Company: CRCE
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001096906-25-000275
Chunk: 22

Company: Circle Energy, Inc./NV
Filing Date: 2025-03-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 22
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tures used in hydraulic fracturing but, to date, has taken no further action. Separately, the BLM published a final rule in March 2015 that establishes new or more stringent standards for performing hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands. However, a Wyoming federal court struck down this rule in June 2016. The June 2016 decision was appealed by the BLM to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. However, following issuance of a presidential executive order to review rules related to the energy industry, in July 2017, the BLM published a notice of proposed rulemaking to rescind the 2015 final rule. In September 2017, the Tenth Circuit issued a ruling to vacate the Wyoming trial court decision and dismiss the lawsuit challenging the 2015 rule in light of the BLM’s proposed rulemaking. The BLM issued a final rule repealing the 2015 hydraulic fracturing rule in December 2017. The current administration has announced that it intends to review the repeal of the 2015 hydraulic fracturing rule under the Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.

Congress has from time to time considered legislation to provide for federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing and to require disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process but, at this time, federal legislation related to hydraulic fracturing appears uncertain. In Texas, specific oil and natural gas regulations apply to oil and gas operations, including the drilling, completion and operations of wells, and the disposal of waste oil and salt water. There are also procedures incident to the plugging and abandonment of dry holes or other non-operational wells, all as governed by the applicable governing state agency. As an example, the Texas Railroad Commission (“RRC”) adopted rules in 2014 requiring companies seeking permits for disposal wells to provide seismic activity data in permit applications. The rules also allow the RRC to modify, suspend, or terminate permits if a disposal well is determined to be causing seismic activity. Determinations by the RRC under these rules may adversely affect our operations. 

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Local governments may also seek to adopt ordinances within their jurisdictions regulating the time, place and manner of drilling activities in general or hydraulic fracturing activities in particular. In Texas, however, local governments are expressly preempted from regulating oil and gas operations with limited exceptions, under Texas Natural Resources Code Section 81.0523. If new laws or regulations that significantly restrict hydraulic