In the last few weeks, the Bureau of Land Management has seen a flurry of litigation activity over oil and gas leasing and permitting. Once BLM settled lawsuits over decisions to lease federal lands for oil and gas development, it almost immediately was served with a lawsuit challenging 3,500 permits to drill in New Mexico’s Permian Basin and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. BLM was then served with another lawsuit over its procedures for permitting oil and gas wells drilled from off-lease, non-federal surface (Instruction Memorandum No. 2018-014 or the “Fee/Fee/Fed IM”). And, BLM faces new litigation over its recent lease sales. These lawsuits present new uncertainties to operators that already face a difficult leasing and permitting environment on federal lands.
Please join us, in person or remotely, for a briefing intended to answer a variety of questions about these lawsuits and the risks they present:
- What’s going on here, exactly? We’ll discuss the legal claims underlying these lawsuits.
- How might these lawsuits impact existing or future permits? We’ll discuss the risks presented by these lawsuits, including to operators outside of the Permian and Powder River Basins.
- What can operators do to mitigate the risks that these lawsuits present? We’ll discuss how operators can account for these lawsuits in their decision-making.
- Will these lawsuits ever end? Unfortunately, we can’t answer this question – but hopefully we will answer others.
The confirmed speaker for this program, which has been approved for one general Continuing Legal Education credit in the state of Colorado, include:
- Katie Schroder, Partner
- Mark Champoux, Partner
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022
Registration & Breakfast | 7:30 AM
Program | 8:00-9:00 AM
DAVIS GRAHAM & STUBBS
1550 17th Street, Suite 500
Denver, Colorado 80202
Registration for this event has closed. Please contact Makenna Kincaid if you have any questions.