On January 14, 2019, the Colorado Supreme Court reached a decision in COGCC v. Martinez, ending more than five years of litigation between seven youth activists from Boulder-based Earth Guardians and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”). The Court held that the COGCC appropriately exercised its agency discretion when it declined to undertake […]
On Tuesday, April 4, 2017, Judge Stephen P. Friot, United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, dismissed a nationally significant lawsuit brought over earthquakes linked to oil and gas wastewater injection wells on jurisdictional grounds. See Sierra Club v. Chesapeake Operating, LLC, et al., No. CIV-16-134-F (W.D. Okla., Order dated 4/4/2017) (unpublished), […]
Last Year, WSMT blogged about whether water could be lawfully appropriated for Marijuana cultivation. 2/11/16 blog post. We provided three arguments why that would be allowed. Almost exactly a year later, the Division water referee agreed In Re High Valley Farms, LLC, 14CW3095 with two of the reasons we set forth in our blog from last […]
The question has become important to marijuana growers after the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in Coats v. Dish Network, LLC, 303 P.3d 147 (Colo. 2015), where the Court held that an activity is only “lawful” if it violates neither state nor federal law. The issue has now arisen in the water context before Water Division […]
The Conservation Basics A primary objective of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Act (the “Act”) has always been conservation through prevention of waste and enforcement of efficient drilling and production practices. In other words, traditionally the Act served one important god – the resource conservation god. Since 1994, however, the Act and those who […]
After testing new rules in a select number of Colorado districts over the past few years, on July 1, 2015, the Colorado Supreme Court adopted new rules intended to significantly change civil litigation, especially the discovery process. This initial stage of a lawsuit – depositions, document requests and production, and interrogatories – is costly in […]