This Article explains that the conventional view of agency behavior—following the specific direction of the U.S. Congress or the president and using notice-and-comment rulemaking or adjudication processes—does not capture how public agencies and private entities develop innovative regulatory strategies and earn regulatory authority as a result. In particular, this Article explains how governmental agencies like the U.S.
A state high court reversed a summary judgment for a natural gas producer in a challenge to the interpretation of leases it entered into with North Dakota. Before the lower court, the producer challenged the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands' conclusion that the producer had improperly calculat...
In his recent statements and testimony before the U.S. Congress, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has expressed doubt he has the legal authority to limit his unrelenting campaign to lease fossil fuels on America’s public lands. He has supplemented this by offering a rather bizarre argument that he has no such obligation because carbon emissions are being curbed more in the United States than in many other countries. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) reported not long ago that these emissions account for about one-quarter of total U.S. carbon emissions.
A state high court affirmed a partial summary judgment for landowners in a challenge to an oil company's use of their land to extract natural gas from neighboring properties. The landowners argued that the company's lease did not allow it to use their land to extract oil and gas from neighboring min...
The D.C. Circuit vacated the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA's) 2018 amendment to a 2017 safety standard that required mine operators to examine areas before miners began work and record any conditions that could adversely affect workers' safety and health. Union groups argued the amen...