Recently we reported on an El Paso Court of Appeals opinion (over a dissent) in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC (No. 23-0676), which held that fluid oil and gas waste produced from oil and gas drilling activities belonged to the producer, not the surface owner. The Texas Supreme Court subsequently granted review and scheduled oral argument on March 18.
Yesterday TCJL filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the court of appeals’ decision. The brief focused primary on the long regulatory and legislative history of the term “fluid oil and gas waste, for which the responsibility for treating, recycling, or disposing has always rested with the producer subject to a permit. The brief further points out that if the dissenting opinion at the court of appeals is correct, it would require wholesale revision of the entire regulatory framework, as well as the judicial rewriting of virtually every oil and gas lease in the state.
You may read a copy of the brief below.
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