Mealey's Fracking
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October 07, 2022
Briefly: Groups Challenge FERC Certificate Approving Fracking Pipeline Project
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sierra Club and another environmental advocacy group have filed a petition in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of an order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that approved a certificate to build a portion of a pipeline to carry hydraulically fractured gas to Louisiana.
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October 07, 2022
Petitioner Tells Board ‘Nearly Identical’ European Patent Already Invalidated
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent relating to explosive charges used during oil and gas extraction was wrongly issued in January 2022, as evidenced by the recent rejection by the European Patent Office (EPO) of a “nearly identical . . . counterpart” patent, a petitioner for post-grant review told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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October 07, 2022
Study: Methane Flaring Lacks Efficiency, Is At Times Completely Ineffective
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) recently published a study that concluded that flaring at oil and gas wells, which is intended to combust methane to minimize emissions, is “not as efficient as presumed” and is sometimes completely ineffective.
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October 06, 2022
Briefly: Panel Denies Fracking Company’s Bid To Intervene In Pipeline Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that a hydraulic fracturing company may not intervene in the review of an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) related to a pipeline dispute because it has failed to show standing and has not established “a sufficient stake in the dispute.”
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October 06, 2022
Oil Company Says ‘Cross-Unit’ Fracking Is Protected By Pennsylvania Law
HARRISBURG, Pa. — An oil and gas company has filed a reply brief on its cross-motion for summary judgment in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that state law provides a fair process for allocating production in “cross-unit” oil and gas wells and eliminates regulatory barriers that preclude cross-unit wells; therefore, the court should issue a declaratory judgment confirming the company’s right to drill horizontally traversing property owned by a family farm.
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October 06, 2022
Exxon Seeks Correction Of $71.61M Judgment It Won To Put A Finer Point On Award
HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil Corp. has filed a reply brief in Texas state appellate court arguing that a judgment handed down in September, in which Exxon won a $71.61 million jury award, should be corrected to modify one sentence in the ruling to indicate that the award the appellate court handed down is what the trial court should have awarded in the first instance.
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October 06, 2022
Fracking Company Says Lease Dispute Fails As Plaintiffs Fail To Show Injury
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed a reply brief in Montana federal court contending that it should dismiss a lease dispute brought by environmental groups because the district court does not have jurisdiction to cancel valid existing leases and the plaintiffs cannot show injury from those leases.
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October 06, 2022
Agency Denies Liability In Federal Fracking Permit Case, Says Jurisdiction Lacking
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other federal agencies filed an answer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denying that they violated federal law when they approved applications for permits to drill (APDs) for fracking in New Mexico’s Permian Basin and Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
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October 05, 2022
Fracking Operator Says It Has No Duty To Plug Wells, Lawsuit Defies State Rules
WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has moved in West Virginia federal court to dismiss a putative class action by landowners who sued over abandoned wells, arguing that the lawsuit defies state statutes and fails to state a claim. It also contends that state regulatory officials have told the company that it has no current duty to plug the wells in question.
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October 05, 2022
Groups Amend Case Against Agencies, Say Fracking Lease Sales At Odds With Evidence
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental groups have filed an amended complaint in District of Columbia federal court challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) 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 decision to hold the lease sales was at odds with “the voluminous body of scientific evidence” contained within the DOI’s own environmental assessments (EAs) specific to those leases.
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October 05, 2022
Company Sues Former Employees For Defrauding It Of Fracking Patent Royalties
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A company that makes equipment for use in hydraulic fracturing operations has sued two men in Texas federal court contending that they have stolen royalty payments for certain devices by falsely representing that they were co-inventors of the patents for those items.
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October 05, 2022
Group Says Agencies Violated Federal Law By Approving California Offshore Drilling
LOS ANGELES — An environmental advocacy group has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other agencies in California federal court contending that they violated federal laws when they authorized offshore oil and gas activities off Huntington Beach on the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
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October 05, 2022
Pipeline Company Tells 3rd Circuit Securities Fraud Case Is Not A Class Action
PHILADELPHIA — A hydraulic fracturing pipeline company has petitioned the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to appeal a class certification order in a securities fraud lawsuit related to permitting and construction activities for the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Pennsylvania. The company argues that the lower court committed reversible error by applying an improper standard pertaining to pricing of the securities at issue.
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September 28, 2022
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc Case Over ‘Hard Look’ Required By NEPA
SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a petition for rehearing en banc of its earlier decision that reversed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of federal agencies in a hydraulic fracturing dispute in which the panel found that the agencies had failed to take a “hard look” required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when they approved drilling in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California.
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September 21, 2022
3rd Circuit Says Legislators’ Challenge To Delaware River Basin Fracking Ban Fails
PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Republican Pennsylvania legislators cannot sue the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) for its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on grounds that none of them has standing as trustees of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources under the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA) because the DRBC’s ban on fracking has not cognizably harmed that public trust.
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September 21, 2022
Landowners Say Supreme Court Review Of Pipeline Case Needed In Light Of Conflict
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Landowners are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a federal appellate court decision in a hydraulic fracturing pipeline dispute the landowners say is in direct conflict with controlling Supreme Court precedent in a separate pipeline case.
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September 16, 2022
Religious Order Faces Stiff Questioning From 3rd Circuit In Fracking Pipeline Case
PHILADELPHIA — The attorney for an order of Roman Catholic women faced immediate and more pointed questioning than did the attorney for a hydraulic fracturing pipeline company during oral arguments before the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 15 as they debated the order’s rights to damages under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in connection with a pipeline that crosses under the order’s property.
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September 16, 2022
Energy Company Cannot Shake Investor Claims Over Failed Oilfield
HOUSTON — A federal magistrate judge in Texas on Sept. 15 recommended that a motion to dismiss filed by an energy company and certain of its senior executives in a securities class action be denied because the lead plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded an actionable misrepresentation and scienter in alleging that the defendants misstated the economic viability of a Texas oilfield in violation of federal securities law.
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September 13, 2022
Judge: Agency’s Actions In ‘Insufferable’ Fracking Permit Case Were ‘Arbitrary’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 9 ruled that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) lacked the authority to rescind a hydraulic fracturing lease and said it acted in an “arbitrary and capricious manner” when it disapproved a hydraulic fracturing operator’s application for a permit to drill in a case that the judge called “insufferable.”
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September 12, 2022
Pipeline Company To Pay Combined $17.8M In Fines And Compensation For Oil Spill
SANTA ANA, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Sept. 8 announced that following the filing of misdemeanor charges, Amplify Energy Corp. and its affiliates agreed to pay $4.9 million in fines and penalties to the state related to a pipeline oil spill. Amplify will also pay, separately, a $7.1 million federal fine and $5.8 million in compensation for expenses incurred during the response to the spill.
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September 09, 2022
Wyoming Court: Netback Statute Allows Deduction Of Pipeline Fees In Some Cases
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Supreme Court on Aug. 24 partially affirmed and partially reversed and remanded a decision of the Wyoming Board of Equalization regarding an energy company’s tax deduction of pipeline reservation fees, ruling that the state Legislature intended the netback valuation statute to allow producers to fully deduct their pipeline reservation fees as long as they moved some gas on the pipeline system.
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September 09, 2022
Briefly: Pipeline Company Says Contamination Case Is Barred By Montana State Law
BILLINGS, Mont. — A pipeline company on Aug. 19 filed a reply brief in Montana federal court contending that a drinking water contamination case brought against it by the U.S. government should be dismissed because the claim is barred by a state law that is “comparable” to the Clean Water Act (CWA).
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September 09, 2022
Groups Opposing Federal Leases Say Fracking Companies’ Dismissal Theory Fails
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Environmental groups challenging federal hydraulic fracturing leases on Aug. 30 filed a brief in Montana federal court contending that it should deny a motion to dismiss their lawsuit because fracking operators misstate the law and the facts and fail to cite cases that support their theories for dismissal.
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September 09, 2022
Oil Company Denies Breach Of Contract Claim In Fracking Services Payment Dispute
HOUSTON — An oil and gas company on Aug. 19 filed an answer in Texas federal court denying all allegations against it by a hydraulic fracturing services company and contending that it has paid for all services rendered under a contract between the parties, contrary to the services company’s allegations.
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September 09, 2022
Company: Effort To Preclude Evidence In Fracking Injury Case Is ‘Improper’
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — An equipment manufacturer on Sept. 1 filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court opposing as “improper” a motion in limine to preclude it from arguing that a plaintiff is liable for negligent conduct in relation to his injury unloading sand for hydraulic fracturing operations while using a machine made by the defendant.