On April 8, 2020, the COGCC announced a Special Commission Hearing to be held remotely on April 13, 2020 commencing at 1:00pm to hear the alleged violations of Kerr-McGee regarding the Firestone tragedy and Staff’s Administrative Order by Consent for its penalty assessment.

The Wyoming Supreme Court released two new Emergency Orders on April 1, 2020.

On April 1, 2020, the Colorado Supreme Court held that the 120-day regular session may be paused by the General Assembly and that “a mere reference to a number of ‘days’ does not necessarily mean consecutive days.”

WOGCC Commissioners, including Governor Gordon, held a special emergency telephonic hearing regarding Supervisor Watson’s proposal to reduce the conservation mill levy taxes assessed under Wyoming Statute 3-5-116(b) from .005 to .000.

The Wyoming Supreme Court has issued an Emergency Order on its own motion, effective March 26, 2020, adopting procedures for remote administration of oaths and witnesses, verification of guilty pleas, and for paper filings.

The COGCC held a virtual hearing on March 25, 2020 wherein the Director and Commissioners agreed to a temporary pause on the Mission Change Rulemaking due to the impacts of COVID-19.

On March 25, 2020, the Unites States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Memorandum Opinion in Civil Action No. 16-1534, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, et al. vs. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, et al., ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the already completed and operational Dakota Access Pipeline.

On March 25, 2020, the COGCC voted to continue the Wellbore Integrity Rulemaking to June 10-11, 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19 and the shared goal of an in-person hearing to deliberate the technical proposals involved in the Wellbore Integrity Rulemaking.

Yesterday, City and County of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock issued a “Stay-at-Home” Order that goes into effect at 5:00 pm today, Tuesday, March 24th, and will continue through April 10th.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a confidential Request for Proposal (RFP) to authorize the initial purchase of 30 million barrels of crude oil from small to midsize U.S. oil producers, with a total purchase target of 77 million domestic barrels.