All American Oilfield, LLC, and v. Cook Inlet Energy, LLC, and in Re: Cook Inlet Energy, LLC, Debtor, Charles…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court answered three certified questions concerning mineral dump liens for natural gas. It held that unextracted gas remaining in its natural reservoir cannot be a statutory dump, while gas in a pipeline may qualify if it is adjacent to the mine or mining claim; it also held that a claimant must show that the claimed work aided, broadly, in producing the minerals. The court left the pipeline-adjacency and claimant-specific work questions for fact-finders.