Cobalt, Lithium, and the Quest for Sustainable Batteries With John Busbee, Xerion — Battery + Storage Podcast
Minería en tiempos de transición energética
Podcast - Panorama del sector energético en Colombia
Challenges for Infrastructure Projects in the Current Environment
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recently introduced a significant policy shift aimed at streamlining the permitting process for mineral projects on public lands....more
On the President’s first day in office, January 20, the White House released Executive Order 14153, titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” (the “Alaska EO”). The Alaska EO states that: The State of...more
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recently introduced a significant policy shift aimed at streamlining the permitting process for mineral projects on public lands. With the launch of the new “pre-plan coordination”...more
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Earthworks v. U.S. Department of the Interior has important implications for mining companies operating on public lands. This ruling upholds the Bureau of...more
Earlier this summer, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming the lower court’s decision that the Mining Law of 1872 does not impose a limit on the number of mill sites that a mining claimant may...more
On July 1, 2024, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a final rule to adjust location and maintenance fees for federal unpatented mining claims, mill sites, and tunnel sites. The Mining Law of 1872, 30 U.S.C. § 28j(c)...more
This article is part of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Energy & Natural Resources thought leadership series titled Striking the Balance: Permitting Reforms for Mining and the Energy Transition. In this series, we’ll explore the...more
In the Fall of 2023, the Interagency Working Group on Mining Laws, Regulations, and Permitting (“IWG”) released its final report containing recommendations to reform how mining is conducted on public lands (the “Final...more
California will invest $9.3 billion in 46 transmission projects to accommodate the state’s renewable energy shift, enabling more than 17 GW of solar generation to be added to the grid....more
On Friday, February 24, 2023, a Nevada federal judge issued an order in Bartell Ranch LLC et al. v. McCullough et al., rejecting emergency requests for injunction by Plaintiffs, among which are Native American Tribes, various...more
Earlier this week, the decision in Bartell Ranch v. McCullough generally supported the Bureau of Land Management’s review under NEPA and related statutes of a lithium mine near Thacker Pass, Nevada. If approved, Thacker Pass...more
On Friday, I posted about a decision invalidating BLM Resource Manage Plans for failure to comply with NEPA. My caption was “NEPA Is Still Going to Pose an Obstacle to Leasing Public Lands for Fossil Fuel Extraction.”...more
Thanks to the streaming mega hit Yellowstone, and perhaps Kim and Kayne’s brief stint in Wyoming, the West is no longer reserved for John Wayne wanna-bes and would-be snowboarders or adventurers looking to escape metropolis....more
Effective July 1, 2019, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a final rule (the Rule) to adjust location and maintenance fees for federal unpatented mining claims, mill sites, and tunnel sites. The Mining Law of 1872, 30...more
Secretary of the Interior Zinke has directed that the Bureau of Land Management immediately begin implementing the recommendations in his Sage-Grouse Review Team’s report, which was was released today, concerning the 2015...more
Late Wednesday Secretary of the Interior Zinke signed Secretarial Order 3353 establishing a Sage-Grouse Review Team to review the Obama Administration’s 2015 amendments to federal land use management plans. To avoid listing...more
As we’ve reported in the past, temporary takings are compensable in California. But such claims are not easy to prove, particularly when you’re dealing with the federal government imposing temporary regulations preventing...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - States ask Supreme Court to block Obama carbon emissions plan - Reuters - Jan 26 - A group of states led by West Virginia and Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay...more
On September 24, 2015, the federal Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a Notice of Proposed Withdrawal (“BLM notice”), proposing to withdraw from mineral location and entry federal lands identified as “sagebrush focal...more
On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released fourteen final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) that incorporate greater-sage-grouse conservation measures into the land-use plans for about 50...more
For purposes of “discovery” of a valuable mineral deposit, the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) has recently held that the “prudent man” test does not require that Bureau of Land Management (BLM) consider the current...more
The D.C. Circuit has decided against ruling on the substance of whether the Abandoned Mine Land reclamation fee and the regulatory methods the Office of Surface Mining uses to collect it on exported coal create an...more
On February 4, 2013, a Ninth Circuit panel held that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), or its own mining...more