In April 2023, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a proposed rule that would apply new “land health” standards to all BLM-managed public lands and programs. This new policy will have broad implications for federal...more
Department of the Interior (“DOI”) Secretary Ryan Zinke announced on August 29, 2018, DOI’s “final” version of its new reorganization plan, which creates 12 new “Unified Regions” primarily intended to coordinate and expedite...more
The government is dramatically shifting its strategy for pursuing alleged underpayments of royalties owed on production from federal and Indian mineral leases. For decades, the Department of the Interior (“DOI”)’s Office of...more
The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (“ONRR”) accounts for and collects royalties owed on production from federal and Indian mineral leases onshore and on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). ...more
This summer, many federal agencies increased civil monetary penalties as much as 150 percent in response to new legislation mandating that federal agencies "catch up" with inflation and remedy past government failures to...more
The Department of the Interior today announced that it will publish for public comment a draft proposed Five-Year Program (“DPP”) governing the leasing of offshore oil and gas for 2017 through 2022. Interior’s DPP will...more
On January 6, 2015, the Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (“ONRR”) issued a proposed regulation that would substantially modify existing regulations in 30 C.F.R. Part 1206 for the valuation for...more