Mealey's Fracking : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Fracking

January 09, 2023
Federal Agency Reasserts Lack Of Jurisdiction Argument In Federal Drilling Dispute

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has filed a reply brief in Wyoming federal court supporting its motion to dismiss an oil company’s complaint that it has the right to drill on federal land without obtaining the BLM’s permission. The agency says subject matter jurisdiction is lacking because there was no final agency action and the United States has not waived sovereign immunity.
January 06, 2023
Judge: Some Claims Against Fracking Operator For Tainted Drinking Water Are Valid

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal judge in Oklahoma has partially granted and partially denied a hydraulic fracturing company’s attempt to have all charges for groundwater contamination against it dismissed, ruling that claims for public nuisance and successor liability are valid.
December 22, 2022
Canadian Physicians Call For Fracking Moratorium Based On Health Risks

TORONTO — The organization Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) has released a report recommending a moratorium on the development of new natural gas wells across Canada and calling for an end to government subsidies for oil and gas companies, based on health information it gained studying individuals in British Columbia.
December 22, 2022
Groups Sue Agencies For Alleged Failures Related To Alaska Fracking Lease Sale

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Environmental groups on Dec. 21 sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in Alaska federal court challenging the agency’s decision to hold a lease sale for offshore hydraulic fracturing in Cook Inlet on grounds that the final environmental impact statement (EIS) failed to adequately evaluate the environmental impact of drilling activity.
December 19, 2022
Fracking Company Says Current Lease Appeal Should Not Be Assigned To Prior Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hydraulic fracturing company engaged in a federal lease dispute with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) filed a brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing that it should deny a motion by an intervenor Native American group seeking to have the appeal assigned to the same panel that heard a prior, related appeal. The fracking operator says that while the attempt is “an understandable litigation tactic,” it is still “inappropriate.”
December 16, 2022
Congressional Members Support Groups Seeking NEPA Review Of Fracking Leases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three members of Congress on Dec. 15 filed an amicus curiae brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting the position of environmental groups that argue that a lower court correctly vacated a federal hydraulic fracturing lease sale because a review was needed pursuant to compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
December 16, 2022
Patent Defendant Entitled To Dismissal With Prejudice, Texas Federal Magistrate Says

WACO, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas has recommended that a fracking company be dismissed from a patent infringement action over pumping devices used on fracking wells.
December 12, 2022
Agency, Groups Reach Deal For Additional Review Of California Fracking Plan

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have reached a settlement that calls for the BLM to conduct a supplemental environmental analysis (EA) in response to the CBD’s lawsuit against the agency related to its decision to open California’s Bay Area and Central Coast to hydraulic fracturing.
December 08, 2022
Fracking Advocates Seek Ruling Biden Administration’s Lease Pause Was ‘Unlawful’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Groups that advocate for hydraulic fracturing activity in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) have moved in Alaska federal court seeking summary judgment declaring the Biden administration’s actions unlawful with regard to his decision to issue a moratorium on federal lease sales in that region.
December 08, 2022
Investors: Securities Fraud Case Against Exxon Is Valid Based On New Information

DALLAS — Investors have filed a brief in Texas federal court contending that it should deny a motion to dismiss a hydraulic fracturing securities fraud case against Exxon Mobil Corp. because new facts included in the shareholders’ amended complaint “are sufficient to support direct, corporate and scheme liability.”
December 08, 2022
Commission Bans Dumping Of Fracking Wastewater In Delaware River Basin

TRENTON, N.J. — The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on Dec. 7 announced that it unanimously approved a final rule prohibiting the discharge of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations in the basin, including wastewater that may be exported into the basin.
December 07, 2022
Securities Case ‘Particularly Well-Suited’ For Class Certification, Investors Say

HOUSTON — Shareholders in a putative class action against a hydraulic fracturing company and three of its senior executives moved in Texas federal court for certification of the class on grounds that securities cases are “particularly well-suited” for class certification.
December 07, 2022
Company Pans Recommendation To Dismiss Case Because It Allows Claim To Be Amended

DENVER — A hydraulic fracturing company and its officers have filed an objection to a magistrate judge’s report even though it recommends that a securities fraud class action against the defendants be dismissed, arguing that the report allows the plaintiff shareholders to amend their complaint, which would be their fourth chance to state a claim.
December 06, 2022
Wyoming Sues Federal Agency For Violating Law By Not Holding Fracking Lease Sales

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The state of Wyoming has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in Wyoming federal court contending that its cancellation of federal oil and gas lease sales for hydraulic fracturing in Wyoming was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law.”
December 05, 2022
Federal Review Of Fracking Permits Was Insufficient, N.D. Tribe Tells 8th Circuit

ST. LOUIS — Federal government officials “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in approving permits for a non-Indian energy company’s hydraulic fracturing well project along Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota on the reservation of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation, the tribe says in an opening brief in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a summary judgment ruling for the government defendants.
December 05, 2022
Los Angeles City Council Bans New Oil Wells, Lets Current Ones Remain For 20 Years

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council in a unanimous vote with three council members absent on Dec. 2 passed a resolution banning new oil wells and calling for existing wells to cease operation within the next 20 years.
December 02, 2022
Study: Fracking Affects Water Sources, Constituting Threat To Aquatic Ecosystems

ADA, Ohio — A research study conducted by a team at Ohio Northern University that was provided to Mealey Publications on Dec. 1 finds that excessive withdrawals of water in the Ohio River basin for the purpose of hydraulic fracturing operations constitute a threat to aquatic ecosystems.
December 01, 2022
U.S. Driller Says Slovak Republic Hindered Investment, Causing $568M In Damages

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on Nov. 30 published a U.S. oil company’s memorial asserting that the Slovak Republic caused it to lose more than $568.2 million in potential profits by failing to remove protesters from a work site and imposing unnecessary regulatory requirements, thereby indirectly expropriating its investment.
November 30, 2022
Company To Pay $16.29M To Fix Water Polluted By Pennsylvania Fracking Operation

MONTROSE, Pa. — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Nov. 29 announced that hydraulic fracturing company Coterra Energy Inc. will pay $16.29 million for the construction of new public water supply lines in Dimock Township after it pleaded no contest to charges that it committed environmental crimes related to discharging methane into local groundwater.
November 29, 2022
Judge Seeks Joint Solution From Wisconsin Tribe, Enbridge In Pipeline Nuisance Row

MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin Indian tribe and the operators of a crude oil and natural gas pipeline were ordered by a federal judge on Nov. 28 to meet and come up with a joint plan to deal with a possible rupture of the pipe at a river crossing on the tribe’s reservation.
November 29, 2022
Group Argues Fracking Lease Case Against Federal Agency Is Not Moot

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An environmental group has filed a brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contending that its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) related to the federal lease sale for hydraulic fracturing in the Gulf of Mexico is not moot because, contrary to the DOI’s argument, the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) does not affect a court’s ability to grant effective relief for the claims in the case, and it is silent on the central question in the appeal.
November 28, 2022
Company Says Fracking Operator Cites No Authority In Attempt To Nix Royalty Case

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A hydraulic fracturing operator filed a brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should deny another fracking company’s motion for summary judgment on all claims in a breach of contract case related to two assignments of overriding royalty interests (ORRI) in oil and gas deposits because the other company cites no authority for its position.
November 23, 2022
Companies Remove Fracking Case And Say Other Defendant Was Fraudulently Joined

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing company has removed to West Virginia federal court a royalty dispute brought by a mineral rights owner who seeks a declaration from the district court that he is the lawful owner of the oil and gas rights under a specific estate and is therefore entitled to all related royalty payments.
November 23, 2022
Fracking Company Asks 9th Circuit To Let It Intervene In Federal Lease Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed an opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that an environmental group that is challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) approval of 667 fracking leases is also attempting to deny the operator’s due process rights to defend their specific leases. The operator argues that it is a necessary party to the litigation.
November 23, 2022
Groups Seek To Intervene In Case Over Dimensions Of National Monuments

SALT LAKE CITY — Environmental advocacy groups on Nov. 22 moved in Utah federal court seeking to intervene in a lawsuit pertaining to the dimensions of two national monuments, arguing that it is entitled to intervention as a matter of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) because the size of the monuments has implications for potential hydraulic fracturing activity in the region.