Mineral Rights and Regulation in Mexico, Brazil, and the United States: Implications for Society, Business, and the State

• In Event: Structures of Resource Extraction

Abstract

This paper is a comparative study of land mineral rights and their effects on regulation across three countries in the Americas: Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. Variation in mineral rights impacts regulation in the energy sector with profound implications for all actors affected by exploration and production activities: civil society, business, and the State. The energy industries of Brazil, Mexico, and the United States are intertwined through cross-national investment and have experienced significant transformations in recent years in technology, newly discovered resources, and regulation of foreign investment. The new energy paths on which these three countries have embarked are influenced by variation in mineral rights and ensuing regulation. As exploration and production activities have profound social, environmental, and economic impacts on local communities, understanding a determinant of these activities makes an important contribution to the study of precariousness, exclusions, and emergencies in the Americas in general and in Latin America in particular.

Author

• Olivia Miljanic, University of Houston