Mealey's Fracking
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March 24, 2021
Intra-Division Transfer Of Patent Case Won’t Be Disturbed, Panel Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decision by a federal judge in Texas to transfer, in view of COVID-19 protocols, a patent dispute over technology used in the hydraulic fracturing industry from one division to another is not worthy of mandamus review, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 23.
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March 24, 2021
Groups: Fracking Leases Were Approved Without ‘Hard Look’ At Environmental Impact
FRESNO, Calif. — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and other groups on March 22 sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in California federal court seeking declaratory relief for its “hasty decision to sell the first oil and gas leases on public land in California in nearly a decade” without performing the legally required “hard look” concerning the impact they will have on groundwater, climate and the health of local communities.
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March 12, 2021
Fracking Company Dismisses Federal Lease Case As Agency Grants Permits
BISMARCK, N.D. — A hydraulic fracturing company on March 9 filed a notice in North Dakota federal court dismissing its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) regarding pending applications for permits to drill (APD) because the DOI granted the APDs shortly after the case was filed, thus eliminating the need for relief.
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March 11, 2021
Judge Remands Fracking Lease Approval; Further Evaluation Needed Pursuant To NEPA
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio on March 8 remanded for review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) hydraulic fracturing leases in the Wayne National Forest, ruling that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) failed to take the “hard look” that is required under NEPA when they analyzed the impact of fracking in the national forest.
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March 10, 2021
Judges Press Attorneys At Pipeline Oral Arguments, Express Confusion
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In lengthy oral arguments that contained regular interruptions for clarifying questions regarding the approval of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline deal, a panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 8 pressed the attorneys for both sides as they expressed confusion regarding their respective arguments. The judges voiced their concern over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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March 08, 2021
Pipeline Company: High Court Must Reverse ‘Wrong’ Ruling On Eminent Domain
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hydraulic fracturing pipeline company on March 1 filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should reverse a lower court’s ruling that determined that the pipeline company does not have all the rights of the federal government with regard to the power of eminent domain because that decision “not only is wrong but poses an obvious threat to pipeline development.”
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March 08, 2021
9th Circuit Judges Expedite Native American Group’s Arctic Drilling Appeal
SAN FRANCISCO — A two-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 13 issued an order expediting the appeal of a Native American group that advocates for “a balanced Earth,” which seeks an injunction to prevent hydraulic fracturing activities in the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska’s North Slope.
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March 05, 2021
Manufacturer Seeks Ruling That It Is Not Infringing A Competitor’s Fracking Patent
HOUSTON — A company that manufactures equipment used in hydraulic fracturing operations on Feb. 9 sued a business competitor in Texas federal court, seeking a declaration that the manufacturer is not infringing on a patent held by its competitor.
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March 05, 2021
Trust: U.S. Supreme Court Should Hear Pennsylvania Mineral Rights Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A family trust on Feb. 17 filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that a Pennsylvania state court violated the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution when it ruled that a 1908 tax sale extinguished the trust’s subsurface rights to oil and gas deposits, which the state then sold to a hydraulic fracturing company.
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March 03, 2021
Briefly: Pipeline Company Pays $125,000 Penalty For Methane Leaks, Landslides
PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on March 1 announced that ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC will pay a $125,000 civil penalty to resolve a previous DEP order that prohibited ETC from putting natural gas in unstable sections of the Revolution Pipeline due to previous landslides and methane leaks.
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March 02, 2021
Pipeline Company Pays $497,000 In Fines For Pennsylvania Drilling Fluid Violations
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Feb. 25 announced that it has reached a consent agreement under which Sunoco Pipeline LP has paid $497,000 for violating the state’s Clean Streams Law (CSL), as well as other codes related to Sunoco’s operation of the Mariner East 2 pipeline, which carries hydraulically fractured gas across Pennsylvania.
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February 26, 2021
Group: Agency’s Fracking Permit Approvals Often Violate Environmental Law
OAKLAND, Calif. — An environmental group on Feb. 24 sued a state agency that grants permits for hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas exploration activities in California state court, contending that it often approves drilling operations without the proper environmental review required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which harms groundwater as well as the climate.
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February 26, 2021
Magistrate: DOI, Fracking Company Prevail In Tribe’s Challenge To Well Permits
BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota federal magistrate judge on Feb. 22 recommended granting summary judgment to the Department of the Interior (DOI) and an energy development company on an Indian tribe’s claims that the federal government acted arbitrarily in issuing permits for a hydraulic fracturing drilling project.
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February 25, 2021
Legislators: Environmentalists Lack Standing In River Basin Fracking Case
PHILADELPHIA — Two Pennsylvania state senators and the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus on Feb. 23 filed a brief in a Pennsylvania federal court contending that an environmental group should not be permitted to intervene as a defendant in the legislators’ hydraulic fracturing lawsuit related to the moratorium on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) because the group lacks “a protectable legal interest sufficient to warrant intervention.”
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February 25, 2021
Delaware River Basin Agency Passes Resolution Prohibiting Fracking Operations
TRENTON, N.J. — The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on Feb. 25 voted 4-0, with one abstention, to prohibit hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin.
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February 25, 2021
Fracking Company: Agency’s Failure To Process Permit Applications Violates Law
BISMARCK, N.D. — A hydraulic fracturing company on Feb. 23 sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in North Dakota federal court asking it to order the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to approve 50 pending applications for permits to drill and contending that the DOI’s failure to process the applications is a violation of the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA) (Continental Resources Inc. v. Scott De La Vega, et al., No. 21-34, D. N.D.).
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February 25, 2021
Investors: Company Liable For Securities Fraud Based On Fracking Misstatements
HOUSTON — A group of investors on Feb. 23 filed a putative class action for securities fraud in Texas federal court contending that an energy company involved in hydraulic fracturing exploration made materially false statements about its financial health and the viability of a shale play in the Permian Basin of Texas.
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February 24, 2021
Environmental Group Seeks To Intervene In Delaware River Basin Fracking Dispute
PHILADELPHIA — An environmental advocacy group on Feb. 12 moved in Pennsylvania federal court seeking to intervene as a defendant in a hydraulic fracturing lawsuit to oppose a lawsuit by state senators who argue that the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) lacks the authority to institute a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin (DRB). The group says it needs to “defend the validity” of the DRBC’s authority.
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February 19, 2021
California State Senators Introduce Bill To Ban Fracking By 2027
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two California state senators on Feb. 16 introduced legislation that would halt the renewal of permits for hydraulic fracturing beginning in 2022 and would prohibit fracking in its entirety starting in 2027.
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February 16, 2021
Study: Fracking In Appalachian Region Failed To Produce Boon That Was Promised
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A nonprofit research organization on Feb. 11 released a report in which it said that of the 22 major gas-producing counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia (the Appalachian counties), only one met or exceeded national performance for prosperity in connection with the boon that was promised by those who predicted that hydraulic fracturing would bring jobs and income to those regions.