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Mealey's Fracking

February 25, 2020
U.S. Lawmakers: Plan To Drill In Alaska Petroleum Reserve Is ‘Unnecessary’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven U.S. senators, all of whom are Democrats, along with other lawmakers, on Feb. 20 sent letters to the Secretary of the Interior contending that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) revision of a plan that would open the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) in Alaska to oil and gas drilling is “unnecessary and threatens to sacrifice the Reserve as part of a larger push by the Trump administration to recklessly sell off America’s Arctic for oil and gas development.”
February 25, 2020
Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Pipeline Case Related To Appalachian Trail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Feb. 24 in a hydraulic fracturing pipeline right of way case in which the parties and the justices sparred over which federal agency has authority over the land of the Appalachian Trail and which federal laws apply to the construction of pipelines (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated]).
February 25, 2020
Amici: President Trump Lacks Authority To Open Arctic, Atlantic Oceans To Drilling

SAN FRANCISCO — Law professors who bill themselves as experts in public land law and natural resources law on Feb. 20 filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contending that President Donald J. Trump exceeded his constitutional authority and his statutory authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when he revoked the action taken by the Obama administration that protected the Arctic and Atlantic oceans from oil and gas exploration (League of Conservation Voters, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., Nos. 19-35460, 19-35461 and 19-35462, 9th Cir.).
February 24, 2020
Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Pipeline Case Related To Appalachian Trail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a hydraulic fracturing pipeline right of way case in which the parties and the justices sparred over which federal agency has authority over the land of the Appalachian Trail and which federal laws apply to the construction of pipelines (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated]).
February 24, 2020
Groups Urge North Carolina Governor To Oppose Atlantic Coast Pipeline Construction

RALEIGH, N.C. — Greenpeace USA and other environmental advocacy groups on Feb. 20 sent a letter to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urging him to oppose construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) even as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the issue of eminent domain under federal law pertaining to the pipeline.
February 20, 2020
Shareholder: Fracking Company Violated Securities Laws By Omitting Material Facts

NEW YORK — A shareholder on Feb. 19 sued a hydraulic fracturing company and its officers in New York federal court, contending that during a proposed acquisition they filed a proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that omitted material facts that were necessary to make the information not false or misleading (Xavier Washington v. Tallgrass Energy LP, et al., No. 20-1458, S.D. N.Y.).
February 20, 2020
Company Seeks Damages For Infringement Of Patented Fracking Fluid Technology

WACO, Texas — A technology company involved in the hydraulic fracturing industry on Feb. 17 sued a fracking services company in Texas federal court contending that it is liable for patent infringement (Cameron International Corporation v. Nitro Fluids LLC, No. 20-125, W.D. Texas).
February 18, 2020
Groups: President Trump Acted Without Authority When He Ordered Arctic Drilling

SAN FRANCISCO — Environmental groups on Feb. 13 filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contending that a lower court correctly held that President Donald J. Trump acted “without statutory or constitutional authority when he ordered 128 million acres of permanently protected, public lands in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans to be opened to expedited, private industrial oil and gas development” (League of Conservation Voters, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., Nos. 19-35460, 19-35461 and 19-35462, 9th Cir.).
February 18, 2020
U.S. Supreme Court Orders Divided Argument In Fracking Pipeline Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 14 granted a motion by the U.S. solicitor general and determined that it will hold divided oral argument when it hears a case in which environmental groups and supporters of the hydraulic fracturing industry dispute whether a pipeline can be built across the Appalachian Trail (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated]).
February 11, 2020
D.C. Circuit Says With Artifacts Destroyed By Pipeline Work, Tribe Lacks Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 7 dismissed a tribal historic office’s efforts to challenge construction of a natural gas pipeline across tribal lands, saying the office lost its standing when the pipeline work destroyed more than 20 ceremonial stone features the office was trying to protect (Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, No. 19-1009, D.C. Cir., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3766).
February 10, 2020
Texas False Advertising Claims Yield $6.7M Award, Permanent Injunction

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Feb. 7 agreed with two plaintiffs that two defendants that falsely advertised their carbon steel flanges as standard-compliant must be permanently enjoined but stood by his earlier rejection of a jury’s $26 million disgorged profit award in the case on grounds that it is excessive (Boltex Manufacturing Co. LP, et al. v. Ulma Piping USA Corp., et al., No. 17-1400, S.D. Texas, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21770.).
February 10, 2020
Groups: Federal Agency Failed To Evaluate Fracking’s Effects In Central California

LOS ANGELES — Environmental groups on Jan. 14 sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in California federal court, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent hydraulic fracturing across eight counties in California’s southern Central Coast and Central Valley region on grounds that the BLM has failed to evaluate the health effects of fracking on local communities (Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, et al., No. 20-371, C.D. Calif.).
February 10, 2020
Court Should Reconsider Ruling On Mineral Rights, Pennsylvania Landowners Say

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Two family trusts that own land on Jan. 29 filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court contending that it should reconsider its ruling that their challenges to the mineral rights in a disputed deed were without merit because the decision is “inconsistent” with the controlling authority in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, et al. v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust, et al., No. 12-1567, M.D. Pa.).
February 07, 2020
Group: U.S. Supreme Court Should Consider Environmental Justice In Pipeline Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A nonprofit civil liberties organization on Jan. 22 filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the construction and operation of a pipeline to carry hydraulically fractured gas across portions of the Appalachian Trail would have a “disparate impact on people of color” and would contribute to the “continued systematic discrimination faced by racial minorities in matters of environmental justice” (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated]).
February 07, 2020
Fracking Company: Pennsylvania Methane Remediation Order Is ‘Unreasonable’

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A hydraulic fracturing company on Feb. 4 filed a notice of appeal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) contending that its order to remediate methane migration from a gas well is “unreasonable and unsupported by fact” (In the Matter of Range Resources Appalachia LLC, No. 2020014, Pa. EHB).
February 04, 2020
U.S. Legislators Propose Bill To Ban Fracking Nationwide In 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., along with other legislators, on Jan. 31 introduced a bill that would ban hydraulic fracturing nationwide, effective in 2025.
January 31, 2020
FERC: 3rd Circuit Pipeline Ruling Will ‘Impair’ Natural Gas Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Jan. 30 said that the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision that affirmed the state of New Jersey’s power to prevent construction of a natural gas pipeline for which federal approval and eminent domain have already been granted “will substantially impair full application of” the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (PennEast Pipeline Company LLC, No. RP20-41-000, FERC).
January 24, 2020
Solicitor General Seeks Divided Oral Argument In Supreme Court Pipeline Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. solicitor general, on behalf of the United States Forest Service (USFS) and other federal parties, on Jan. 22 moved in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a divided oral argument when it hears a case in which environmental groups and supporters of the hydraulic fracturing industry dispute whether a pipeline can be built across the Appalachian Trail (Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1587, U.S. Forest Service, et al. v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, et al., No. 18-1584, U.S. Sup. [consolidated]).
January 24, 2020
Government Seeks Relief, Penalties Against Fracking Company For Well Violations

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The U.S. government on Jan. 22 filed a lawsuit for injunctive relief and civil penalties against a hydraulic fracturing company for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at multiple oil and gas production facilities the government contends are liable for contaminating the air with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (United States v. Gulfport Energy Corporation, No. 20-340, S.D. Ohio).
January 24, 2020
Judge Rules Navajo Tribe May Not Add Intervenors In Federal Fracking Dispute

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal judge in New Mexico on Jan. 21 ruled that members of the Navajo Tribe are not permitted to add more mineral rights and landowners as intervenors in a lawsuit brought by environmental advocacy groups against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the approval of hydraulic fracturing permits in the Mancos Shale Play (Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, et al. v. David Bernhardt, et al., No. 19-703, D. N.M.).