News
Case Management and Rejection of “Lone Pine Orders” in Colorado
On April 27, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari to review a Colorado rancher's attempt to prevent oil development and related access on his ranch. Petitioner Stull Ranches had requested that the high court review and reverse a 2014...
Stacie Hedrick receives the ALA Presidents’ Award of Excellence
Welborn extends Congratulations to our very own Stacie Hedrick in achieving the Association of Legal Administator's ("ALA") Presidents' Award of Excellence. Stacie, along with other members of last year's Board, put in the hard work and dedication it took to achieve...
Colorado Enters Discussion on Federal Land “Takeover”
Colorado has now joined eight other western states in the ongoing discussion of state assumption of control of federally-managed public lands. This has been a hot button issue among western conservatives since the 1970’s, but the movement has recently gained new...
At Last: A Federal Oil and Gas Lease Sale in the Pawnee National Grasslands
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...
BLM Begins Regulatory Process to Increase Oil and Gas Royalties, Rentals, Minimum Bids, Bonding and Penalties
As promised by Secretary Jewell in March, see previous post, BLM is initiating a rulemaking process-- Announcement of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)-- to “solicit public comments and suggestions that may be used to update the BLM’s regulations related to royalty rates,...
Jennifer Cadena Fortier selected to the Advisor Program of the CGCG
Welborn associate Jennifer Cadena Fortier has been selected to the Advisor Program of the Colorado General Counsel Group (CGCG). Congratulations, Jennifer!
The Wyoming Historical Society
The Wyoming Historical Society published an interesting piece by Wyoming reporter Dustin Bleizeffer on the history of coalbed methane development in Wyoming, “Coalbed Methane: Boom, Bust and Hard Lessons.” The article covers the boom of the early years of 2000’s and...
Senator Tester calls for Cancellation of Long-disputed Montana Oil and Gas Leases
At the end of March 2015, Montana’s U.S. Senator Jon Tester joined the Blackfeet Nation in calling on the federal government to cancel 18 existing federal oil and gas leases located in Northwestern Montana. These leases have been the focus of controversy for several...
EPA Proposes Rule to Prohibit What is Not Being Done
On April 7, 2015, EPA proposed a new rule to prohibit the discharge of wastewater pollutants associated with unconventional oil and gas (“UOG”) extraction to publicly owned treatment works (“POTWs”). Given that EPA is not aware that any UOG wastewater is currently...
Sheryl Howe presents at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Special Institute on Nuts and Bolts of Mineral Title Examination Mineral Law Series
Welborn Shareholder, Sheryl Howe, presented at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Special Institute on Nuts and Bolts of Mineral Title Examination | Mineral Law Series. You can read her paper entitled Putting the Substance of the Opinion on Paper here
United States Senate Passes Amendment “Supporting” Transfer of Public Lands to States
Last week, the United States Senate passed a largely symbolic budget amendment sponsored by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee) that “supports” the idea of selling, transferring or trading federally-managed public...
Mediation in a Nutshell
Mediation typically occurs at some stage of the adversarial process. That process involves parties who are focused on the strengths of their respective positions/cases, and who are committed to convincing a decision maker that the other side should be defeated. The...