The Trump administration has unveiled the first 10 mining projects designated for accelerated federal permitting under Executive Order 14157, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, which prioritizes expedited permitting, federal land leasing, and funding of mining projects (discussed in our previous blogpost here). Published by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering…
Following President Trump’s March 20, 2025, Executive Order (“EO”) 14157, “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production” (discussed in our blogpost here), and recent recognition of valid existing rights to continue mining for gold and rare earth elements at the Colosseum Mine (see our blogpost here blog), the administration has…
This week, the U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”) publicly confirmed the ongoing rights of Colosseum Rare Metals, Inc. (“CRM”) to continue mining operations at the Colosseum Mine, located within the Mojave National Preserve (“MOJA”) in San Bernardino County, California. The Department’s communication reaffirms that CRM holds “valid existing rights”…
On the heels of President Trump’s January 20, 2025, Executive Order “Unleashing American Energy” promoting domestic energy and resource independence, he is promoting United States natural resources with Executive Order (“EO”) 14157, “Immediate Measure to Increase American Mineral Production,” issued March 20 to spotlight and bolster domestic mining. The President’s…
President Donald Trump has nominated Kathleen M. Sgamma, a 20-year advocate of the oil and gas industry, as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), is responsible for administering 245 million acres of federal public land and…
By Kerry Shapiro On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued the “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order to, among other things, establish the United States as a “leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals.” (“Executive Order”) The Executive Order emphasizes key energy policies, including the removal of EV-mandates and…
On December 9, 2020, the California Energy Commission (CEC) appointed nine members of the new Blue Ribbon Commission on Lithium Extraction in California (Lithium Valley Commission). The appointments were made pursuant to Assembly Bill 1657 (Garcia, Chapter 271, 2020) (AB 1657), which was signed into law by Governor Newsom on…
Just what makes a decision “final” enough to support a Fifth Amendment takings claim? In his article, “‘Finality’ may be the next key issue in takings litigation,” published by the Daily Journal, Daniel Quinley of JMBM’s Natural Resources and Mining Group, addresses a recent Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’…
On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties and one city each issued a virtually identical Shelter-in-Place Order (collectively, the “Order”) that is, in many ways, more restrictive than (i) Governor Newsom’s March 19, 2020 Stay-Home Executive Order N-33-20, and (ii) San Francisco’s March 16,…
This blog provides important updates to the analysis in our March 20 and March 23 blogs addressing the impact on workers in the construction and industrial materials industries of Governor Newsom’s March 19, 2020 Executive Order N-33-20 (“Order”) mandating, subject to certain exceptions, that “all individuals living in the State of…