U.S. Supreme Court Limits EPA and the Corps’ Authority to Regulate Wetlands as Waters of the United States (WOTUS)
On May 25, 2023, a majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Sackett v. EPA et al., authored by Justice Alito and joined by Justices Thomas, Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett, held that the authority of the Environmental…
Back to the Future: What is a Water of the United States?
On December 30, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Department of the Army jointly announced their latest final rule (the “2022 Rule”) on the definition of “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) under the Clean Water Act’s authority to regulate…
Off-Highway Motor Vehicles Are Not Subject to the Mandatory Financial Responsibility Act
On October 25, 2022, the New Mexico Court of Appeals held in Castillo v. Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Company, 2022-NMCA-____ (No. A-1-CA-39107, filed Oct. 25, 2022) that a Polaris Ranger RZR, an all-terrain vehicle, was an off-highway motor vehicle that was…
Book Review: The Law and Governance of Mining and Minerals: A Global Perspective
Stuart R Butzier Modrall Sperling, Santa Fe sbutzier@modrall.com Darrell W Podowski Cassels Brock & Blackwell, Vancouver dpodowski@cassels.com Bastida, Ana Elizabeth, The Law and Governance of Mining and…
POSTED IN: Articles
Update on New Mexico’s Methane Rules
EMNRD Finalized Regulations A few weeks ago, on May 25, 2021, the EMNRD published its new rules which limit most venting and flaring of natural gas as part of New Mexico’s mission to reduce methane emissions. The rules are now in effect…
POSTED IN: Articles
Modrall Sperling COVID-19 Task Force Updated May 12, 2021
*This article is authored by Roberta Cooper Ramo with Alicia Ubeda Harvey, Jamie L. Allen and other Modrall Sperling attorneys. Modrall Sperling strives to be a resource…
Recent Biden Administration Orders Affecting the Energy Industry
In his first week in office, President Biden and administration officials have issued various Executive Orders, memoranda and other agency directives reversing previous Trump Administration policies and/or establishing new policies for federal agencies, which some have characterized as a fossil fuel freeze….
POSTED IN: Articles
Are Your Overrides Really Pooled? REALLY?
The answer may depend on whether they were created by assignment or by reservation. An uncommitted overriding royalty interest in a unitized tract can gum the works. Its owner can claim her full undiluted percentage of production from a drillsite tract, forcing…
POSTED IN: Articles
Solenex, LLC v. Bernhardt, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior: Cancellation of 1982 Oil and Gas Lease Upheld – Significant Cultural and Religious Lands of the Badger-Two Medicine Area in Montana
Introduction and Setting On June 16, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia wrote what could be the last chapter in a long-running dispute over an oil and gas lease issued by…
POSTED IN: Articles
Court Resuscitates NWP 12 But Only for Non-Pipeline Projects
The United States District Court for the District of Montana breathed partial life back into Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) in its May 11, 2020 decision limiting the scope of its April 15, 2020 vacatur of NWP 12 to new construction of…
POSTED IN: Articles