-
-
American Bar Association Web 100 Honoree
-
Texas Bar Today Top 10 Blog Posts
-
Tenth Anniversary Edition 100 BLAWG Honoree
-
Top 100 Blawg Winner 2015!
-
Top 100 Blawg Winner 2014!
-
View by Category
- "Ag Gag" Statutes
- AALA Conference
- Adverse Possession
- AQHA Cloning Lawsuit
- Big Data
- Business Entity Selection
- Carbon Contracts
- Checkoff Program Challenges
- Clean Water Act
- Contracts
- Dicamba
- Direct Beef Sales
- Dispute Resolution
- Drones
- Easements
- Eminent Domain
- Eminent Domain in Texas Series
- Employment/Labor Law
- Endangered Species Act
- Estate Planning
- Extension Publications
- Farm Animal Liability Act
- Farm Bill
- Federal Regulations
- Fence Law
- FOIA/PIA
- Food Safety
- Free Ag Law Resources
- GMO Labeling
- GMO Labeling and Reporting
- Hemp
- Horse Slaughter
- Immigration
- Insurance
- Land Values
- Landowner Liability
- Leases
- Lesser Prairie Chicken
- Lessons from My Agricultural Law Course
- Liens
- Local Fracking Bans
- Mental Health
- Oil and Gas Law
- Pesticide Drift
- Podcast
- Prescribed Burning
- Property Taxes
- Purchasing Property
- Questions from Tiffany's Desk
- Regulatory Takings
- Right to Farm laws
- SCOTUS Watch
- Seed Law
- Solar
- Special Use Valuation
- Surface Use Agreements
- Syngenta Litigation
- Tax Issues
- Texas Legislature
- Texas Supreme Court Decisions
- Texas Water Wars
- Transition Planning
- Uncategorized
- Undercover Video Situations
- United States Congress
- United States Supreme Court Decisions
- USDA Programs
- Water Law
- Water Pipeline Projects
- Weekly Round Up
- Wildfire
- Wind Energy Leasing
- WOTUS
- Year in Review
-
Archives
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
Category Archives: Oil and Gas Law
May 1, 2015 Weekly Round Up
Last week I made the journey to the Hill Country for the Bennett Trust Land Stewardship Conference, held in Kerrville. Many kudos to organizer, Larry Redmond, for putting together an outstanding program! To those of you new to the blog from the Conference, welcome! Here are some ag law stories in the news this week. *Texas Supreme Court Will Not Hear Bragg v. Edwards Aquifer Authority. Big water law news happened today when the Texas Supreme Court denied petitions to consider an appeal in Bragg v. Edwards Aquifer Authority. Stay… Read More →
Texas Supreme Court: Duty of Executive Rights Holder to Non-Participating Royalty Owner
Recently, the Texas Supreme Court clarified the duty owed by an executive rights holder to a non-participating royalty owner when negotiating an oil and gas lease. KCM Financial LLC v. Bradshaw is an important opinion as it makes clear what obligations the executive rights holder has, and does not have when negotiating and signing mineral leases. [Read full opinion here.] Basic Legal Background Generally, if not severed, a mineral owner possesses certain rights as part of mineral ownership. These rights include the executive right, which is the right to… Read More →
April 6, 2015 Weekly Round Up
Because of the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals opinion last week in TCEQ v. Texas Farm Bureau, the weekly round up blog for last Friday got pushed to today. Last weekend, I attended my first Texas & Southwest Cattle Raiser’s Conference in Ft. Worth. I was honored to give three presentations on grazing leases and pipeline easements and had an absolute blast! To those of you joining from the Convention, welcome! Here are some ag law stories in the news this week. * Texas Supreme Court Hears Chesapeake… Read More →
March 20, 2015 Weekly Round Up
Spring is in the air! Hope you are all enjoying some warmer temperatures, and hopefully, some rain! Here are some of the ag law stories in the news this week. *Briscoe County Will Not Become Part of High Plains Water District. Despite a TCEQ recommendation that the High Plains Water District annex Briscoe County under its jurisdiction, the District Board voted unanimously not to do so last week. Numerous Briscoe County residents spoke against the annexation, claiming they were perfectly happy being unregulated by a groundwater conservation district…. Read More →
Questions from Tiffany’s Desk: Set Back Rules for Pipelines and Oil Rigs
Question: Is there a rule requiring a certain setback distance between a home and an oil or gas well or pipeline? Answer: There is no state-wide setback rule for oil and gas wells or pipelines in Texas. The state agency charged with governing oil and gas production, the Texas Railroad Commission, has passed no such state-wide regulation. According to the Texas Railroad Commission website, “The Railroad Commission does not regulate how close a gas or oil well can be drilled to a residential property.” Instead, the RRC has… Read More →
Surface Use Agreements: What They Are and How To Get One
As we have previously discussed, in Texas, the mineral estate is dominant over the surface estate. This means that a mineral owner (or lessees, as the case frequently is) has the right to use as much of the surface estate as is reasonably necessary for the production of minerals like oil and gas without compensation to the surface owner. One way for surface owners to protect themselves is by entering into a Surface Use Agreement. What They Are Initially, I want to note that the best way to… Read More →
Agriculutral Law: What To Watch in 2015
As everyone is recovering from the New Year celebrations and getting back to the grindstone, I thought it would be fun to highlight a few of the major ag law issues to watch in 2015. Water Disputes Unfortunately, this issue will likely top the list every year for the near future. Across the country we are seeing more and more water-related disputes. In addition to the issues outlined in my 2014 Year in Review post, there are two additional issues I think will be in the forefront this year. Water… Read More →
Multi-Million Dollar Settlements for New Mexico Royalty Owners
Two class action lawsuits have been settled in favor of New Mexico royalty and overriding royalty owners. Devon Energy Corporation and Burlington Resources have settled claims that they underpaid royalties in the San Juan Basin by improperly deducting costs of treating and transporting coalbed methane gas. In Davis v. Devon Energy Corp., New Mexico First Judicial District Court No. D-0101-CV-2003-01590, Devon settled the case for $27.75 million. In Ideal v. Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP, New Mexico First Judicial District Court No. D-0101-CV-2003-02309, the defendants paid… Read More →
December 9, 2014 Weekly Round Up
Because I did not get the Weekly Round Up post up last Friday, I figured better late than never, so here is the first-ever Tuesday weekly round up of ag law stories in the news. * LCRA Seeks Approval to Cut Off Downstream Irrigation Releases for Fourth Year in a Row. In a story that is unfortunately becoming all to common, the Lower Colorado River Authority voted 11-2 to seek permission from the TCEQ to curtail downstream releases from the Highland Lakes. The curtailment would not just impact… Read More →
Case Analyzes “Operations” Language in Oil and Gas Lease
* Please remember to vote for the Texas Ag Law Blog in the “Niche” category of the ABA Top 100 Blawgs! Click here between now and December 19!* A recent case from the Waco Court of Appeals, Rippy Interests, LLC v. Nash, illustrates an important issue to consider when negotiating oil and gas leases. [Read full opinion here.] Lease Background Nash owned mineral rights for 1,888 acres in Leon County. He entered into a lease with Range Production, who later assigned the lease to Rippy Interests, LLC. The lease was for a primary… Read More →