Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons^™

A Big Fracking Deal: Pennsylvania's Departure From Traditional Rule Of Capture Interpretation Paves Way For Fracking Trespass Claims, Andrew Belack

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

This Comment explores the Pennsylvania Superior Court's rejection of the traditional rule of capture as it applies to oil extraction from adjacent land parcels using the hydraulic-fracturing method. At the time of writing, the Pennsylvania Superior Court's departure from the rule of capture has opened the door for trespass claims filed by an adjacent land owner, when oil under her property is extracted by a neighboring frack well. This Comment also examines the various health and environmental concerns that are consequent of the hydraulic-fracturing method of oil extraction.

Mechanisms For Consultation And Free, Prior And Informed Consent In The Negotiation Of Investment Contracts, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low-and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based and natural resource investments, such as agricultural, extractive industry, forestry, or renewable energy projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This practice will usually risk violating requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly concerning when the investor-state contract gives the investor company rights to lands or resources over which local communities have legitimate claims.

This article explores how consultation …

Best Practices In Data Driven Development Planning In Mining Regions, Nicolas Maennling, Josefina Correa

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Strategic development planning has long been used by private and public sectors to guide actions that will lead to a determined goal in the medium- to long-term. The SDG framework has helped to create a common language of what development means, what the global objectives are by 2030, and how progress can be measured. With the world entering an era in which data is generated and used at an unprecedented scale, data and ICT systems should be used to better inform policy decision making and help evaluate progress to hold stakeholders accountable to their promises and performance. This report outlines …

Appeal No. 0960: Faith Ranch & Farms Fund, Inc. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2018-101 & 2018-108 (McBride East & Central Units; EAP Phioo. LLC)

Appeal No. 0979: John F. Williams Oil Field Services, Inc. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-247

Appeal No. 0976: Energy Exploration & Development, Inc. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-104

Appeal No. 0961: Faith Ranch & Farms Fund, Inc. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2018-101 & 2018-108 (McBride East & Central Units; EAP Phioo. LLC)

Appeal No. 0980: C. David Snyder V. Divison Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-343

Appeal No. 0982: Wheeling & Lake Eries Railway Company V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2020-01 (Gulfport Appalliachia, LLC; Angelo Unit)

Pakootas V. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd., Connlan W. Whyte

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Throughout the twentieth century, Teck Cominco Metals leaked metal pollutants into the Upper Columbia River that ultimately entered the United States and the Colville Indian Reservation. In 2004, after almost a decade of working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Colville Tribes initiated a citizen suit under CERCLA against Teck for damaging the ecosystem of the Upper Columbia River. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit affirmed judgment against Teck for recovery costs and attorney’s fees.

Space Governance 3.0, Brian R. Israel

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Recent Case Decisions

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Contractual Interpretations, Ambiguities, And Litigation Difficulties Presented In The Context Of Oil And Gas Leases As A Result Of The Texas Supreme Court’S Decision In Murphy Exploration & Prod. Co.-Usa V. Adams, 560 S.W.3d 105 (Tex. 2018), Jake B. Ware

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Can You Dig It? A Note On The U.S. Supreme Court’S Atomic Energy Act Preemption Decision In Virginia Uranium, Inc. V. Warren, John Shelden

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Balkanization In Oil And Gas: How Home Rule Constitutional Provisions Disrupt State Law, Dan Ray

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Identifying The Pillars Of A Pro-Solar Energy Policy: A Multi-State Survey Of Distributed Solar Energy Generation Laws, Samuel Moore

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Budding Marijuana Industry Meets Climate & Environmental Crisis: A Call To Legislative Action, Spencer Gill

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Parker Drilling Mgmt. Servs., Ltd. V. Newton: Drilling Down On The Law Of The Outer Continental Shelf, William Dakil

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

The Battle For Oil: Fighting Through Corruption & Changing Socio-Economic Landscapes To Win Over Africa’S Biggest Giants, Modupe Adamolekun

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction & Front Pages

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction over …

Preview—Asarco Llc V. Atlantic Richfield Company: Allocation Of Remediation Costs Under Cercla, Nyles G. Greer

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals originally scheduled oral arguments in this matter for Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in the William K. Nakamura Courthouse in Seattle, Washington. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ninth Circuit has postponed oral arguments in this matter. While still subject to change due to the pandemic, the court has rescheduled oral arguments for April 27, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 2 of the William K. Nakamura Courthouse in Seattle, Washington. Shannon Wells Stevenson will likely appear on behalf of the Appellant. Gregory Evans will likely appear on behalf of the Appellee.

The Third Age Of Oil And Gas Law, James Coleman

Indiana Law Journal

History’s biggest oil boom is happening right now, in the United States, ushering in the third age of oil and gas law. The first age of oil and gas law also began in the United States a century ago when landowners and oil companies developed the oil and gas lease. The lease made the modern oil and gas industry possible and soon spread as the model for development around the world. In the second age of oil and gas law, landowners and nations across the globe developed new legal agreements that improved upon the lease and won these resource owners …

Juliana V. United States, Anthony Reed

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Plaintiffs sued the United States government for promoting activities that were known to pollute the atmosphere and cause climate change. They claimed the government’s policies violated their rights under the substantive due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, the equal protection clause of the Ninth Amendment, and the public trust doctrine. The Ninth Circuit held it was not within the court’s Article III power to create and oversee a comprehensive plan capable of redressing the Plaintiffs’ injuries and, therefore, Plaintiffs lacked standing.

Cities And Citizens Seethe: A Case Study Of Local Efforts To Influence Natural Gas Pipeline Routing Decisions, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cities And Citizens Seethe: A Case Study Of Local Efforts To Influence Natural Gas Pipeline Routing Decisions, Heidi Gorovitz Robertson

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article explores the reasons local governments find difficulty influencing pipeline-routing decisions. For example, federal law controls interstate natural gas pipeline permitting, which is complicated and inaccessible. State law, particularly in Ohio, heavily favors utilities, in part by preempting local efforts to make local decisions regarding oil and gas development. Finally, the information gaps are enormous between what local governments need to influence pipeline-routing decisions and what is accessible.

This Article addresses barriers to local influence by discussing the efforts of citizens and local governments to influence the routing of NexusSpectra's natural gas transmission pipeline, which was recently constructed and …

The Lasting Impacts Of Mass Consumerism And The Disposable Culture: A Proposition For The Development Of Plastic Shopping Bag Bans In Texas Law, David Brewster

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the developing state of plastic bag bans in Texas municipal and state jurisprudence. The Article recites the history of plastic bag bans and their impacts on the environment, the issues pertinent to municipal powers as regulatory devices, and analyzes the most recent case regarding bag bans in Texas, which is the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association. The Article makes suggestions about how to move forward in developing municipal plastic bag bans for the benefit of the environment, and addresses the immediate impacts of bag ban litigation and legislation in …

Navajo Nation V. United States Department Of The Interior, Adam W. Johnson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Navajo Nation sued the United States government alleging the government breached its trust obligation over the allocation of water rights in the Colorado River Basin. On remand, the district court denied the Navajo Nation leave to file its third amended complaint for futility, holding that the general trust relationship was insufficient to support the Nation’s breach of trust claim.

End Notes, Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

State Preemption And Single Use Plastics: Is National Intervention Necessary?, Ethan D. King

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.