Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Mitigating The Discretion Disaster: How Changes In The Law Can Help Fema Effectuate Its Critical Mission, Paul G. Rando

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Friends Of The Earth V. Haaland Case Summary, Valan Anthos

Public Land & Resources Law Review

A federal district court vacated the U.S.’s largest offshore oil and gas lease sale ever because of an inadequate NEPA analysis. The court found that the BOEM’s decision to exclude estimations of reductions in foreign oil consumption if no lease took place was arbitrary and capricious.

Can You Dig It? Yes, You Can! But At What Cost?: A Proposal For The Protection Of Domestic Fossils On Private Land, Bridget Roddy

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Paleontological resources require similar protections to archaeological resources because the threat of looting, improper excavation, and market demand are analogous. Paleontological resources are responsible for informing much of scientists’ understanding of evolution and the history of the planet, just as cultural property helps to inform the evolution of humanity and culture. Once either object is removed from its original context, there is an immediate and invaluable loss of information that could have illuminated important information about the past. When either is removed from the environment in which they were created, a nonrenewable link to the past is lost.

Existing laws …

Patents And Plants: Rethinking The Role Of International Law In Relation To The Appropriation Of Traditional Knowledge Of The Uses Of Plants (Tkup), Ikechi Mgbeoji

PhD Dissertations

Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexed issue, particularly at the international level because of the conflicting interests of states or groups of states in the matter. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is the patent system which originated in Europe. This thesis rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and TKUP. The analysis is cast in various contexts …

2019–2020 Colorado Oil And Gas Law Update, William D. Farrar

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Colorado courts and the state’s legislature were quite active in 2019 and 2020 on the oil and gas administrative law front. Namely, the Colorado General Assembly enacted changes to the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Act in response to the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission v. Martinez. While the Martinez case was not principally a substantive oil and gas case, the resulting fallout from the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision made sweeping changes to the state’s statutory laws. The decision will also result in major administrative law changes affecting the Colorado oil & gas …

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, And Tennessee, Brandt P. Hill, Hugh Gainer

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

There were no decisions by federal or state courts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, or Tennessee between fall 2020 and fall 2021 directly relevant to oil and gas companies or operations. However, there were several decisions that may nonetheless be of interest to the industry, including two opinions by the United States Supreme Court in water-rights cases. We discuss these opinions below.

Appalachian Basin–Pennsylvania, West Virginia, And Ohio–Oil And Gas Law Developments, Ross H. Pifer, Chloe J. Marie

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This article addresses oil and gas case law developments that have occurred within the Appalachian Basin’s primary oil and gas producing states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio during 2021 by reviewing opinions issued by the highest appellate courts within each of these three states. The oil and gas law topics addressed by these state supreme courts during 2021 have ranged from those occurring upstream, such as leasing, to those occurring downstream, such as approval of a utility rate increase for the extension of a natural gas pipeline.

New Mexico, Sharon T. Shaheen

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article examines significant developments in New Mexico oil and gas law.

Northern Rocky Mountain Region: Montana, Wyoming, And Idaho, Stephen R. Brown

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article examines significant developments in oil and gas law for the Northern Rocky Mountain Region, including Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.

Perspective On Wildgrass Oil & Gas Committee V. Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission And The Embracing Of Associated Standing, Ralph A. Cantafio, Miles C. Nowak, Cody J. Watson

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The ongoing litigations between the Wildgrass Oil & Gas Committee (“Wildgrass”) and, among others, the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) serve as a microcosm of the political and legal horizons that define the microscope used to examine Colorado oil and gas development. This set of litigations began administratively with the application for permits before the COGCC and, over the passage of time, weaved its way through the District Court of the City and County of Denver (the “State District Court”), the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (the “Federal District Court”), the Colorado Court of …

Louisiana, Keith B. Hall

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This article examines significant developments in Louisiana oil and gas law during 2021, beginning with developments arising from court cases, then legislation, and finally regulations.

Texas: Survey Of Selected 2021 Oil And Gas Cases And Statutes, William D. Farrar

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The Texas Supreme Court was quite active in 2021, issuing several oil and gas opinions; however, two were quite controversial, drawing numerous amicus curie from industry groups, oil and gas attorneys, and academia. In Concho Resources, Inc. v Ellison, the court held that a subsequently executed, inconsistent instrument, even without words of grant, may divest a record mineral title. And, in Broadway National Bank v. Yates Energy Corp., the court held that prior title holders may divest a current record title holder of their title by executing a correction deed without the joinder of, or notice to, the …

China’S Iuu Fishing Fleet: Pariah Of The World’S Oceans, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo

International Law Studies

The leading global maritime security threat today is illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Left unchecked, IUU fishing exacerbates the depletion of fish stocks, thereby contributing to global geo-political instability by increasing tension among competing distant water fishing fleets, threatening the sustainability of coastal States’ fisheries, and damaging fragile ecosystems. This article reviews the regulatory framework applicable to IUU fishing. It then discusses China’s predatory fishing practices in various regions of the world. The article then examines the principle of exclusive flag State jurisdiction on the high seas and suggests that Chinese distant water fishing vessels that change their name …

Groundwater Laws And Regulations: Survey Of Sixteen U.S. States, Abigail Adkins, Jack Beasley, Rebekah Bratcher, Justin Cias, Jackson Field, Ian Gaunt, Ashley Graves, Merrick Hayashi, Jenna Lusk, Matthew Maslanka, Erin Milliken, Connor Pabich, Margaret Reed, A. Wesley Remschel, Lauren Thomas, Ashley Wilde

EENRS Program Reports & Publications

This report is the second volume in a continuing project designed to explore and articulate the groundwater laws and regulations of all fifty U.S. states. This particular report presents surveys for sixteen states throughout the country. The first volume featured thirteen state surveys and can be found at: http://www.law.tamu.edu/usgroundwaterlaws.

The purpose of the project is to compile and present the groundwater laws and regulations of every state in the United States that could then be used in a series of comparisons of groundwater governance principles, strategies, issues, and challenges. Professor Gabriel Eckstein at Texas A&M University School of Law and …

Appeal No. 1009: William Woolf V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2022-69; Mountz West CL HAN Unit (EAP Ohio, LLC)

Everything Is Bigger In Texas, Including The Need To Incentivize And Implement Innovative Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems As A Method Of Water Reuse, Haley Varnadoe

Student Scholarship

Texas will need to adapt to a drier climate and reduced water supplyin the 21st centuiyas the negative hydological effects ofclimnate change continue. Rising temperatures will accelerate evaporation of surface water resources, which in turn both increases rehance on depletable groundwater resources and decreases the amount of surface water available for aquifer rechaige. As a result, Texans who rely on either groundwater or suiface water to meet their domestic water needs-particularlyt hose in rurala id regions-mays uffer as both quantities decrease in the coming decades. The practice ofdomestic water reuse presents one solution to a decreasing water supply by safely …

Inclusion Of Incentive And Punitive Measures In Multilateral Environmental Agreement: A Suggestion On How The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Can Be Utilized To Influence The Reduction Of Gas Flaring In The Oil And Gas Exploration Fields Of Nigeria, Temiloluwa Elijah Olanrewaju

Dissertations & Theses

Gas flaring is categorized as one of the important contributors to greenhouse gases, which increases the risk of global warming and climate change. The overdependence of the modern economy and most industrial technologies on fossil fuels has created a situation in countries where fossil fuels are exploited. The governments rely majorly on the revenue from exporting oil. The IOCs that are engaged in the mining of oil and gas have been able to influence policy and law enforcement on gas flaring to such an extent that the National laws are not enforced, or the stipulated fines are abysmally low that …

Groundwater Policy And Planning, Jenny Grönwall, Marianne Kjellén, Gabriel Eckstein, Kerstin Danert, Lesha Witmer, Rebecca Welling, Viviana Re, Katharina Davis, Lulu Zhang

Faculty Scholarship

Groundwater policy defines objectives, ambitions and priorities for managing groundwater resources, for the benefit of society. Planning translates policy into programmes of action. Both are often part of a wider water resource policy and planning framework, but the specific challenges pertaining to groundwater have traditionally received less attention than surface water.

The terms ‘policy,’ ‘strategy’ and ‘plans’ are used interchangeably in many countries and contexts.

Transboundary Aquifers, Raya Marina Stephan, Alice Aureli, Aurélien Dumont, Annukka Lipponen, Sarah Tiefenauer-Linardon, Christina Fraser, Alfonso Rivera, Shammy Puri, Stefano Burchi, Gabriel Eckstein, Christian Brethaut, Ziad Khayat, Karen Villholth, Lesha Witmer, Renee Martin-Nagle, Anita Milman, Francesco Sindico, James Dalton

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter gives an overview of the status of transboundary aquifers and the cooperation related to shared groundwater resources, highlighting the complexity of the assessment, analysis and management of these systems. It summarizes the main challenges regarding transboundary aquifers and the need for more comprehensive and integrated management, which would include technical, legal and organizational aspects as well as training and cooperation.

Legal And Other Institutional Aspects Of Groundwater Governance, Jenny Grönwall, Marianne Kjellén, Alice Aureli, Stefano Burchi, Mohamed Bazza, Raya Marina Stephan, Gabriel Eckstein, Lesha Witmer, Margreet Zwarteveen, Aurélien Dumont, Danielle Gaillar-Picher, Rio Hada, Rebecca Welling, Maki Tsujimura

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter defines the linked concepts of groundwater governance and groundwater management, explaining how they differ from each other. Then, it describes the prevailing legal instruments for, and the institutional aspects of, groundwater management and governance.