Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation

The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF) is a collaborative, educational nonprofit organization dedicated to the scholarly and practical study of the law and regulations relating to mining, oil and gas, energy, water, public lands, and related areas.[1]

Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
AbbreviationRMMLF
Formation1955
Type501(c)(3)
HeadquartersWestminster, Colorado, United States
Region served
Global
President
Rebecca W. Watson
Vice President
Stuart R. Butzier
Executive Director
Alex Ritchie
Websitewww.rmmlf.org

The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors and guided by a Trustees Council that includes representatives from constituent law schools, bar associations, and mining and oil and gas associations.[2] Leading legal, land, and other experts work as volunteers to the Foundation and its committees.

Through educational programs, the Foundation brings together lawyers, landmen, managers, government personnel, law faculty, students, and others involved in mineral, oil & gas, water, and other resources.

History

The Foundation was organized in 1955 to provide broad educational coverage over a wide geographic area to many practitioners and mineral company personnel who were interested in a field of law in which only a few were expert, and to avoid duplication of effort among the law schools and industry organizations interested in the problems of the rapidly developing mineral industry, particularly the oil and gas industry in the Rocky Mountain area. The first institute brought mineral resources lawyers together to hear experts talk on significant and timely subjects. The papers from the conference provided permanent reference material, which was made available by publication of the Proceedings of the First Annual Institute. The Foundation has continued to be a meeting place and focal point for lawyers and others whose work brings them into contact with the legal aspects mining, oil and gas, energy, water, public lands, and related areas.

When the decline of the oil and gas industry occurred in the Rocky Mountain area in the early 1960s, it was accompanied by increased activity in "hard rock" minerals. Commencing around 1965, the Foundation gave increasing attention to mining law and to expansion into water law, as well as expanding geographically into new areas of the west. This policy was put into effect in 1967 by adding to the Annual Institutes a section for water lawyers, an innovation that has continued to the present time. The geographic expansion might be considered as beginning with the 14th Annual Institute at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1968, which also inaugurated a Landman's Section that has since been a regular feature of the Annual Institute.[3]

The Foundation began a new era with the appointment of David P. Phillips as Executive Director in December 1970. The regions served gradually expanded past the Rocky Mountains under the direction of Mr. Phillips, first to Canada and Mexico and then later to South America.[4] The Foundation today is a tribute to the foresight of its founders, who created a structure with a balance that has accommodated diverse opinions.

Programs

In fulfilling its goals, the Foundation carries out varied programs of interest to attorneys, landmen, management, government personnel, law faculty, students, and others involved in mining, oil and gas, energy, water, public lands, and related areas of natural resources law. These programs include annual and special institutes[5] and short courses in various locations around the world.[1]

Summer Annual Institute

The Foundation is probably best known for the Annual Institutes and the published Proceedings containing the scholarly papers presented at each of the Institutes. Annual Institutes were originally held on the campuses of member law schools such as the University of Montana at Missoula, the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, and the University of Denver.

Institutes today are no longer held on-campus, with the most recent sites including Newport Beach, Spokane, Vail, Anchorage, Squaw Valley, Santa Fe, Victoria, and Monterey.[1]

Special Institutes and Short Courses

The Special Institutes are intended to examine specific topics in depth. Some of the repeating core topics include Mining Agreements, Oil and Gas Agreements, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Federal and Indian Oil and Gas Royalty Valuation and Management.[6]

Under the format of a Short Course, an entire field of law is reviewed. Topics have included Mineral Title Examination and Oil and Gas Law. Short Courses on international law are routinely held both in the United States and countries around the world.

Publications

In addition to institutes and courses, the Foundation publishes a variety of educational materials:

  • American Law of Mining — Mining legal treatise.[7]
  • Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases — Oil and gas legal treatise.[8]
  • Landman's Legal Handbook — Practical manual for landmen.
  • Annual Proceedings — Compilation of papers presented at RMMLF Annual Institutes.
  • Special Institute Materials — Papers presented at various Special Institutes.
  • Digital Library[9] — Online access to the Proceedings of the Annual Institutes, papers presented at Special Institutes, and original RMMLF Journal articles.
  • Mineral Law Newsletter — Current developments in mineral law.
  • Water Law Newsletter — Current developments in water law.
  • Gower Federal Services — Decisions of the Interior Board of Land Appeals[10] and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue[11] relating to mining, oil and gas, outer continental shelf, and royalty issues.
  • RMMLF Journal — Original and reprinted law review articles.

Outreach

Grants

The Grants Program was established by the Foundation in 1976 to promote scholarship, research, writing, teaching, and the study of mineral resources law and related fields at law schools around the country. Grants awards typically range from $2,000 to $5,000. Applications are evaluated by the RMMLF Grants Committee, with preference given to the Foundation's Constituent Law Schools and to projects having results of widespread utility and value such as the preparation of teaching materials, publications, and visiting lectureships on mining law, oil and gas law, energy law, water law, public land law and related areas.

Scholarships

The Scholarship Programs consist of the Joe Rudd Scholarships, established in 1979 in honor of a prominent natural resources attorney in Alaska; the RMMLF Scholarships, established in 1993; the Frances Hartogh Diversity Outreach Scholarships; the Richard H. Bate Scholarships; and the Catherine J. Boggs Scholarships. One RMMLF Scholarship award is the David P. Phillips Scholarship, named in honor of the Foundation's Executive Director who retired in 2012 after leading the Foundation for 42 years. Law students enrolled full-time at one of the Foundation's Constituent Law Schools who can demonstrate a commitment to the study of natural resources law are eligible to apply for tuition scholarships. Academic and leadership ability as well as financial need are evaluated by the Foundation's Scholarship Committees consisting of volunteer attorneys. To date, 584 scholarships have been awarded, totaling over $3 million.

References
  1. "RMMLF website".
  2. "RMMLF Website".
  3. Victor H. Verity, "A Mini-View of the Past 25 Years," 25 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. at xxxi (1979).
  4. John C. Lacy, "The Second Twenty-Five Years, A History of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute 1979-2004," 50 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. at xix (2004).
  5. See David E. Pierce, "The Renaissance of Law in the Law of Oil and Gas: The Contract Dimension," 42 Washburn Law Journal 909, 910 (Aug. 27, 2004).
  6. See, e.g., Russell Cnty. Sportsmen v. U.S. Forest Serv., 668 F.3d 1037 (9th Cir. 2011) (citing Michael S. Freeman & Meg Parish, "Supplemental NEPA Analyses: Triggers and Requirements," National Environmental Policy Act 6-1 (Rocky Mt. Min. L. Fdn. 2010)).
  7. See United States v. Good, 257 F. Supp. 2d 1306 (D. Colo. 2003) (citing the American Law of Mining)
  8. Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases (LexisNexis Matthew Bender)
  9. "DOI website".
  10. Office of Hearings and Appeals, Interior Board of Land Appeals, https://www.doi.gov/oha/organization/ibla/
  11. Office of Natural Resources Revenue, http://www.onrr.gov/


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