Oil and Gas Leasing
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of April 15, 2024
National Energy Policy: USDA Funds Clean Energy Projects for PA Farmers and Rural Businesses ⚡
On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will be investing $5.69 million in 31 energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across 12 Pennsylvania counties. This investment is part of the March announcement of $120 million in Inflation Reduction Funds being allocated across 44 states through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The USDA stated that selected REAP projects help farmers and rural business owners “lower energy costs, generate new income and create jobs” by utilizing clean energy and increasing […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of February 5, 2024
Oil and Gas Leasing: BOEM Publishes Final Procedures for Bid Adequacy in Lease Sales ⚡
On Monday, January 22, 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published final revisions to the bid adequacy procedures for offshore oil and gas lease sales. The final procedures yielded no significant changes from the proposed revisions that were published and available for comment in the Federal Register in January 2023. BOEM states that these revisions will simplify bid adequacy determinations by eliminating steps in the existing process, including tract classification. This methodology update evaluates a tract’s fair market value and uses that to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of January 1, 2024
GHG Emissions: U.S. Treasury Provides New Guidance on Sustainable Aviation Fuel Credits ⚡
On December 13, 2023, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published Notice 2024-6, which contains additional guidance on how to qualify for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) tax credits defined under Section 40B of the Internal Revenue Code. According to Section 40B, to qualify for credit, a SAF must have a minimum reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of at least fifty percent. Additionally, a supplemental credit in the amount of one cent per percent can be earned for each reduction […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of November 27, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: Alaska Court Rules in Favor of Willow Project, Permitting ConocoPhillip to Explore and Develop on the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska ⚡
On November 9, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska upheld ConocoPhillips’s authorization to explore and develop oil on its leases in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic et al. v. Bureau of Land Management et al., No. 3:23-cv-00058-SLG (D. Alaska Nov. 9, 2023) (unpublished); see also U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, Bureau of Land Mgmt., Record of Decision for the […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of November 6, 2023
Oil & Gas Leasing: Alaska Challenges DOI’s Cancellation of Leases in Alaska National Wildlife Refuge ⚡
On October 18, 2023, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (ADIEA), a public corporation owned by the State of Alaska, sued DOI for cancelling its leases in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Alaska Indus. Dev. & Export Auth. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 1:23-cv-03126 (D.D.C. Oct. 18, 2023). The leases were initially suspended by the Department of the Interior (DOI) in 2021, and later cancelled on September 16, 2023. ADIEA seeks to overturn the DOI’s decision to cancel […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of October 2, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: Louisiana District Court Orders BOEM to Hold Offshore Lease Sale Without Additional Protections for Endangered Whales ⚡
On Thursday, September 21, 2023, the West District Court of Louisiana granted a Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed by the state of Louisiana and three oil companies in their lawsuit against the government and several environmental justice groups. The suit arose after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) withdrew six million acres from Lease Sale 261, a proposed lease on the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, and restricted “vessel activity in the lease area” to […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of September 18, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: DOI Cancels Oil and Gas Leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ⚡
On September 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced it is cancelling oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) that were originally issued in a 2021 lease sale. See “Notice of 2021 Coastal Plain Alaska Oil and Gas Lease Sale and Notice of Availability of the Detailed Statement of Sale, 85 Fed. Reg. 78,865 (Dec. 7, 2020).” The leases encompassed over 430,000 acres, divided into nine tracts. Pursuant to this announcement, the Bureau of Land Management […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of September 04, 2023
Landowner Royalties: Appeals Court Upholds 2016 Regulations on Oil and Gas Royalty Calculations for Federal and Tribal Lands ⚡
On August 25, 2023, the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals filed its decision in a case brought by the American Petroleum Institute (API) against the Federal Government with respect to a set of 2016 amendments affecting how royalties for oil and gas production on federal lands are calculated. American Petroleum Institute v. United States Department of Interior et al, No. 21-8076 (10th Cir.). The amendments at issue included the adoption of a default variation method, the elimination of certain cost […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of July 31, 2023
Oil and Gas Leasing: BLM Proposes Oil Drilling Royalty Rate Increase ⚡
On Monday, July 24, 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed a rule that would raise royalty rates for oil drilling on public lands. According to the BLM, the proposed rule conveys the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act. The rule would increase the royalty rate from 12.5 percent to 16.7 percent. Additionally, the rule would set rental fees for oil and gas leases issued in the next ten years at $3/acre for years 1 and 2, $5/acre for years 3 through 8, and $15/acre year 9 […]
Shale Law Weekly Review—Week of May 08, 2023
Pipelines: Supreme Court Reopens Landowner Eminent Domain Case Against Mountain Valley Pipeline ⚡
On Monday, April 24, 2023, the Supreme Court granted an appeal filed by six landowners in their case brought against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a statute that has allowed private companies, like Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, to exercise eminent domain authority to construct pipelines across Virginia and West Virginia. Cletus Woodrow Bohon et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission et al., No. 22-256, The D.C. Circuit originally affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the suit, holding that, as required by the Natural […]
