(May 10, 2024, 8:45 AM EDT) -- DENVER — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has filed a response brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it “plainly has authority” under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) to require a permit for a proposed well, regardless of who owns the affected subsurface, contrary to the argument of an oil company that the BLM did not act within its scope of authority when it denied company’s attempts to drill a traverse well under a split estate....