In January, the United States Supreme Court decided not to weigh in on a climate change lawsuit between the City of Honolulu and Sunoco. The lawsuit alleges that oil companies made misleading statements about the impacts of their fossil fuel products in creating...
The Royalty Resiliency Act (RRA or Act) requires the Secretary of the Interior, or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under delegation of the Secretary, to issue all determinations of allocations of production for units and communitization agreements (CA) within 120...
On June 3, 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis approved House Bill 24-1472 (the “Bill”), which increases the damage caps for tort and wrongful death actions beginning January 1, 2025. The Bill will increase the cap for non-economic losses or injuries[1] from $250,000...
Each year, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) allows states to determine whether they want to participate in a royalty reporting simplification process, benefiting leaseholders of marginal wells. The process includes ONRR providing a list of qualifying...
Last week, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) adopted amendments to New Mexico’s Community Solar Rule (17.9.573 NMAC) that will bring significant developments to the state’s solar energy landscape. Importantly, the PRC raised the statewide solar...
The Royalty Resiliency Act, House Resolution 7377, (“the Act”) was signed into law by President Biden on September 20, 2024, and requires the Secretary of the Interior to issue all determinations of allocations of production for units and communitization agreements...
As has been highly reported and talked about, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final rule on leases and the leasing process, known as the Leasing Rule,[1] raises minimum bonding requirements from $10,000 to $150,000 for a lease bond and from $25,000 to $500,000...
The U.S. Supreme Court formally ended the administrative law doctrine known as “Chevron deference” this summer in Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc v. Raimondo. This decision is celebrated as a significant victory for reigning in federal agency regulatory over-reach and...
Changes are coming to the statutory pooling process in Colorado. Senate Bill 24-185 (SB24-185), which was signed into law on May 22, 2024, expands protections for and grants additional rights to unleased mineral interest owners and local governments in Colorado. Under...
For the first time, the New Mexico Supreme Court has confirmed that electric rates established by New Mexico electric cooperatives are subject to New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission’s (“PRC”) review and approval. Prior to this decision, under New Mexico’s Public...
