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

Mealey's Fracking

November 10, 2022
Family Says Fracking Operators Polluted Drinking Water With PFAS, Other Chemicals

WASHINGTON, Pa. — A family in Pennsylvania has sued hydraulic fracturing companies in state court contending that they are liable for contaminating their drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and exposing them to radioactive material from drilling activities in wells located on the family’s property.
November 09, 2022
In A Precedential Ruling, 3rd Circuit Denies Nuns’ RFRA Challenge To Pipeline

PHILADELPHIA — In a precedential opinion, a panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 8 ruled that a lawsuit brought by Roman Catholic nuns who opposed a hydraulic fracturing pipeline underneath the grounds of their property pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) constituted an impermissible collateral attack on the certificate granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) because the order’s claim should have been raised with the commission.
November 07, 2022
Group Tells 10th Circuit Air Quality Rules Failed To Consider Fracking Emissions

DENVER — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of air quality standards for the Denver Metro Area that were submitted by the Colorado Department of Public Health (CDPH) on grounds that they failed to address the effects of hydraulic fracturing emissions.
November 07, 2022
Investor Seeks To Compel Inspection Of Records Connected To Fracking Merger

WILMINGTON, Del. — An investor has filed a complaint in Delaware state court seeking to compel the inspection of books and records pertaining to a proposed merger between a well services company and a hydraulic fracturing operator, contending that the documents are needed to ascertain whether members of the well services company were motived by their own self-interests when they pursued the transaction in question.
November 04, 2022
Judge Axes Some Claims By Fracking Groups Related To Pause Of Federal Leases

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana, in response to a report and recommendation by a magistrate judge, on Nov. 3 partially dismissed a lawsuit brought by hydraulic fracturing trade groups that argue that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) violated federal law by not holding regular fracking lease sales.
November 04, 2022
Judge Says Certification Of Fracking Royalty Payment Class Is ‘Impractical’

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado has denied class certification for plaintiffs who sued multiple hydraulic fracturing companies seeking payment related to surface owner royalties, ruling that although the plaintiffs stand to gain “millions of dollars,” some absent members of the putative class benefit from the status quo and stand to lose from the payment methodology the class asserts. He also ruled that joinder was “impractical.”
November 03, 2022
Groups Oppose Agencies’ ‘Flawed’ Reaffirmation Of Trump-Era Fracking Decisions

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Native American group and environmental advocacy organizations have filed a petition in New Mexico federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its decision to reaffirm the “flawed authorization” of the Trump administration that issued hydraulic fracturing leases for 42 parcels of land and approved approximately 120 applications for permit to drill (APDs).
November 03, 2022
Company Insists It Has No Duty Regarding Abandoned West Virginia Fracking Wells

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a putative class action by landowners who sued over abandoned wells, contending that the lawsuit fails because the company has established as a matter of law that it has not violated the well plugging duty codified in West Virginia law.
November 03, 2022
Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Fracking Royalty Interest Case Based On Lease Language

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — An appellate panel in Ohio has affirmed a trial court decision that found that overriding royalty interest holders were not entitled to payment of those interests for oil and gas extraction based on the language of the hydraulic fracturing leases they hold with fracking operators.
November 03, 2022
Oil Company Intervenors Seek Dismissal Of Federal Fracking Permit Approval Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil and gas companies that are intervenor defendants in a hydraulic fracturing lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) have moved in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbiaarguing that it should dismiss the case because the plaintiffs’ challenges to the DOI’s decisions approving fracking permits are barred by limitations on judicial review of administrative action.
November 02, 2022
Briefly: Another Group Challenges FERC Approval Of Fracking Pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of natural gas providers has petitioned the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsseeking review of an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that approved construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline that would carry fracked gas to Louisiana.
November 01, 2022
Properly, Timely Pleaded Securities Claims Wrongly Dismissed, Investors Argue

DENVER — A federal district court erred in dismissing federal securities law claims brought by investors against the members of an oil, gas and mineral exploration joint venture as time-barred under the statute of limitations because not only did the investors sufficiently plead the necessary elements of the claims, they also showed they were not put on inquiry notice of the alleged fraud until August 2020, the investors say in an appellant brief filed in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
November 01, 2022
Groups, Federal Agency Agree To Dismiss Fracking Lease Dispute With Prejudice

DENVER — An environmental group and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) mutually decided to dismiss with prejudice a lawsuit initially brought as a challenge to a development plan that would allow hydraulic fracturing in the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forests within the Paonia Ranger District. The stipulation, entered in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, did not elaborate on the reasons for the agreement.
November 01, 2022
2nd Circuit Rules Fraud Case Against Fracking Operator Fails To State Claim

NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against a hydraulic fracturing company, ruling that the complaint fails to state a claim for the alleged violation of federal securities laws.
October 25, 2022
Groups’ Amicus Brief Calls For California High Court To Uphold Local Fracking Ban

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Environmental groups have filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court contending that a lower court decision that struck down a local ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing “threatens to interfere with municipalities’ efforts to address the localized impacts of oil and gas drilling in ways that are responsive to concerns of their most vulnerable residents.”
October 25, 2022
Board Institutes Review Of Patented Reciprocating Pump Assembly

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an Oct. 24 holding, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board deemed a petitioner likely to prevail with respect to at least one challenged claim in a patent that claims a power end housing for a reciprocating pump assembly used in oil and gas extraction,
October 24, 2022
Investor: Directors Violated Securities Laws Connected To Fracking Company IPO

DALLAS — A stockholder sued a hydraulic fracturing operator, contending that the company and its board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by filing materially false information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the company’s initial public offering (IPO).
October 20, 2022
Trade Groups’ Amicus Brief Says Local Fracking Ban Violates California Policy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two energy trade groups on Oct. 19 filed a joint amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court supporting Chevron USA Inc.’s appeal of a local ordinance that bans hydraulic fracturing operations, arguing that the policy of the state is for its officials to be “in complete charge of determining how oil and gas production will take place.”
October 19, 2022
Investor Says Fracking Company Breached Securities Laws In Connection With Merger

NEW YORK — An investor has sued a hydraulic fracturing well services company in New York federal court alleging violations of federal securities laws in connection with a decision made by directors of the company to merge with a fracking holding company because the proxy statement that recommended that stockholders approve the transaction contained materially incomplete and misleading information.
October 19, 2022
Leaseholders Appeal $71.61M Fracking Award For Exxon To Texas Supreme Court

AUSTIN, Texas — Hydraulic fracturing leaseholders have appealed a $71.61 million jury verdict to the Texas Supreme Court, arguing that the lower court’s decision to reinstate the award to Exxon Mobil Corp. ignores Texas law.
October 18, 2022
‘Significant Protectable Interests’ Justify Fracking Case Intervention, Group Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hydraulic fracturing industry trade group argues in District of Columbia federal court that it should be permitted to intervene in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)’s approval of the sale of 173 oil and gas lease parcels for fracking on 144,000 acres of public lands across eight western states, contending that the trade group and its members hold “significant protectable interests” in the leases at issue.
October 17, 2022
Conservative Think Tank Urges Supreme Court To Hear Fracking Pipeline Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The public interest law arm of a conservative think tank on Oct. 14 filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should grant review of a petition filed by landowners who opposed a hydraulic fracturing pipeline because the decision in the court below is “plainly wrong and conflicts with the decisions of” the Supreme Court and other federal appellate courts.
October 10, 2022
Tribes, Groups Handed Defeat In Suit Over Pipeline Replacement In Minn., N.D.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Native American tribes and environmental groups lost their challenge to the replacement of a 282-mile section of crude oil pipeline in Minnesota and North Dakota when a District of Columbia federal judge on Oct. 7 granted the pipeline company and federal defendants summary judgment on environmental impact claims, finding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “complied with its obligations to assess the environmental consequences associated with its permits” for the project.
October 07, 2022
Judge: Issues Remain In Fracking Contract Dispute, Judgment On Pleadings Denied

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has denied judgment on the pleadings in a dispute between hydraulic fracturing operators over pooling and royalty payments, ruling that questions of fact remain on the production capabilities of the drilling units under which Sabre Energy Corp. argues that Gulfport Energy Corp. is producing gas and oil.
October 07, 2022
Judge Nixes Fracking Case, Says Leaseholders Fail To Show Royalty Payment Error

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has dismissed a royalty dispute involving hydraulic fracturing leases, ruling that the leaseholders failed to present evidence showing that they received less than the amount of proceeds established in the lease in question.