Sign of the Brines: An Overview of Legal Issues Affecting Lithium Brine Plays in the U.S.

As demand for lithium accelerates alongside the clean energy transition, legal uncertainty surrounds the extraction of lithium from subsurface brines and produced water. This webinar explores key common law and regulatory issues affecting lithium brine plays, including groundwater rights, mineral classification, and emerging state-specific frameworks.

Credit(s)

2

Duration

89 minutes

As demand for lithium soars—driven by the rapid growth of electric vehicles and renewable energy—brine extraction has emerged as a cost-effective and scalable method to meet this critical need. However, the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding lithium brine plays is evolving just as quickly.

This webinar will begin with an introduction to lithium extraction methods, with a focus on subsurface brines and produced water, and an overview of high-growth lithium brine plays in the U.S. The panelists will then examine common law issues affecting lithium brine, including applicable groundwater rules and who possesses rights to pump groundwater; split ownership of lithium brine and the minerals found in the brine; and whether lithium is a “mineral” under severance doctrines and mineral lease interpretations.

Finally, the panelists will provide a summary of regulatory regimes governing lithium brine extraction in certain key U.S. states, differentiating regimes that are lithium specific or that can be applied to lithium, examining state attempts to address common law questions, and highlighting statutes and regulations that establish royalty rates and calculation methods or that address other relevant issues.

Speakers

Credits

Materials

2 CLE Credits – Colorado

This course has been accredited for CLE credit in Colorado. CLE credit hours shown are for Colorado only. A CLE course number for Colorado will be provided to attendees on their certificates of attendance once a course has been completed. New Mexico attorneys who complete a course must notify us (cle@fnrel.org) because we are required to report credits for you. If this course has been approved for RPL/CPL credit with the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), the credits will be listed below in a separate section for AAPL. If applicable, Component Codes for AAPL recertification will also be provided. Please contact the Foundation if you need independent verification by the provider of your attendance or participation for CLE purposes. Except as provided above, the Foundation generally does not apply for accreditation from any other MCLE/CPD organizations for its online legal education program. Upon completion of a program a certificate of attendance will be issued to all attendees. Except as provided above, attendees must verify with their respective state bars and CPD organizations and their specific rules as to whether or not the certificate of attendance will be recognized by that body for MCLE/CPD purposes, and the number of CLE/CPD credits that may be available. The live presentation of the on-demand program has been accredited in most mandatory states as part of a larger course, but such accreditation does not assure recognition of the on-demand program.

KEITH B. HALL is the Nesser Family Chair in Energy Law, Campanile Charities Professor of Energy Law, and John P. Laborde Endowed Professorship in Energy Law 3 and 4. He is also Director of the John P. Laborde Energy Law Center and Director of the Mineral Law Institute. He teaches Mineral Rights, International Petroleum Transactions, Energy Law & Regulation, and Civil Law Property. His publications have focused on oil and gas leases, pooling and unitization, hydraulic fracturing, induced seismicity, and the management of produced water. He is co-author of three books—a national oil and gas casebook that is used in law schools, a book on legal issues relating to hydraulic fracturing that is published by the American Bar Association, and the leading textbook on international petroleum law and transactions. He is a frequent speaker at national and international oil and gas, energy, and environmental law conferences, and is one of the editors on a book on international oil and gas decommissioning regulations. In addition to teaching at LSU, he has taught energy law classes as a visiting professor at Baku State University in Azerbaijan, as a Visiting Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and as an adjunct professor at Loyola School of Law (New Orleans). Before joining the LSU Law Center’s faculty, he was a member of the firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann in New Orleans, where he practiced law for 16 years, with a focus on oil and gas litigation and transactions, environmental law, and toxic tort litigation.

JENNIFER HORCHEM is Of Counsel at Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer LC. Her practice focuses on oil and gas (upstream and midstream), renewables, title examination, due diligence, business transactions, and commercial real estate. Before joining Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer LC, Jennifer focused her practice on federal and Indian royalties while practicing with a firm in Denver. She also brings valuable in-house experience from her role as Associate General Counsel and Vice President – Land Administration at a Wichita-based independent oil and gas exploration and production company. In this role, she worked on both royalty (Office of Natural Resources Revenue) and operational (Bureau of Land Management) aspects of public lands, and also handled state and federal royalty and unclaimed property audits. She collaborated with outside counsel, landmen, and brokers to manage acquisitions and sales, conduct due diligence, draft lease agreements, and oversee exploration and development contracts. Her litigation experience included resolving title and royalty payment disputes.

Jennifer earned her J.D. with honors from Washburn University School of Law in 2010, where she was recognized for her legal writing achievements, including a nomination to the National Order of Scribes. During law school, she gained experience through internships with the Kansas Legislative Research Department and Kansas Department of Agriculture, as well as a clerkship with the Advisory Counsel’s Office at the Kansas Corporation Commission.

LINDSAY DOFELMIER is Of Counsel in the Energy & Mining Group of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP. Operating at the leading edge of the energy transition, Lindsay leverages a deep understanding of regulatory and transactional landscapes to meet her client’s strategic business needs. With experience in the private, government, and non-profit sectors, when dealing with corporate transactions, compliance, and commercial litigation, she brings valuable insight to a range of natural resources, environmental, and energy issues ranging from critical minerals/rare earths, mining, renewables, endangered species, water law, public lands, and tribal consultation. Lindsay’s practice is global and spans all facets of natural resources law and all stages of project development. She advises clients on resource development on public, private and Indian lands, complex commercial transactions, permitting, compliance, disputes, and issues arising under federal and state statutes related to energy, the environment, and natural resources. Lindsay provides full-service support for her clients in complex extractive and energy industry transactions and disputes – from conducting front-end due diligence and ESG consulting to drafting and negotiating merger agreements and related financing and investment instruments, providing daily operational support for projects, and representing clients in state and federal courts.