The United States Forest Service (“Forest Service”) manages 193 million acres of public lands that provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply worth an estimated $7.2 billion per year. Management of public lands by the Forest Service includes issuance of special use permits for 122 ski area operations in thirteen states. 116 of […]
On February 11, 2016, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) announced significant proposed amendments to its land use planning rules as a part of its Planning 2.0 initiative. The stated goals of the proposed rules are to: (1) improve the BLM’s ability to respond to social and environmental change in a timely manner; (2) provide […]
On February 8, 2016, the BLM published its long awaited proposed rule to control venting, flaring and leaks of natural gas from oil and gas operations on onshore Federal and Indian lands. 81 Fed. Reg. 6616. The primary purposes of the rule are to: (1) update regulatory requirements in light of newer technology; (2) increase […]
After the President denied the Keystone XL pipeline, climate change activists have turned their attention to federal fossil fuel leasing, discussed in our recent blog post: What’s Next, Post Keystone XL? “Keep it in the Ground!”. The “Keep it in the Ground” proponents argue the President should abandon his “all of the above” energy policy […]
With the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama as part of the Administration’s “package” of climate change actions to deliver to the UN Conference on Climate Change in December, activists and their political allies have turned to the next battlefield – stopping the leasing of federal minerals. http://goo.gl/mU8qia On November 4, Senator […]
Dated and effective July 17, 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued Instruction Memorandum 2015-124 (“IM-2015-124”). This BLM guidance significantly changes the way federal Communization Agreements (“CAs”) are administered and, for the most part, eliminates some of the cumbersome issues for operators applying for CAs. CAs are used to combine isolated or small federal […]
Like presidents before him, President Obama is using the 1906 Antiquities Act, 16 U.S.C. § 431-433, as part of his presidential legacy. In September, 2014, Obama exercised this authority for the 12th time and expanded a national monument, created by his predecessor George W. Bush, from 87,000 square miles to more than 490,000 square miles […]
BLM’s new fracking rule is scheduled to take effect on June 24, 2015, but the Western Energy Alliance and Independent Petroleum Association of America moved for a preliminary injunction on May 15 to keep that from happening. They allege irreparable harm because the new rule lacks the factual, scientific, or engineering bases to sustain it. […]
Utah’s Transfer of Public Lands Act (“TPLA”) demands that the federal government “extinguish” its title to more than 30 million acres of federal public lands by December 31, 2014. Utah Code Ann. § 63L-6-101 et seq. (2012). When the law was enacted in 2012, former Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar charged that the legislation […]
Developing federal lands in the Northern Denver Julesburg Basin (“DJ Basin”), Colorado, has been a challenge for many operators active in the area because of the presence of the Pawnee National Grasslands (“PNG”), an area that has been largely off-limits to oil and gas development. While development of fee minerals in the DJ Basin has […]