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

Mealey's Fracking

October 06, 2023
Ohio High Court Sets Date For Arguments In Case Over Meaning Of ‘Utica Shale’

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has set a date for oral argument for a hydraulic fracturing lease case in which the parties dispute the definition of what constitutes the “formation commonly known as the Utica Shale.” The mineral rights owner in the case contends that the fracking companies drilled beyond the shale formation in violation of the lease agreement.
October 05, 2023
Judge Rules Individual Lease Interpretations Apply In Mineral Rights Dispute

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has denied an attempt to consolidate multiple cases brought by mineral rights holders against a hydraulic fracturing operator, ruling that “individual oil and gas lease interpretations are required” to determine whether the controlling law has been satisfied in each of the separate cases.
October 04, 2023
Company Insists It May Drill Traverse Well On Federal Land Without A Permit

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — An oil company filed a reply brief in Wyoming federal court contending that it should conduct judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and arguing that it should declare that the company has rights under the existing split estate such that it can drill a traverse well through land owned and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
October 04, 2023
Energy Company: 3rd Circuit Should Reverse Dismissal Of Fracking Fraud Case

PHILADELPHIA — An energy company has filed an appeal brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contending that it should reverse a district court’s summary judgment opinion that held that the company’s lawsuit for fraud related to the purchase of oil and gas assets in the Marcellus Shale formation was barred by the statute of limitations because the opinion “erroneously lays out the factual background as if this were a contract matter rather than a fraud action.”
October 04, 2023
Company: Mineral Rights Group’s Counterclaims Barred By Doctrine Of Unclean Hands

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An energy company has answered in Ohio federal court a mineral rights company’s counterclaim, denying claims of mismanagement and contending that the counterclaim is barred by the doctrine of unclean hands.
October 04, 2023
Groups: Court Should Strike Willow Project Parties’ Extra-Record Documents

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A coalition of environmental groups and Native Americans on Oct. 3 filed a brief in Alaska federal court arguing that it should strike extra-record materials submitted by intervenor defendants in a dispute over hydraulic fracturing operations in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska as part of what is known as the Willow Project. The groups say the intervenors fail to carry their burden to demonstrate that submission of their extra-record documents was proper.
October 03, 2023
Fracking Operator: Documents Must Be Produced As They Form Basis Of Complaint

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should grant the company’s motion to compel production of documents that are directly related to the factual support of landowners’ claims in an abandoned wells dispute because it says the documents in question form the basis of the complaint against the company.
October 03, 2023
Companies Deny Breaching Lease Related To Royalty Payments

WHEELING, W.Va. — Two energy companies on Oct. 2 filed amended answers to an amended complaint in a hydraulic fracturing mineral rights dispute in West Virginia federal court, denying that they breached a duty related to the lease agreement between the parties that pertains to specific drilling practices and allegations that they diminished the plaintiffs’ royalty payments.
September 20, 2023
Panel Says Federal Court Has Jurisdiction Over Fracking Royalty Dispute

DENVER — A panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 19 affirmed a lower court ruling that denied a motion to remand a class action for oil and gas royalties related to hydraulic fracturing to state court, ruling that the lower court has jurisdiction due to the amount in controversy in the litigation, which the panel said was “roughly $35.4 million.”
September 19, 2023
Mineral Rights Owners Say Dismissal Of Royalty Claim Is Unwarranted

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mineral rights owners on Sept. 18 filed a brief in Ohio federal court contending that it should not dismiss their complaint against a hydraulic fracturing operator because their declaratory judgment claim is distinct from their breach of contract claim with regard to their allegations that the company underpaid royalties.
September 19, 2023
Group Says Long Beach Drilling Plan Should Be Halted Pending Environmental Review

LOS ANGELES — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) sued the city of Long Beach, Calif., its city council and the state lands commission in state court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to “consider, analyze, and publicly disclose the environmental impacts” related to the city’s plan to conduct drilling activities, including hydraulic fracturing, on four artificial islands designed to mask active oil and gas drilling operations.
September 19, 2023
10 Congressional Members Say DOI Improperly Altered Area For Fracking Lease Sale

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Ten members of the Congress have filed an amicus curiae brief in Louisiana federal court supporting Louisiana in its lawsuit for a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) based on allegations that the agency violated federal law when it removed millions of acres from an oil and gas lease sale and imposed “additional and burdensome vessel-travel restrictions on the remaining acreage.”
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.
September 08, 2023
Panel: Fracking Operator Holds Mineral Rights Due To Expiration Of Previous Lease

HARRISBURG, Pa. — An appellate panel in Pennsylvania has affirmed a lower court’s ruling and held that a hydraulic fracturing operator holds the mineral rights to a parcel of property because the previous lease held by landowners expired.
September 08, 2023
Judge: Mineral Rights Owners’ Claims Against Fracking Operator Are Valid

WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit involving mineral rights interests for hydraulic fracturing, ruling that at this stage of the litigation the plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that their tort actions arise independent of the lease agreement between themselves and an energy company they say has engaged in “indefensible” drilling practices that have diminished the plaintiffs’ royalty payments.
September 08, 2023
Pennsylvania Bill Would Define Fracking Fluids, Produced Waters As Hazardous Waste

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania state senator has introduced a bill that would define drilling fluids, produced waters and other wastes associated with hydraulic fracturing as hazardous waste.
September 08, 2023
Panel Says Trade Group’s Challenge To Fracking Royalty Valuation Rule Fails

DENVER — A panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court and upheld a royalty valuation rule related to hydraulic fracturing production of oil and gas that was implemented by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in 2016, ruling that the American Petroleum Institute (API) failed to show that the DOI violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it enacted the rule.
September 08, 2023
Energy Company Seeks Damages For Wrongfully Transferred Fracking Royalty Interests

HOUSTON — An energy company has sued in Texas state court, arguing that the oil and gas interests a man claims to have in the Eagle Ford Shale play were wrongfully transferred to him without the company’s knowledge and contending that the man knew that the assets were fraudulently conveyed to him.
September 07, 2023
Agency Cancels Arctic Fracking Leases, Proposes Rules For Future Development

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Sept. 6 that it is canceling oil and gas leases issued by the Trump administration in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and proposed new regulations for the National Petroleum Reserve-A (NPR-A) to protect 13 million acres of Special Areas in the reserve. The new regulations withdraw roughly 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea from parcels available for fracking, which the DOI said ensures that the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean is off limits to oil and gas leasing.
September 07, 2023
Study: Radioactive Material Found Downstream Of Fracking Waste Facilities

NEW YORK — A study scheduled to be published in the upcoming issue of the journal “Ecological Indicators,” made available online on Sept. 6, finds that records related to surface water and stream sediments near wastewater facilities that accept hydraulic fracturing waste are “conflicting and inadequate” in light of a discovery that radium was enriched in sediments that are downstream from waste facilities.
September 06, 2023
Landowner Says Agency Failed To Act Regarding PFAS Pollution From Fracking

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A landowner who contends that a state agency failed to act in response to contamination of his water supply from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used in hydraulic fracturing operations has filed a brief with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) arguing that it should deny the agency’s motion to dismiss the case on grounds that the case is within the EHB’s jurisdiction.
September 06, 2023
Abandoned Wells Case Fails, Constitutes Collateral Attack, Fracking Operator Says

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed an answer in West Virginia federal court denying all class action allegations brought by landowners in an abandoned wells dispute and asserting affirmative defenses that the plaintiffs’ claims are bared because they constitute “an improper collateral attack” because a state agency’s order establishes that the fracking company is not obligated to plug the wells in question.
September 06, 2023
Fracking Company To Relinquish Lease At Center Of Dispute With Federal Agency

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 5 entered an order approving the joint motion of a hydraulic fracturing company and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for an abeyance pending approval of a settlement agreement in a long-running dispute over a lease the fracking company has agreed to surrender.
September 05, 2023
Landowners Say Lower Court ‘Ignored’ Evidence Related To Fracking Royalty Claims

PHILADELPHIA — Landowners who claim that hydraulic fracturing companies have underpaid royalties filed a reply brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a lower court erred when it “ignored, refused to consider, or dismissed the substantial record evidence” related to their claims.
September 05, 2023
Alaska: Groups Have Not Shown Injury, Lack Standing To Oppose Willow Project

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska filed a brief in federal court in two related cases over an oil and gas development plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska known as the Willow Project, arguing that the environmental advocacy groups opposed to the project lack standing to bring their claims because they have not shown that they suffered an injury in fact.