Court Affirms Contested Mine Permit Revision Changing Underground Uranium Mine from Standby to Active Status
In an appeal on the record taken by environmental groups pursuant to Rule 1-074 NMRA, the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe affirmed a significant revision of Mt. Taylor Mine’s existing mine permit originally issued decades ago under the 1993 New…
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Water Quality Control Commission Unanimously Upholds Proposed Mine’s Groundwater Discharge Permit Issued Under the Copper Rule
On August 13–14, 2019, in what many view as bellwether cases, the New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED) Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) decided two administrative appeal challenges to the first-ever groundwater discharge permit (DP) issued by NMED to a proposed new copper…
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New Mexico Produced Water Act
The New Mexico Legislature passed by an overwhelming majority, and Governor Lujan Grisham signed, the Produced Water Act, a bipartisan effort to encourage and facilitate the recycling and reuse of produced water by oil and gas producers and the conservation of fresh…
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Chambers USA Honors 18 Modrall Sperling Attorneys
Modrall Sperling has once again achieved national ranking as a firm from Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for its Native American Law practice. Additionally, two of…
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Annual Environmental Law Update
This paper was originally published by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation in the Proceedings of the 64th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute (2018) This chapter highlights…
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What’s in a Net Royalty Acre?
We all understand the definition of “net mineral acre.” It is derived by multiplying a fractional interest in minerals by the acreage over which the interest is owned….
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Attorney Chris Killion Joins Modrall Sperling
Modrall Sperling is pleased to announce that Chris Killion has joined the firm as a Shareholder. Chris’ practice is focused on issuing drilling, division order, and acquisition title…
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Trumping the National Monument Designations of Past Presidents
When a President of the United States sets aside important federal lands for conservation, the accompanying fanfare typically invokes the notion of forever. But, in light of President Trump’s Executive Order 13792, maybe these national treasures should be asking our government the…
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Mineral Reservation Clause Allowing Mining Did Not Constrain Surface Owner’s Public Opposition
A New Mexico state court judge has rejected a mineral estate owner’s attempt to constrain a surface owner from publicly opposing its mining project on the basis of a strongly worded mineral reservation that expressly reserved mining rights and attendant surface rights. …
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Executive Order on Review of Designations under the Antiquities Act
President Trump signed an Executive Order (“EO”) on April 26, 2017, directing the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a review of all Presidential designations or expansions of designations of national monuments under the Antiquities Act.1 The review mandated by the EO…
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