January 13, 2025

Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of January 13, 2025

Public Lands: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Submits Petition to Protect Ruby Mountains ⚡
On December 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (USFS) submitted a petition to withdraw Ruby Mountain in Nevada from “leasing under the mineral and geothermal laws, for 20 years, subject to valid existing rights.” The USFS petition initiates a two-year segregation of Ruby Mountain and includes goals for withdrawing Ruby Mountain such as protecting wildlife and plant habitats and maintaining “recreational opportunities.” The withdrawal petition, according to the USDA’s announcement, asks to ban new mining and federal mineral leases for around 264,000 acres of Ruby Mountain. Upon publication of the petition in the Federal Register, a 90-day comment period is open, which are being accepted via mail or email.

Public Lands: Second Round of Oil and Gas Leases in the Arctic Refuge Conclude with No Bidders
On January 8, 2025, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced the close of the second round of lease sales in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Arctic Refuge) with no companies submitting bids. The deadline for companies to post bids was January 6th. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act required the DOI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold two rounds of lease sales in the Arctic Refuge by 2024, the first of which was held on January 6, 2021. On January 20, 2021, Executive Order 13990 halted all oil and gas lease programs in the Arctic Refuge while new environmental assessments were conducted. These assessments were completed and released to the public on November 6, 2024, and BLM announced the dates for the second lease sale in December 2024. This was the final Arctic Refuge lease sale required by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Further background on the lease sales can be found on the BLM’s website.

Oil and Gas Leasing: Ohio Appeals Court Affirms District Court Judgement in Breach of Contract Dispute
On December 19, 2024, the Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the motion to dismiss granted by the district court in the case of Dream Big Energy, LLC v. Eclipse Res.-Ohio, LLC. The dispute began in 2018, when Plaintiff Dream Big Energy (Dream Big) sued Defendant Eclipse Resources (Eclipse), alleging that Eclipse breached its contract regarding royalties for its use of three oil and gas wells located on Dream Big’s property. Dream Big alleged wrongful comingling, breach of contract, fraud, and a violation of Ohio’s RICO statute. Eclipse moved to dismiss the wrongful comingling action, to which Dream Big amended its complaint, omitting the wrongful comingling action but keeping the other three allegations. Eclipse then moved for summary judgment on the other three allegations, which was granted by the trial court. Dream Big appealed both motions. The appeals court affirmed the motion to dismiss the wrongful comingling action, as the claim was dropped willingly by Dream Big. The appeals court also upheld the granting of summary judgment, as Dream Big did not present any evidence to contradict the evidence offered by Eclipse for its breach of contract claim, and the fraud claim was practically identical to the breach of contract claim. Finally, Dream Big’s RICO claim relied on its fraud and breach claims, and as such has no merit, according to the court.

Oil and Gas Regulations: Texas RRC Updates Oil, Gas Waste Management Rules
On December 17, 2024, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) announced the first updates to its oil and gas waste management rules in forty years. The RRC states that the new rules will enhance the RRC’s ability to gather information on oilfield waste transported throughout the state of Texas. Additionally, the new rule updates replace and revise existing RRC regulations for the handling and disposal of oil and gas wastes, updates existing rules for commercial oil and gas waste recycling, and updates regulations on the “design, construction, operation, monitoring, and closure of waste management units.” The rules are effective July 1, 2025.

Climate Change: New York Governor Signs Climate Superfund Act into Law
On December 26, 2024, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, signed the Climate Change Superfund Act (Senate Bill 2129-A) into law. The Act seeks to combat climate related weather events by establishing a “climate change adaptation cost recovery program” which would fund infrastructure development. The recovery program will be funded by companies determined to have contributed to climate related weather events. The Act highlights greenhouse gas emissions as a key contributor to these weather events. Under the Act, companies that participate in the production of oil and gas, primarily through extraction and refinement, will be deemed contributors of greenhouses gases. The Act enforces an obligation on companies emitting greenhouse gases to contribute to the recovery program in the form of damages under a standard of strict liability, with no finding other the companies’ emissions required. The Act will impose these damages on companies emitting greenhouse gases between 2000 and 2018. The recovery program aims to obtain $75 billion in damages, with the damages paid by each company set in proportion to their total emissions numbers for the covered period. Companies involved in the production of crude oil will be attributed 432,180 metric tons of carbon emitted for every one million barrels of crude oil produced. Further regulations governing how the recovery program will run will be promulgated within the next year.

 

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CENTER PROGRAMS & RESOURCES

Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar series – The Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law will conduct the latest installment in its Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar series.  Each quarter’s free one-hour webinar covers the legal and regulatory developments in the U.S. dairy industry from the preceding quarter and includes an in-depth look at a single focus topic of law, regulation, or government policy of interest to dairy professionals of all kinds.

Understanding Agricultural Law Series. A free monthly Zoom webinar series for agricultural and rural business advisors. One hour of substantive CLE credit available for Pennsylvania-licensed attorneys at no charge. All events on Fridays, noon–1 pm (ET). Upcoming:

Follow us on Twitter @AgShaleLaw to see the latest with our #ShaleLaw HotLinks 

Connect with us on Facebook.

Penn State Farmland Energy Legal Podcast: Listen to the latest episode here.

Oil & Gas Law & Policy Resources:

Bloomberg, Oil Holds First Decline This Year on Signs Rally Was Overdone (January 7, 2025)

Hug, Mallen, Johnson, Reither, et al, FERC Increases Maximum Civil Monetary Penalties for 2025 (January 9, 2025)

Sartain, Wind Farms: NIMBY Unless You Ask Permission (January 6, 2025)

Hug, Mallen, Johnson, Reither, et al, FERC Proposes Landmark Penalty for Alleged Energy Efficiency Resource Capacity Market Manipulation (January 8, 2025)

Bloomberg, Saudis Raise February Crude Prices as OPEC+ Holds Back Barrels (January 6, 2025)

FEDERAL ACTIONS—EXECUTIVE & LEGISLATIVE

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PRESS RELEASES

U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency Announce $6 Million to Support Development of Advanced Biofuels (January 8, 2025)

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PRESS RELEASES

EPA and Continental Cement Company in Hannibal, Missouri, Settle Alleged Clean Air Act Violations (January 8, 2025)

FEDERAL EXECUTIVE AGENCIES (Federal Register November 29- December 6, 2024)

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

90 FR 1993 Notice: “Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC; Notice of Request Under Blanket Authorization and Establishing Intervention and Protest Deadline” (January 10, 2025)

Land Management Bureau

90 FR 332 Notice: “Notice of Lease Sale and Notice of Availability of the Detailed Statement of Sale for the Coastal Plain 2025 Oil and Gas Lease Sale” (January 3, 2025)

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

90 FR 1405 Proposed Rule“Hazardous Materials: Advancing Safety of Highway, Rail, and Vessel Transportation; Extension of Comment Period.” (January 8, 2025)

Other Agencies

Internal Revenue Service: 90 FR 2224 Rule: “Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen and Energy Credit” (January 10, 2025)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 90 FR 603 Notice: “Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico” (January 6, 2025)

U.S. HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE

H.R.92 Bill: “To provide for the development of a plan to increase oil and gas production under oil and gas leases of Federal lands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Defense in conjunction with a drawdown of petroleum reserves from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.” (January 3, 2025 – Introduced)

STATE ACTIONS—EXECUTIVE & LEGISLATIVE 

PENNSYLVANIA EXECUTIVE AGENCIES (Pa. Bulletin Vol. 55, No. 1 – January 4, 2025)

 

Written by:
Jasmine Gunning, Research Assistant
Dillon Lightfoot, Research Assistant
Riley Amdor, Research Assistant
Caden Dean-Sauter, Research Assistant
Victoria Dutterer, Research Assistant
Jose Rojas, Research Assistant
Jackie Schweichler, Staff Attorney