The Texas Supreme Court, in Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Undergrounds Services Markham, LLC, — S.W.3d —, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 1415892 (Tex. May 16, 2025), held that surface owners own subsurface salt caverns, even when such caverns are created by mineral owners.
Continue Reading Ownership of Underground Storage Space Under Texas Law Resolved by Texas Supreme Court Decision
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency, as one of its 31 historic deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback,” will reconsider the previous administration’s rule tightening the Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards (PM2.5 NAAQS).
Continue Reading EPA to Reconsider Previous Administration’s PM 2.5 NAAQS, Continuing its Deregulatory Push
On March 12, 2025, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced that the agency will undertake 31 deregulatory actions to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and EPA’s “Powering the Great American Comeback.”
Continue Reading EPA Announces 31 Historic Actions Publicized as “Greatest Day of Deregulation Our Nation Has Seen”
On May 17, 2024, the Texas Supreme Court held that when a lease requires royalties to be paid on all gas sold or used off the premises, but the valuation point for said royalties is “at the well,” gas used off premises as fuel is deductible as a matter of law.
Continue Reading Texas Supreme Court Determines That Off-Lease Fuel is Deductible from Royalties Valued at the Well
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently certified a question to the Texas Supreme Court asking what effect a free-use clause and an off-lease clause have on a royalty clause valuing royalties at the well. At issue was whether gas used as fuel off the leased premises could be deducted from royalties when the royalties were to be valued at the well under an oil and gas lease containing an off-lease clause and a free-use clause. Texas Supreme Court precedent provides that when a lease states that royalties must be valued on the gross proceeds received by lessees, free-use clauses do not allow for gas used as fuel off the leased premises to be deducted, but it is not clear on whether that same rationale would apply when royalties are valued at the well. Given that uncertainty, the Fifth Circuit could not confidently make an Erie guess on the issue and instead opted to certify the question to the Texas Supreme Court.
Continue Reading At the Well vs. Off the Lease: The Fifth Circuit Asks the Texas Supreme Court to Determine Whether Off-Lease Fuel May be Deducted from Royalties Valued at the Well
Recent technology has made produced water—a byproduct of fracing that was traditionally considered waste—a valuable product. However, no legal guidance existed on whether produced water was owned by mineral owners or surface owners. The Texas Legislature resolved some of that uncertainty by passing Texas Natural Resources Code § 122.002 on September 1, 2019, which generally grants title to produced water to whoever takes possession of it for the purpose of treating it for subsequent beneficial use. However, this statute only governs parties to instruments executed after September 1, 2019, which left parties to instruments executed prior to that date uncertain on whether they owned the produced water extracted from their property. The El Paso Court of Appeals undertook to resolve this conflict in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, and on July 28, 2023, it held that when instruments convey “oil and gas” or “oil, gas and hydrocarbons” to mineral owners without specifically reserving title to produced water or oil and gas waste, mineral owners have the sole right to produced water extracted from their property.
Continue Reading One Man’s Waste is Another Man’s Treasure: Texas Appellate Court Holds that Produced Water Belongs to Mineral Owners