Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons^™

Subsurface Trespass: Private Remedies And Public Regulation, Joseph Schremmer

Faculty Articles

There is a growing literature examining when subsurface invasions from activities like tunneling, horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and waste disposal will constitute actionable subsurface trespasses. Liability for subsurface trespass has become an important question for many reasons, including that a significant climate-change technology, carbon dioxide sequestration, hinges on the ability to inject massive quantities of carbon dioxide underneath the land of many owners. To date, the subsurface trespass scholarship has paid relatively little attention to two topics downstream of liability:private remedies for trespassing subsurface activities. This Article provides a high level account of the role of, and relationship between, private …

The Concurrent Use Of Land For Carbon Sequestration And Mineral Development, Joseph Schremmer

Faculty Articles

As carbon capture and sequestration projects gain momentum across the United States, questions about the coordination of sequestration with mineral extraction—especially oil and gas development—are growing in urgency. Using many of the same technologies, these two marvels of modern ingenuity aim to exploit the same subsurface resources for different purposes: one to bring out the hydrocarbons and the other to put away the byproducts of their combustion. From needing to drill through each other’s operations to reach deeper strata, to competing for the use of reservoir storage space (“pore space”), mineral development and carbon sequestration projects are sure to clash, …

Corporate Governance And Gender Equality: A Study Of Comply-Or-Explain Disclosure Regulation, Aaron A. Dhir, Sarah Kaplan, Maria Arabella Robles

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Nasdaq Stock Market filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to adopt a board diversity-related disclosure requirement for its listed companies. In 2021, the SEC approved the proposal, thus entrenching Nasdaq’s position as the most significant stock exchange to date to mandate listing rules that reflect the intention of diversifying corporate boardrooms. Nasdaq’s movement into the diversity space is not the first attempt to address homogeneous boards in the U.S. In 2009, the SEC adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees. …

The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry

Seattle University Law Review

If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

A Path Forward: Litigating The Treaty-Based Claims Of Children Sexually Abused In The Indian Health Service System, Peter B. Janci, Stephen F. Crew, Zachary Pangares

Seattle University Law Review

In 1855, representatives for the United States traveled to the Great Plains with orders to seek peace with Blackfoot Nation so the westward expansion of “civilized” white settlers could continue without interruption. After weeks of negotiations, the United States plan materialized. The terms of these promises were memorialized on October 17, 1855, in a treaty between the United States government and Blackfoot Nation.

One hundred and sixty-seven years later, representatives for the United States and the Blackfoot Nation convened in Rapid City, South Dakota to discuss the U.S. government’s breach of the treaty’s terms. Eight Native men, including three from …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

All The Way To Hell: An Artist's Legal Descent Into The Underworld Of Oil And Gas, Madison S. Marlow

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Eliza Evans’ project, All the Way to Hell, employs a novel legal strategy to challenge Oklahoma’s permissive fracking regulations by fragmenting mineral rights among thousands of co-owners, aiming to disrupt the forced pooling process. While her approach highlights systemic legal and environmental issues, the state’s industry-friendly framework and regulatory capture present significant barriers to meaningful change. The note argues that Evans’ activism underscores the need for legislative reform to balance individual property rights with environmental protection.

Climate Choice Architecture, Felix Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

Personal choices drive global warming nearly as much as institutional decisions. Yet, policymakers overwhelmingly target large-scale industrial facilities for reductions in carbon emissions, with individual and household emissions a mere afterthought. Recent advances in behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, and related fields have produced a veritable behavior change revolution. Subtle changes to the choice environment, or nudges, have improved stake-holder decision-making in a wide range of contexts, from healthier food choices to better retirement planning. But the vast potential of choice architecture remains largely untapped for purposes of climate policy and action. This Article explores that untapped potential and makes the …

Briggs V. Southwestern Energy Production: Hydraulic Fracturing And Subsurface Trespass, Thomas W. Merrill, Henry E. Smith

Faculty Scholarship

The tort of trespass to land has proven to be controversial as applied to airplane overflights (and more recently to drones) as well as to oil and gas production using hydraulic fracking technology. The key to applying trespass to intrusions above and below the surface of land is to distinguish between possession of land and the right to possess land. Surface owners have the right to possess the column of space above and below the surface (a kind of option value), but only to the extent that this space is subject to possible effective possession. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in …