Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Vecinos Para El Bienestar De La Comunidad Costera V. Ferc, Malcolm M. Gilbert

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The D.C. Circuit Court remanded three Brownsville, TX LNG approval orders to FERC for failing to adequately explain conclusions around environmental justice and climate concerns. The Court ordered FERC to reevaluate whether the projects are in the public interest. The LNG terminals and pipeline will disproportionately impact low-income, minority communities, and substantial greenhouse gas emissions from production and export will contribute to anthropogenic climate change. This case note explores the role that environmental justice and climate change play in federal agency decision-making processes, analyzes the legal framework for the Court's decision, and discusses how the outcome of this litigation could …

Citizens For Clean Energy V. United States Department Of The Interior, Anthony Reed

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2017, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke issued a new order lifting the previous administration’s 2016 Jewell Order that had placed a moratorium on mineral leases until a programmatic EIS was completed. The new order repealed the moratorium, cancelled the programmatic EIS, and instructed the BLM to expedite new mineral lease applications. Several plaintiffs challenged Zinke’s order, and the United States District Court for the District of Montana ruled that it was a major federal action that triggered NEPA analysis and that the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it issued the order without any environmental review.

Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Isaac Stevens, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of Washington Territory, negotiated a series of treaties with Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest during 1854 and 1855. A century and a half later in 2001, the United States joined 21 Indian tribes in filing a Request for Determination in the United States District Court for the District of Washington. Plaintiffs alleged the State of Washington had violated those 150-year-old treaties, which remained in effect, by building and maintaining culverts under roads that prevented salmon passage. This litigation eventually reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in favor …

Collaboration Through Nepa: Achieving A Social License To Operate On Federal Public Lands, Temple Stoellinger, L. Steven Smutko, Jessica M. Western

Public Land & Resources Law Review

As demand and consumption of natural gas increases, so will drilling operations to extract the natural gas on federal public lands. Fueled by the shale gas revolution, natural gas drilling operations are now frequently taking place, not only in the highly documented urban settings, but also on federal public lands with high conservation value. The phenomenon of increased drilling in sensitive locations, both urban and remote, has sparked increased public opposition, requiring oil and gas producers to reconsider how they engage the public. Oil and gas producers have increasingly deployed the concept of a social license to operate to gain …

Friends Of Animals V. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Bradley E. Tinker

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Friends of Animals v. United States Fish & Wildlife Service, the Ninth Circuit held that the plain language of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act allows for the removal of one species of bird to benefit another species. Friends of Animals argued that the Service’s experiment permitting the taking of one species––the barred owl––to advance the conservation of a different species––the northern spotted owl––violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The court, however, found that the Act delegates broad implementing discretion to the Secretary of the Interior, and neither the Act nor the underlying international conventions limit the taking of …

Trust Or Bust: Complications With Tribal Trust Obligations And Environmental Sovereignty, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Pit River Tribe V. Bureau Of Land Management, 793 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 2015), Kathryn S. Ore

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Pit River Tribe v. Bureau of Land Management, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained the correct application of the zone of interests test and further solidified the importance of proper NEPA and NHPA analysis in geothermal leasing. The court reaffirmed that the BLM and the Forest Service must conduct additional cultural and environmental analysis when granting lease extensions under the Geothermal Steam Act. Furthermore, it rejected the BLM’s decision to grant forty-year lease continuations to unproven geothermal leases by treating them as a unit rather than individually.

Slides: Nepa And Adaptive Management, Denise A. Dragoo

Best Management Practices and Adaptive Management in Oil and Gas Development (May 12-13)

Presenter: Denise A. Dragoo, Partner, Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., Salt Lake City, UT

22 slides

Agenda: Best Management Practices And Adaptive Management In Oil And Gas Development, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Best Management Practices and Adaptive Management in Oil and Gas Development (May 12-13)

Agenda includes summaries of speakers' presentations

Workshop held May 12-13, 2004 at the University of Colorado School of Law and sponsored by the Natural Resources Law Center with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, BP America and Calpine Corporation

Government agencies, industry and others are beginning to apply the concepts of best management practices and adaptive management to oil and gas development. This free workshop will examine what is going on in the Rocky Mountain Region with these innovative management approaches. This timely workshop will be kicked off with a presentation on the Western Governors' Association Coalbed Methane …

Wilderness Protection On Forest Service Lands: Badger-Two Medicine, Arnold W. Bolle

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

22 pages.

Livestock Grazing On Public Lands: Procedures And Issues, E. T. Bartlett

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

17 pages.

Contains references.

The Oil Shale Saga: Where Do We Stand?, Donald L. Morgan

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

12 pages.

Changes In Altering Land Classifications And Blm Land Use Planning: The National Wildlife Federation V. Burford Case, Constance E. Brooks

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

28 pages.

Public Land Management: Planning, Problems, And Opportunities, David C. Williams

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

26 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains bibliography.

Agenda: The Public Lands During The Remainder Of The 20th Century: Planning, Law, And Policy In The Federal Land Agencies, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

The Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning, Law, and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies (Summer Conference, June 8-10)

Conference organizers and/or speakers included University of Colorado School of Law professors Lawrence J. MacDonnell and Charles F. Wilkinson.

Public land management has undergone major changes in recent years in response to the greatly increased planning responsibilities mandated by Congress.

Public Lands During the Remainder of the 20th Century: Planning Law and Policy in the Federal Land Agencies looked at management and planning issues related to seven major resources in the public lands: timber, rangeland, minerals, wildlife, water, recreation, and preservation values. Charles F. Wilkinson, Professor of Law, University of Colorado, gave a luncheon talk on "Public Land Planning: Will …

Agenda: Public Lands Mineral Leasing: Issues And Directions, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Public Lands Mineral Leasing: Issues and Directions (Summer Conference, June 10-11)

University of Colorado School of Law professor Lawrence J. MacDonnell served as the conference organizer and as a member of the faculty.

Federal leasing programs, especially for oil and gas and coal, have been undergoing important changes in recent years. This conference will provide an overview and an update for those involved in public lands mineral development. Significant new issues also will be addressed.

Federal Regulation Of Appropriations Of Water In The Name Of Protecting Water Quality, David L. Harrison

Water Resources Allocation: Laws and Emerging Issues: A Short Course (Summer Conference, June 8-11)

9 pages.

Maintaining Minimum Stream Flows For Wildlife And Recreation, A. Dan Tarlock

Water Resources Allocation: Laws and Emerging Issues: A Short Course (Summer Conference, June 8-11)

27 pages.

Contains references.

Water Resources Allocation: Reclaiming Municipal Wastewater For Agricultural Use: Outline, Robert C. Kerr

Water Resources Allocation: Laws and Emerging Issues: A Short Course (Summer Conference, June 8-11)

26 pages (includes illustrations).

The Four Corners Power Complex: Pollution On The Reservation, Laurence A. Mchugh

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.