Agenda
8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Networking Event: Happy Hour hosted by the EMLF Young Professionals Committee
Bluegrass Tavern 115 Cheapside, Lexington 40507
All are welcome!
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
8:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Conference Welcome and Announcements
Karen Greenwell, Wyatt Tarrant & Combs, Conference Co-Chair
Guy Hensley, Warrior Met Coal, Conference Co-Chair
Larry Skrzysowski, EQT, Conference Co-Chair
8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
PJM Capacity Prices: What the Recent Increased Clearing Price Signals for Resource Adequacy and Reliability
On Tuesday, July 30, 2024, PJM Interconnection, LLC (“PJM”) published the results of its capacity auction for the 2025/2026 delivery year. With prices clearing at $269.92/MW-day, a more than 9x increase from the $28.92/MW-day that cleared for the 2024/2025 delivery year, the market sent a clear signal to generation operators of the need for more generation in PJM, a region including West Virginia, Ohio, most of Virginia, and parts of Kentucky, among others. This panel will discuss the trends in the PJM region that led to these recent capacity auction results, the implication of these results on resource adequacy, reliability, and affordability, and it will evaluate how current and prospective generators can and should respond.
Carrie Grundmann, Spilman Thomas & Battle
9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Does one-sixteenth mean one-sixteenth?
Throughout the history of oil and gas development, owners have granted and reserved undivided interests in varying denominations. One-half, one-sixth, and even one-tenth. But is it possible for a reservation of “one sixteenth” to not mean “one sixteenth?” This discussion covers how Courts should interpret deeds with grants or conveyances of undivided oil and gas interests, as well as examine select recent court decisions that involve grants or reservations of undivided oil and gas interests.
Andrew Cutright, Cutright Law
9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Could a Tax Sale Impact Your Mineral Title?
In 2016, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court confirmed the longstanding practice in Pennsylvania and held that, under statutes then in effect, a tax sale of unseated lands “washes” out all title to the property, including prior exceptions or reservations of oil and gas rights. In turn, the tax sale merges the surface and subsurface estates and vests title of the entire fee simple estate in the buyer. While the statute in dispute is no longer in effect, successors to the “washed out” mineral interest continue to challenge the title wash process creating challenges for lessors, lessees and title attorneys in the state. This presentation will discuss the ongoing case Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust, in which the Third Circuit has certified the following question to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court: “Whether a 1908 tax sale. . . of an unseated parcel of land, induced by the surface owner’s failure to pay taxes on the estate, and made to an agent of the defaulting surface owner, constitutes a title wash, thereby divesting the subsurface owner of his interest in the estate?” and the application to title practice going forward.
Carl Staiger, Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Hosted Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Labor & Employment Update
This presentation will focus on decisions and guidance from the National Labor Relations Board and the General Counsel’s office which impact employers in managing traditional labor issues. In addition, the presentation will highlight areas of the law to expect further aggressive enforcement if Vice President Harris were to win the November election, while discussing where these matters may go if Former President Trump were to win. Finally, the presentation will touch on the decisions impacting employers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, including the status of the proposed non-compete rules.
Michael Moore, Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Regulatory Challenges after Chevron
With its recent decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimando and Corner Post v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Supreme Court of the United States dramatically changed the landscape for challenging current and future federal regulations. Examining the strategy for post-Chevron regulatory litigation through the lens of the pending case KC Transport v. the Department of Labor, which was remanded by the Supreme Court for further review in light of the Loper Bright ruling, and other similarly situated matters, this presentation will address the question: now what?
Aditya Dynar, Pacific Legal Foundation
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch Break
Box Lunches are available. Attendees are encouraged to attend the Moot Court Semi-Finals or EMLF’s personal screening of Kameradschaft.
1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Utility-Related Injuries and Fatalities Litigation
This session will explore the defense of personal injury accidents related to utilities, coal mines, and other general workplace accidents. Highlights from this presentation include OSHA/MSHA, theories of liability, problems in discovery, limits on damages, and special issues and defenses.
Jeremiah Byrne, Frost Brown Todd
Christopher Robinson, Frost Brown Todd
2:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
PFAS Developments
This presentation will cover Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with an overview of what and where they are, and a discussion of the current and future PFAS regulatory environment.
Jennifer Simon, Kazmarek Mowrey Cloud Laseter
3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Hosted Break
3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Moot Court Competition Finals
4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Ethics: Data’s Lifecycle through Litigation – A Primer for Attorneys
As data within corporations continues to explode due to the use of workplace collaboration tools, mobile devices, and other online repositories, the need for attorneys to understand best practices around how to preserve, collect, analyze and produce that information (when required) is certainly heightened. Coupled with many states’ ethical duty of technical competence, enterprising litigants often engage in a tactic of practicing “discovery on discovery,” in an effort to craft spoliation claims that can lead to hefty settlements or verdicts. Join us as we walk through best practices for: identifying and preserving potentially relevant information; defensibly narrowing down data sets for review; and reviewing data for purposes of production.
John Unice, Bit-x-Bit
5:15 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Networking Event: Reception
Thursday, October 17, 2024
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.
Fitness Networking Events
Run/Walk
Beginner Yoga in Triangle Park with Courtney Risk Easterling of Dahlia Training Solutions.
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast
Track One
8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Local Government and CCUS: NIMBY Syndrome
As with the reaction to hydraulic fracturing sub-state governmental units have begun to create obstacles to the construction of CCUS projects within their jurisdictions. Subjecting CCUS projects to the local land use planning process will require attorneys to become familiar with the frequently Byzantine nature of zoning systems. Such policies may also run afoul of federal and/or state preemption principles.
Bruce Kramer, Texas Tech University College of Law & McGinnis Lochridge
Track Two
8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Trending Topics and Issues in Mineral Bankruptcies
Join us as we cover a number of emerging issues and hot topics from bankruptcy and appellate courts affecting mineral bankruptcy cases, including: treatment of overriding royalties and other covenants running with the land, appeals of sale orders, court and government considerations regarding permit transfers, and Chapter 11 plan releases.
Chacey Mahouitre, Jackson Kelly
9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Onshore Wind Energy 101
Onshore wind energy development has been on a strong, sustained course since its origins in the 1980s. Led by independent power producers in competitive wholesale markets and abetted by lucrative tax credits, wind energy exceeds double-digits in the generation mix of many states today. Technological developments are enabling developers to site fewer (but larger) turbines and operate them in a wider range of wind regimes and conditions. This presentation will help energy lawyers understand the markets and market participants in this field and the scope of regulation that governs them.
Christopher L. Callas, Jackson Kelly
9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Going Rogue: DOL’s Efforts to Avoid Black Lung Trust Fund Liability for Failed Self-Insurers
Following the bankruptcies of several self-insurers, DOL has changed its policy regarding the trigger for self-insurance coverage without notice and comment rulemaking to avoid Trust Fund liability for DOL’s mismanagement of the BLBA self-insurance program. This discussion will cover DOL’s prior approach to self-insurance liability and its retroactive and illegal policy change that blurs the difference between self-insurance and commercial insurance and creates perpetual parental liability for self-insured parents for former subsidiaries. The discussion also will address recent developments in the case law addressing the legality of DOL’s policy change.
Michael Pusateri, Greenberg Traurig
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Hosted Break
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Hosted Break
10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Contracting for Pore Space Rights for CCS
This presentation will cover the contracts and instruments that are used to acquire pore space rights for carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects. The presenter will discuss the clauses commonly found in such agreements, the issues that should be addressed by the parties, and whether pore rights should be acquired from the surface owner, mineral owner, or both, when there is a split estate. This will include discussion of how compensation is structured, the duration of time for which rights must be acquired, the allocation of risks and liabilities between the parties, and areas of potential dispute. Finally, the presentation will cover the mechanisms available under law to acquire pore space rights from holdout owners, including unitization and eminent domain.
Keith Hall, Louisiana State University College of Law
10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Has A Company Leader Misbehaved? – Internal Investigations of Key Company Personnel
An employee or third party accuses your company’s owner, director, officer or executive of misconduct. When faced with an allegation that can potentially expose your company to legal, financial and reputational harm, it is critical that the company promptly investigate the facts and assess the business risk, particularly when the allegation involves a company leader. This presentation will address 1) the factors to consider when determining whether to perform an investigation, 2) the selection of an investigative team, 3) the development and execution of an investigation plan that prioritizes confidentiality and privilege protections, and 4) the conclusion of the investigation and reporting on the results.
Kevin Douglass, Babst Calland
Final Session- Both Tracks
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ethics: Ethics of Using Expert Witnesses
The use of experts, both testifying and consulting, who advise in a more privileged manner, is often a necessity for lawyers who litigate disputes that involve technical issues. The use of these experts can present interesting ethical issues. This presentation will address confidentiality of communications, draft reports, comments on drafts, an expert’s conflict of interest, expert fees, independence and objectivity of experts, and professionalism and ethics of experts.
Kristeena Johnson, Dinsmore
Courtney Ross Samford, Dinsmore
12:00 p.m.
Adjourn