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

Mealey's Fracking

December 21, 2023
Judge: Oil Company’s Due Process Claim Against County Fails In Drilling Permit Row

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California has ruled that a decision by municipal authorities that nullified an oil company’s zoning clearance to conduct drilling operations stands because the company failed “to provide any admissible evidence to overcome the presumption of honesty and integrity of the adjudicatory process.” The clearance was nullified, partly, after a federal agency discovered that drilling activities had contaminated local aquifers.
December 21, 2023
Panel: Mineral Rights Company’s Fracking Royalty Interest Appeal Has ‘No Merit’

WOODSFIELD, Ohio — An Ohio appellate panel has affirmed a trial court’s ruling that an assignment of royalties from 1898 related to mineral rights interests conveyed a fixed, fractional 1/16 royalty interest to a mineral rights holding company’s predecessors-in-interest, therefore, the company’s claim that it had an interest in 1/2 of the lease royalty had “no merit.”
December 21, 2023
Federal Agencies Say Utah, Counties Lack Standing In National Monuments Case

DENVER — Federal agencies have filed a brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the state of Utah and two counties that oppose President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decision to reinstate the original dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments have not established standing to challenge his decision under the Antiquities Act.
December 20, 2023
Agencies Seek Transfer Of Fracking Lease Dispute To Alaska Federal Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on Dec. 19 moved in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to transfer a case brought against it and other federal agencies by proponents of hydraulic fracturing in Alaska to federal court there, arguing that related cases are currently pending in that jurisdiction and that those cases, as well as the case at hand, involve local interests and issues that should be heard and decided in Alaska.
December 20, 2023
Magistrate: Fracking Operators Must Produce Documents In Royalty Dispute

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal magistrate judge in Ohio has granted leaseholders’ motion to compel hydraulic fracturing companies to produce documents in a long-running royalty dispute, ruling that the leaseholders’ requests were “technically timely” and that the information sought is “relevant to damages” and is not unduly burdensome for the fracking companies to produce.
December 20, 2023
Environmental Groups Appeal Dismissal Of Federal Fracking Permit Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental advocacy groups on Dec. 19 filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicating that they will be challenging its ruling that dismissed their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) over federal permits for hydraulic fracturing.
December 19, 2023
Company Says Fraud Claims In Fracking Assets Case Are Valid Under Tolling Rules

PHILADELPHIA — An energy company has filed a reply brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that “the dispositive facts and the case law demonstrate beyond cavil” that its claims in a fraud lawsuit related to the purchase of oil and gas assets in the Marcellus Shale formation are preserved under the tolling and discovery rules and a trial on the merits is necessary.
December 08, 2023
Judge Denies Company’s Motion To Compel Documents In Abandoned Wells Dispute

WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has denied a motion to compel production of documents related to landowners’ claims in an abandoned wells dispute, ruling that the requests in the motion are “not relevant to any of the issues in the case, are not proportional to the needs of the case,” and taking the time to respond to the discovery requests would place an undue burden on the party producing the documents.
December 08, 2023
Company: District Court Ruling In Complex Mineral Rights Case Was Correct

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An energy company has filed a response brief in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contending that a lower court correctly granted it summary judgment when it dismissed another energy company’s claims in a complex mineral rights dispute and held that the second energy company did not have claims to specific tracts of land.
December 08, 2023
Panel Remands Part Of Fracking Case Dealing With Surety Under Louisiana Law

BATON ROUGE, La. — In an unpublished opinion, a Louisiana state appellate court partially remanded a hydraulic fracturing case, ruling that a trial court did not consider a fracking operator’s potential liability as a surety under Louisiana law with regard to its drilling activities that affected property adjacent to the parcel on which the company had authorization to operate.
December 08, 2023
Groups Seek Emergency Relief From 9th Circuit In Ongoing Willow Project Opposition

SAN FRANCISCO — A Native Alaskan group and environmental advocates have filed an emergency motion in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking injunctive relief to avoid “the imminent, irreparable destruction of Arctic wetlands and tundra, and harms to wildlife and people” they say will be the result of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s construction of the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
December 08, 2023
Judge Certifies Appeal Over Expert Testimony In Case About Fracking Data

HOUSTON — A federal judge has issued an order certifying an interlocutory appeal of a ruling that denied a defendant’s motion to exclude a plaintiff’s witness regarding his testimony on reasonable royalty damages in a dispute over the disclosure of unlicensed seismic data to a third-party oil and gas operator. The judge, who had concluded that the testimony is permitted as long as it complies with the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 701, certified the appeal, saying the matter presents “a controlling question of law” and the resolution of the issue would “materially advance the litigation.”
December 08, 2023
5th Circuit Says Opposition To Fracking Lease Sale In Gulf Of Mexico Fails

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that environmental groups that opposed the competitive sealed-bid auction of offshore oil and gas leases known as Lease Sale 261 lack standing to independently prosecute their appeal and ordered that the deadline for conducting the lease sale is now Dec. 21.
December 08, 2023
Alaska Fracking Advocates Seek Relief In Dispute With Biden Administration

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Hydraulic fracturing advocates have filed a reply brief in Alaska federal court seeking relief from final judgment which granted summary judgment to the Biden administration in a dispute over the president’s moratorium on federal fracking leases, arguing that the decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to cancel the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s (AIDEA) oil and gas leases on the Coastal Plain has rendered the controversy moot.
December 07, 2023
Judge Dismisses Contract Case On Grounds Signature Requirement Was Not Met

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Dec. 6 granted an energy company’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed with prejudice the contract dispute related to a hydraulic fracturing drilling rig, ruling that an email from the fracking company involved in the contract did not meet the signature requirement under the statute of frauds.
December 07, 2023
Company Says It Has No Connection To Allegedly Defective Drilling Rig

OKLAHOMA CITY — A company that provides infrastructure development to oil and gas companies on Dec. 6 filed a reply brief in Oklahoma federal court arguing that it should dismiss a lawsuit brought against it and a company that makes drilling rigs on grounds that there is an absence of evidence that the infrastructure company was involved in the sale or manufacture of an allegedly defective drilling rig.
December 06, 2023
D.C. Circuit Denies En Banc Review Of Ruling Related To Fracking In Utah

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled en banc to deny a petition for rehearing filed by intervenors in litigation pertaining to a proposed rail line in Utah that would carry, among other things, products related to hydraulic fracturing to and from the shale formation in the Uinta Basin. In the order the Circuit Court did not elaborate on its decision.
December 06, 2023
Judge Denies Injunction, Rules Willow Project Construction Activities May Proceed

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska has denied motions for an injunction pending appeal of her decision to dismiss claims brought by groups that oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, ruling that the groups failed to satisfy “the Winter factors” and “have not raised a serious question going to the merits.”
December 06, 2023
Chief Justice Roberts Denies Emergency Stay Sought By Pipeline Opponents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. on Dec. 5 denied an application for an emergency stay sought by opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) who sought a writ of injunction to preserve the status quo for parcels of land that would be affected by construction of the MVP.
December 04, 2023
Groups Appeal Ohio Agency’s Decision To Frack Parcels Of Land In State Parks

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Environmental advocacy groups filed a notice of appeal in state court challenging adjudicative orders issued by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) arguing that its decision to approve hydraulic fracturing in state parks and wildlife areas is not supported by “reliable, probative, and substantial evidence” and that the decision is “not in accordance with law.”
December 04, 2023
Pipeline Opponents’ Emergency Application Seeks Injunction To Preserve Land

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Opponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) have filed an emergency application with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. seeking a writ of injunction to preserve the status quo related to parcels of land that would be affected by the construction of the MVP. The application marks the second time the pipeline opponents have brought their case to the Supreme Court.
November 29, 2023
Federal Agencies: Injunction Sought By Willow Project Opponents Has ‘No Valid Basis’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Federal agencies on Nov. 28 filed a brief in Alaska federal court contending that it should deny environmental and Native American groups’ motions for an injunction pending appeal of the court’s decision to dismiss the claims brought by the groups, which oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, because the groups “have identified no valid basis” for the court to revisit its “recent and thorough analysis.”
November 28, 2023
Texas Appellate Panel Affirms $23.56M Award In Fracking Contract Dispute

HOUSTON — An appellate panel in Texas has ruled that evidence was legally sufficient to support a jury’s verdict that awarded a freshwater pipeline company $23,560,541.20 in damages for breach of contract after a hydraulic fracturing company started buying fresh water from suppliers other than the pipeline with which the fracking company had a supply agreement.
November 13, 2023
Judge Says Plaintiff’s Expert May Testify In Case Over Seismic Data For Fracking

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas has denied a defendant’s motion to exclude a plaintiff’s witness regarding his testimony on reasonable royalty damages in a dispute over disclosure of unlicensed seismic data to a third-party oil and gas operator, ruling that the testimony is permitted as long as it complies with the requirements of Federal Rule of Evidence 701.
November 10, 2023
Judge Dismisses With Prejudice Groups’ Challenges To Willow Project Approval

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska on Nov. 9 dismissed with prejudice all claims brought by environmental groups and Native Americans who oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, ruling that federal agencies were not “arbitrary and capricious” in reaching the conclusion that the project should be approved.