2021 North Dakota Law Review Energy Law Symposium

He is a member and past Vice President of Education and past Vice President of Model Contracts of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. He serves as form and style editor of AIPN Model Contracts. He serves on the Academic Advisory Board of the Institute for Energy Law, as Faculty Adviser to the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law, on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Journal (ONE J), and was a charter member of the Executive Committee of the Journal of World Energy Law and Business. He is a member of the Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota bars; a life member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws; a member of the American Law Institute; an honorary lifetime trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation; and a trustee of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation. He is an arbitrator and consultant on oil and gas law and policy.

Jessica has served as the North Dakota State Senator for District 33 since 2012, representing a three county area in the west central part of the state, including Mercer, Oliver and part of Morton County. She is currently the chairman of the Finance & Taxation Committee and senior member of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee. She has previously served on the Industry, Business and Labor committee, numerous interim committees and was chosen by her colleagues as a member of Legislative Management in 2015. She is also an executive member of the Energy Council, a group of state legislators who shape energy policy across the nation and an executive member of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Focusing on sound public policy, Jessica also works to responsibly expand behavioral health services for our vulnerable populations, in both our rural and urban areas.

A citizen legislator, Jessica works as the Environmental Manager of North Dakota Operations for The North American Coal Corporation out of the Bismarck office. She’s been involved with coal mining in North Dakota since 2004, serving in the environmental department in many capacities at different mining operations, presently overseeing the environmental activities at the three mining locations in North Dakota. She serves on the Beulah Wellness Center Foundation Board of Directors and previously served as a supervisor on the Mercer County Soil Conservation District Board and president of the local pre-school. Jessica resides in Beulah, ND with her husband, Michael, and two daughters, Ella and Eva.

Kate Black

Kate is a native to Bismarck, ND. Born to an Agriculturist Hall-of-Famer Dad (Wade Moser), and an Oil Industry Hall-of-Famer Mom (Lynn “Strothman” Moser), she is all-things North Dakota. Picking a college was easy, she followed in her parent’s footsteps to North Dakota State University for that not-too-close but not-too-far feeling of comfort. A ‘Pros and Cons’ worksheet steered her to a degree in mechanical engineering over architecture or graphic design. The choice proved to be wise, as there have been no regrets after finishing her degree, and maybe a just a few regrets the evenings and early mornings before exams.

Her professional career in oil and gas was unanticipated, but the timing proved just right. It was 2010 and her mom, Lynn, was in need of help seizing up all of the opportunity that the Bakken was providing. Kate was thrust into Inland’s daily duties of participating in the drilling, exploration and asset acquisition, which she now manages today. Along the way she realized that her abilities to appraise, audit and manage minerals were a coveted skill and began providing those services to her clients.

Kate currently serves as the President of the Landman’s Association of North Dakota, a board member for the Western North Dakota Region of the American Red Cross, and volunteers with her beloved church, Evangel.

Outside of her professional endeavors, she fancies watching and playing sports, traveling, spending time with (and making new) friends. Most of all she cherishes her time with her husband (Wyatt) and three girls, so long as they’re not hangry or tired. That goes for all of them.

Mr. Caldwell also has substantial experience in class actions, employment, product liability, antitrust, insurance and bankruptcy litigation. Primary clients have been mineral and land owners, financial institutions, heavy equipment dealers, and policyholders.

Mr. Caldwell has extensive trial experience and was previously the managing member of CEF from 2007-2016. He has also been recognized by BL Rankings in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and Oil and Gas Law in 2018 and 2019.

He primarily works with clients in the energy and telecommunications industries, speaking frequently before groups regarding the state of the utility industry and the public policies that impact it. He has also testified multiple times before Committees of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, state legislators and regulatory commissioners.

Tony Clark provides clients with expert analysis and strategic advice on regulatory matters affecting their businesses. His clients include entities engaged in the production, and delivery of energy, and regulated telecommunications companies. In addition to providing inward-facing consulting services, he has represented client interests as a subject matter exert before regulatory agencies and state legislatures. Having served as both a state and federal regulatory commissioner, and as a former President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, Mr. Clark brings an unparalleled understanding of the nexus of state and federal utility regulation.

Whether seeking a solution to mitigate red lights on wind farms that pollute North Dakota’s night sky, or pushing for innovative ways to connect rural areas to natural gas service, Julie is constantly seeking to make government more responsive to North Dakota citizens. She led efforts to enhance the Commission’s pipeline reclamation program; she developed and received legislative approval for a state rail safety program; and she is a tireless advocate for reliable, affordable utility services.

She also reinstated the Commission’s consumer affairs portfolio to provide greater public awareness, participation and transparency in the work of the PSC.

Julie is a board member of the Organization of MISO States, vice-chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Gas Committee, vice chair of the NARUC Task Force on Natural Gas Expansion to Unserved Areas, and serves on the Gas Technology Institute’s advisory board. She is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Rodel Class of 2015.

Julie was appointed to the Public Service Commission in December 2012 by Gov. Jack Dalrymple. In 2016 she was elected to a full six-year term. Julie is married to Mike Fedorchak of Minot. They have three children and live in Bismarck where they are involved in a number of activities and organizations.

Brad regularly counsels clients on title curative matters, including drafting varied mineral, surface and leasehold title instruments. Additionally, Brad advises clients on complex legal matters involving operational issues, lease validity and maintenance, royalty payments and disputes of title. Outside of real property, Brad assists clients with estate administration (probate) and various corporate matters. Prior to joining Fredrikson & Byron, Brad worked for a Houston-based national law firm dedicated to serving clients in the oil and gas industry with their title concerns.

A Seattle native, Sisk got her start in journalism working for Inglemoor High School's newspaper, Nordic News. She went on to the University of Montana, where she worked as a page designer and reporter before becoming editor-in-chief of the school paper, the Montana Kaimin. She also reported for other student publications, including the Montana Journalism Review and Native News. She spent a semester in Helena covering the Legislature for weekly newspapers throughout the state.

Sisk first visited North Dakota on a reporting trip to the Bakken in college, and she returned in 2013 to intern for the Tioga Tribune.

Mr. Smith is very active in the industry’s regulatory and government affairs relating to federal, state, and legislative issues, as well as county and local matters. He served as Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the North Dakota Petroleum Council from 2008 through 2012 and currently serves on the Council’s Board and Executive Committee. In 2017 he was inducted into the North Dakota Petroleum Council Hall of Fame.

Craig has represented the oil and gas industry and the North Dakota Petroleum Council on several legal matters including the preparation of comments to BLM’s Waste Prevention Rule, successful appeal of BLM State Director’s Gas Flaring and Royalty Determination ruling, and co-authored the Council’s amicus curiae briefs filed in the North Dakota Supreme Court case Wilkinson v. State of North Dakota and Board of University and School Lands and Sorum v. State of North Dakota concerning oil and gas mineral ownership under the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea. During the 2017 North Dakota Legislative session, Mr. Smith represented industry in support of the adoption of Senate Bill 2134, leading a comprehensive legislative effort to resolve oil and gas mineral ownership issues underlying the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea. He has also authored and presented at national seminars regarding the recent Missouri River ordinary high water mark oil and gas title litigation and other water issues involving the Bakken play.

Andrew provides general counsel to Minnkota, with a concentration in the areas of large-scale financing, real estate, environmental regulation/mitigation, and transmission. Andrew currently serves as the internal lead on the financing of the proposed Project Tundra, which would be the world’s largest post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture facility to be installed at the existing Milton R. Young Station.

Prior to joining Minnkota, Andrew worked at the law firm of Olson, Juntunen, & Sandberg, Ltd., as a general practice attorney, with a focus on cooperative M&A, and served as an adjunct professor in the finance department at University of North Dakota Business School.

Andrew spends all free time either working with his father on the family farm outside of Adams, ND, chasing his 4 children to all of their various events, or in the deer woods with bow in hand.