News
Gold King Mine Accident Highlights Risks Posed by Abandoned Mines
On August 5, 2015, EPA personnel were working with a private contractor on a water quality project at the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. The intent of the project was to assess ongoing mine water leakage and to identify and evaluate options for additional...
Seven Welborn shareholders listed on the Best Lawyers in America list for 2016
Welborn shareholders J. Kenneth Barbe, Hampton K. O'Neill, Kendor P. Jones, Keith D. Tooley, Edward J. Blieszner, Brian S. Tooley, and Rebecca W. Watson were listed in the Best Lawyers in America® 2016. Read the press release here.
Underground Rights are Defined in Texas
On August 19, 2015 the Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that, because the surface estate owner controls “the matrix of the underlying earth,” it could grant an oil and gas operator the right to site wells on the surface owner’s property...
Are Draft Expert Reports “Discoverable” in Water Court Proceedings?
Pretrial discovery (where a party to a legal proceeding can see the evidence the other side will use) has been undergoing big changes in Colorado. One of the most significant recent changes to the Colorado rules of civil procedure is that draft expert reports and...
Claimants May Sue Industry for Damages Resulting from Earthquakes
On June 30, 2015, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in Sandra Ladra v. New Dominion LLC, Spess Oil Co. [and other unnamed companies], that Plaintiff could sue operators of wastewater injection wells in and around Lincoln County, Oklahoma, for personal injury damages...
Energy Transformation: Clean Power Plan and the West
When candidate Obama was running in 2008, he identified energy as his top priority and described his goal as the “transformation of American energy” to address the threat of climate change. On August 2, 2015, the President and the EPA Administrator announced the final...
Massive New National Monument Proposed in Southern Utah
A coalition of environmental, recreational, political, and business groups has come together to support the establishment of a 1.8-million-acre national monument in the Colorado Plateau region of Southern Utah. The proposed Monument, covering an area larger than...
Judge Orders “Accelerated” Review of Long-Disputed Montana Oil and Gas Leases
On July 27, 2015, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered the BLM to develop an “accelerated schedule” within the next 21 days to be used to decide whether to authorize development of 18 federal oil and gas leases that were originally issued in 1982, but have been...
Two Welborn Shareholders Honored by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
During the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation's ("RMMLF") Annual Institute held in Anchorage July 15-18, 2015, Amy Seneshen was elected chairperson of the Site Selection Committee for the Annual Institute and Rebecca Watson was selected to the Board of Directors of...
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Notice of Intent to Prepare Rulemaking for Migratory Bird Treaty Act Incidental Take Permits
On May 26, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a notice of intent (NOI) to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) evaluating the impacts of a proposal to authorize the incidental take of migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty...
EPA Announces Final Rule Defining “Waters of the U.S.” under Clean Water Act
On June 27, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final version of a long-anticipated rule defining the scope of the agency’s power to regulate waters under the Clean Water Act. The rule defines what constitutes a “water of the United States”...
Changes in Colorado’s Rules of Civil Procedure Aimed at Frontloading Litigation to Decrease Costs
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...