The D.C. Circuit held that a mining company must exhaust its administrative remedies before it can challenge potential claims filed against it under the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA). The BLBA grants coal miners the right to monthly benefits payments from a former employer in the event they suffer ...

A Colorado court, on motions for summary judgment, held that state and federal law preempt portions of a city ordinance concerning the regulation of oil and gas development within its boundaries. The provisions for minimum setbacks prohibit what state regulations would allow. As such, they are preem...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) claims against BLM in connection with its approval of oil and gas drilling on public and tribal lands near Cacho Cultural National Historical Park. The court agreed that the groups have standing to pu...

A Pennsylvania appellate court held that a family may go forward with its lawsuit against a natural gas company for operating wells on adjacent property to extract natural gas from beneath the family's property via hydraulic fracturing. The family asserted claims for trespass and conversion and soug...

A district court upheld a surface coal mining permit issued to a company even though the cotenant objected to any mining on the property. The company cotenant conveyed the right to enter and surface mine coal to an affiliate, but the other cotenant did not consent to surface mining. Nevertheless, th...