Law Commons^™

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United State, Jason J. Czarnezki, Siu Tip Lam, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Anti-Herding Regulation, Ian Ayres, Joshua Mitts

Faculty Scholarship

In some contexts, an individual’s choice to mimic the behavior of others, to join the herd, can increase systemic risk and retard the production of information. Herding can thus produce negative externalities. And in such situations, individuals by definition have insufficient incentives to separate from the herd. But the traditional regulatory response to externality problems is to impose across-the-board mandates. Command-and-control regulation tends to displace one pooling equilibrium by moving behavior to a new, mandated pool. Mortgage regulators, for example, might respond to an unregulated equilibrium where most homeowners start with 2% down by imposing a requirement that causes most …

Billionaires, Birds, And Environmental Brawls: Reconceptualizing Energy Easements, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Energy Reform In Mexico: Lessons And Warnings From International Law, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

The article analyzes some of the contents of the Mexican Energy Reform of 2013 and warns on the international legal implications that the path that Mexico has chosen to follow could bring to its economy and international relations. Concretely, it argues that in order to avoid falling into the same mistakes made by other Latin American countries in the region, Mexico must consider its obligations contained in international treaties signed with the United States on transboundary resources, and its obligations in bilateral investment treaties that protect foreign investors from certain government acts and policies.

A National Mineral Policy As An International Investment Law Stratagem: The Case Of Tajikistan's Gold Reserves, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Missouri Oil And Gas Update, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Creatures Of Circumstance: Conflicts Over Local Government Regulation Of Oil And Gas, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars periodically note the impending upsurge in local oil and gas regulation, offering various reasons for increased local action. Papers written only a few years ago attribute greater local action in the West to population growth, increased urbanization, and increased demand for energy. Consider, however, more recent phenomena. First, population migration from more liberal states to more traditionally conservative producing states likely plays a role, as new residents [11-4] bring perspectives opposing drilling activity. Second, while the suburbs continue to expand into the oil patch, the oil patch has expanded into the suburbs and urban areas as well. Hydraulic fracturing …

Pooling Clauses And Statutes, Gina S. Warren

Faculty Scholarship

Pooling is a tool used to bring together small or irregular tracts of land or mineral interests to form one drilling unit for the purposes of oil or gas production. In general, pooling can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including separate pooling agreements, community leases, voluntary pooling clauses within leases, and compulsory pooling statutes.

This article will focus on voluntary pooling lease clauses and compulsory pooling statutes. This article will discuss the requirements for valid pooling under a voluntary lease provision and look at the remedies available for invalid or improper pooling. It will analyze the effect of …

The Tropics Exploited: Risk Preparedness And Corporate Social Responsibility In Offshore Energy Development, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Endangered Species In The Oil Patch: Challenges And Opportunities For The Oil And Gas Industry, Gabriel Eckstein, Jesse Snyder

Faculty Scholarship

Tension among competing interests is nothing new in environmental law. Even among the most tenacious adversaries, the ability to find common ground can serve as an impetus to further the aims of both industry and environmental proponents. Broadly speaking, advocates of the oil and gas industry prefer few restraints, if any, on exploration, development, and production. Comparatively, champions of biological and ecological preservation favor regulatory protections to conserve these interests. Cutting across these often disparate objectives, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) presents a not-so-obvious opportunity for both sides to receive a share of the pie through cooperation and forward planning. …

Fracking Surrounded By Misinformation, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Scattered And Dissonant: The Clean Air Act, Greenhouse Gases, And Implications For The Oil And Gas Industry, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

In the midst of a domestic oil and gas production revolution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has constructed a web of findings and regulations to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources under the auspices of the Clean Air Act. This Article explores the theoretical and practical implications for the oil and gas industry of EPA’s Clean Air Act GHG regulatory regime that, in light of congressional paralysis, will continue to expand beyond major new and modified oil and gas facilities such as refineries and natural gas processing plants. Future rulemakings directly aimed at the oil and gas industry …

The Chevron-Ecuador Dispute, Forum Non Conveniens, And The Problem Of Ex Ante Inadequacy, Howard M. Erichson

Faculty Scholarship

These opening lines from Chevron's website of "facts about Chevron and Texaco in Ecuador" refer to the latest salvo in a long-running environmental dispute concerning a Texaco subsidiary's Ecuadorian oil-drilling activities. Chevron resisted enforcement in the United States of an Ecuadorian court's $18 billion judgment, and the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce the judgment against Chevron in various courts around the world. Chevron's account suggests that the plaintiffs' lawyers are engaged in improper forum-shopping. The plaintiffs'lawyers, according to Chevron, ought to pursue enforcement of the judgment in the United States.

Pooling Clauses And Statutes, Gina S. Warren, Mark G. Walston

Faculty Scholarship

Pooling is a tool used to bring together small or irregular tracts of land or mineral interests to form one drilling unit for the purposes of oil or gas production. In general, pooling can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including separate pooling agreements, community leases, voluntary pooling clauses within leases, and compulsory pooling statutes. For purposes of this article, we will be focusing on voluntary pooling lease clauses and compulsory pooling statutes.

This article will discuss the requirements for valid pooling under a voluntary lease provision, briefly outline how royalties are distributed for pooled units, and discuss remedies …

Avoidable “Fraccident”: An Argument Against Strict Liability For Hydraulic Fracturing, Joseph A. Schremmer

Faculty Scholarship

Whether fracking is an abnormally dangerous activity for purposes of strict liability appears to be an issue of first impression. That larger issue primarily turns on a smaller one: whether fracking accidents—or “fraccidents”—are avoidable or unavoidable. To that end, this Comment argues that when practiced with reasonable care and in the vicinity of other petroleum production, fraccidents are avoidable, and thus, fracking is not abnormally dangerous. Instead of strict liability, courts should combine a negligence standard with res ipsa loquitur to determine liability of fracking companies that contaminate water sources. First, this Comment will present background on the process and …

Envisioning The Regulatory State: Technocracy, Democracy, And Institutional Experimentation In The 2010 Financial Reform And Oil Spill Statutes, K. Sabeel Rahman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Due Diligence Process And Its Impact On The Deal: A Primer On Bayoneting The Wounded, Alex Ritchie, A. John Davis

Faculty Scholarship

In earlier times of more rationale schedules, reasonable billing rates, and less client scrutiny over bills and efficiency, an associate could learn due diligence with a partner looking over her shoulder, offering wisdom and encouragement. In the modern age of instantaneous information, excessive billing rates, and unrealistic expectations, transactional firms devote too little attention to due diligence processes and training. The stresses, tensions and risks associated with due diligence only multiply in the context of the big deal – the high-stakes, all-asset, equity and merger transactions. This article seeks to provide insight into the due diligence process, particularly the big …

Brief Of Constitutional Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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

Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Controversy Reemerges Over Hiring, Review Of Immigration Judges, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

Nearly two years after former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proposed a slate of reforms to quell growing discontent over the quality of decisions from Immigration Judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), a series of critical reports this summer thrust the nation's immigration courts back in the national spotlight.

Form 5 Llc: A Modest Proposal For A Limited Liability Company Agreement Based On Form 5, Alex Ritchie, James F. Cress, Paul Smith

Faculty Scholarship

Long before there were limited liability companies, there were mining joint ventures. Although LLCs have generally become the dominant choice for the formation of privately held entities, the common law joint venture stubbornly persists as the preferred investment vehicle for mining companies. To add to the suite of Form 5 mining joint venture forms previously published by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, this article proposes yet another version of Form 5, dubbed the Modest Form, with the hope that a new LLC form project would be launched by the Foundation and thereby become more manageable. The Modest Form is …

Mining Law Reform Redux, Once More, John D. Leshy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Intermediate Sanctions: Controlling The Tax-Exempt Organization Manager, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

On August 4, 1988, the Department of the Treasury issued proposed intermediate sanctions regulations that allow the Internal Revenue Service to impose significant excise taxes on executives of tax-exempt organizations who receive compensation in excess of reasonable compensation or in excess of amounts that would ordinarily be paid for like services by like enterprises. Exempt organization theory holds that government provides a tax exemption to further social goals, but those goals are frustrated when management has conflicting incentives. In a for-profit entity, management and firm owners have conflicting goals when control is separated from ownership, but in a tax-exempt entity, …

Indigenous Peoples, Land Claims And Control Of Mineral Development: Australian And U.S. Legal Systems Compared, John D. Leshy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Valuing Oil And Mineral Interests For Estate Planning Purposes, Lawrence H. Averill

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, the author discusses a number of factors which should be considered when valuing oil and mineral interests, with a primary emphasis on estate planning concerns. The article to a large extent focuses on the various techniques utilized in the valuation process, and in so doing, considers a number of key concepts and terms and identifies problems which commonly arise in the valuation of oil and mineral assets.

Non-Nepa Legal Aspects Of Federal Coal Leasing And Development Policy: An Environmental Attorney's Analysis, John D. Leshy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.