gas pipelines for the distribution of natural gas.

Regulatory Blowout: How Regulatory Failures Made The Bp Disaster Possible, And How The System Can Be Fixed To Avoid A Recurrence, Alyson Flournoy, William Andreen, Rebecca Bratspies, Holly Doremus, Victor Flatt, Robert Glicksman, Joel Mintz, Daniel Rohlf, Amy Sinden, Rena I. Steinzor, Joseph Tomain, Sandra Zellmer, James Goodwin

Holly Doremus

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is destined to take its place as one of the greatest environmental disasters in the history of the United States, or for that matter, of the entire planet. Like so many other disasters on that list, it was entirely preventable. BP must shoulder its share of the blame, of course. Similarly, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) – since reorganized and rebranded – has come under much deserved criticism for its failure to rein in BP’s avaricious approach to drilling even where it was unable to respond to a worst-case scenario in …

Through Another's Eyes: Getting The Benefit Of Outside Perspectives In Environmental Review, Holly Doremus

Holly Doremus

The Deepwater Horizon blowout has important lessons to teach about environmental review. It is easy to scapegoat the former Minerals Management Service (MMS) for shoddy environmental analysis. But captive agencies are a common phenomenon. Oversight by environmental mission agencies is supposed to provide a check on their myopia. Several external reviews of MMS’s environmental analysis were conducted, but none uncovered MMS’s wildly incorrect estimates of the probability, magnitude, and consequences of a blowout. This article details the external reviews, explains why they proved ineffective, and offers suggestions for improvement. Outside review cannot be effective unless reviewers understand the importance of …

Interdictos En Contra De Contruccion De Ductos De Distribucion De Gas Natural., Jorge E. De Hoyos Walther

Jorge E De Hoyos Walther

Se analiza la más reciente jurisprudencia de la SCJN, referente a los interdictos en contra de construcción de ductos para la distribución de gas natural.

Geothermal Resources Under The Mining Law Regime--Problems & Possibilities, Richard A. Grisel

Richard A Grisel

The development of geothermal resources has been greatly hampered by the legal and institutional framework governing geothermal energy resources. This framework has been plagued by conflicting mining and water laws, anachronistic common law systems of property rights, problematic legal classifications of geothermal resources, and jurisdictional variances from state to state and between states and the Federal government. These issues have combined to significantly hinder the development of what will be a vital resource for our nation’s future energy needs.

This thesis concerns one way to address the suboptimal development of geothermal energy resources. Using the Federal acquisition of exclusive airspace …

Globalization And The Environment: Why All The Fuss?, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

The relationship between globalization and environmental policies presents more nuances than the popular paradigm of free trader versus self-serving protectionists, the familiar model of environmentalist battling greedy polluters, or the outmoded view of a progressive multilateral agenda juxtaposed against a parochial, inward-looking domestic one. This piece sets out a structural and analytical framework for addressing the major issues in the field -- including (1) unilateral trade-based measures to protect the environment; (2) science-based tests applied through trade agreements; (3) disciplines on foreign investment that may have a "chilling effect" on environmental regulation; and (4) the relationship between free trade agreements …

Hazardous Substances And Activities, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

This piece analyzes and critically evaluates the enormous number and variety of international instruments addressing the regulation of hazardous substances and activities, from consumer products to nuclear power plants. International authorities are categorized according to regulatory theory, ranging from hazard identification and testing to disposal. Other regulatory approaches include limitations on pollutant releases, prevention of and response to industrial accidents, and international trade in toxic chemicals and waste. Multilateral norms originating from global and regional institutions, UN specialized agencies, and non-UN organizations are analyzed. The piece addresses both "hard" (binding or conventional) and "soft" (nonbinding) instruments, correlating legal form with …

The Exxon Valdez Resurfaces In The Gulf Of Mexico…And The Hazards Of "Megasystem Centripetal Di-Polarity", Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon blowout spill in the Gulf of Mexico shocked the nation with the amount of oil and harm it unleashed upon the Gulf and its natural and human ecosystems. As details of the calamity became available, they revealed frustrating parallels to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Gulf of Alaska in terms of causation and impaired response capability. Similar systemic deficits characterized the actions of corporate managers and state and federal regulators in the oil industry of both Gulfs. In a “di-polar” system where industry and government regulators come too close together, responsible overall …

Keynote Essay: A Modern Political Tribalism In Natural Resources Management, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The first law of ecology holds that everything is connected to everything else. This conference addresses the challenges and dilemmas of resource management policy on America’s public lands, but it seems useful both for the purposes of the conference and in broader terms to note how resource management is connected to larger questions of global integrity and human governance. This essay explores a troubling fact of modern political life: As the problems of managing the economy and ecology of this nation become ever more complex, subtly-interrelated, pressured and demanding, our processes of legal and political governance might be expected to …

Coal Law From The Old World: A Perspective On Land Use And Environmental Regulation In The Coal Industries Of The United States, Great Britain, And West Germany, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

America’s reentry into the Coal Age has been one of the major consequences of the Mideast oil-producing nations’ discovery of their collective marketing power, and in this new emphasis on coal the United States is not alone. Like the United States, many industrialized nations with domestic coal reserves had allowed their coal industries to languish under the influence of low-priced, petroleum based energy economy and are now hastening to strengthen their coal production. Different nations approach the regulation of their resurgent coal industries in varying ways, however, and these differences can be instructive to American observers, particularly as they relate …

The Exxon Valdez Resurfaces In The Gulf Of Mexico ... And The Hazards Of “Megasystem Centripetal Di-Polarity”, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon blowout spill in the Gulf of Mexico shocked the nation with the amount of oil and harm it unleashed upon the Gulf and its natural and human ecosystems. As details of the calamity became available, they revealed frustrating parallels to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Gulf of Alaska in terms of causation and impaired response capability. Similar systemic deficits characterized the actions of corporate managers and state and federal regulators in the oil industry of both Gulfs. In a “di-polar” system where industry and government regulators are supposed to counterbalance one another, …

Learning From Disasters: Twenty-One Years After The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Will Reactions To The Deepwater Horizon Blowout Finally Address The Systemic Flaws Revealed In Alaska?, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Twenty years ago, after the calamitous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, the pervasive systemic flaws—that according to the Alaska Oil Spill Commission had made a major calamity not just possible but probable—were largely cloaked behind the figure of a captain with a drinking problem. In 2010, after suffering another horrific oil incident—this one almost 20 times! larger than the Exxon Valdez spill—the question for national energy law and policy is whether, this time around, we’ll acknowledge and implement the hard systemic lessons largely avoided two decades ago. The Deepwater Horizon blowout will be a doubly disastrous …

Lord Coke, The Restatement, And Modern Subsurface Trespass Law, Owen L. Anderson

Owen L. Anderson

No abstract provided.

Legal And Commercial Models For Pore-Space Access & Use For Geologic Co2, Owen L. Anderson, R. Lee Gresham

Owen L. Anderson

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Warranties In Oil And Gas Property Purchase And Sale Agreements, Monika Ehrman, W. Marc Dingler Iv

Monika U. Ehrman

No abstract provided.

Requirements Of A Valid Islamic Marriage Vis-À-Vis Requirements Of A Valid Customary Marriage In Nigeria, Olanike Sekinat Odewale Mrs

Olanike Sekinat Adelakun

Water Sourcing And Wasterwater Disposal, Steven Baicker-Mckee, Kevin J. Garber, Jean M. Mosites

Steven Baicker-McKee

Class Action In Mexico, Jorge E. De Hoyos Walther

Jorge E De Hoyos Walther

In April 2011 the Mexican Parliament approved a legislative package that regulates class actions. The amended laws are six: (1) Federal Code of Civil Proceedings; (2) Federal Civil Code; (3) Federal Law of Economic Competence; (4) Federal Law of Consumer’s Protection; (4) Organic Law of the Federal Judicial Power; (5) General Law of Ecological Equilibrium and Environmental Protection; and (6) Law of Protection to the User of Financial Services. On August 30th 2011, the Federal Official Gazette published this amendment to the federal law.

Third Party Access And Refusal To Deal In European Energy Networks: How Sector Regulation And Competition Law Meet Each Other, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

In this paper, we will analyse the issue of concurrence between competition and sector rules and the relation between parallel concepts within the two different legal frameworks. We will firstly examine Third Party Access in relation to essential facilities doctrine and refusal of access and we will identify the common points and objectives of these concepts and the extent to which they provide a context to each other’s implementation. Second, we will focus on how Commission uses sector regulation and objectives as a context within the process of implementation of competition law in the energy sector and third, we will …