"I thought it had to do with Grandfathering projects from ADDED restrictions imposed by, for example, national monument designations.  It was my understannding that if 'value' had been established, a project wasn't automatically dead."

Maybe it's all semantics, as was Obama administration interpretations of the rules, which in regards to North Pipes is where new drilling was disallowed without "evidence of value".  I know permits were granted there, but to companies that had already done work on selected and related pipes.

Then, and again as I understand it, East Silverbell is complicated not so much by "evidence of value" (which can be argued either way), as it is by prohibitions on building roads for access, something that Bill Clinton may not have had in mind when he created Ironwood, but something the last administration supported, whether it damaged existing claim holders or not.

I don't have the best recall of the facts, so this is my sense of the issues.

As you said, all is moot without news.

VP