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

Mealey's Fracking

September 01, 2023
Pipeline Company: Permit Appeal Belongs In 3rd Circuit

PHILADELPHIA — A pipeline company has filed its opening brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing it should reverse a lower court’s decision and remand the case with instructions to issue a preliminary injunction enjoining the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) from considering an appeal of a permit to construct a gas pipeline expansion because permit appeals should be heard in federal appellate courts pursuant to the Natural Gas Act (NGA).
August 29, 2023
Study: Children Living Near Fracking Wells Have Greater Chance Of Getting Cancer

PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health published a study that found that children who lived within one mile of a hydraulic fracturing well had “approximately 5 to 7 times the chance of developing lymphoma,” a relatively rare type of cancer, as compared to children who lived in a place with no wells within five miles.
August 18, 2023
Energy Company Says Mineral Rights Owner Failed To Pay For Well Services

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An energy company has filed an amended complaint against a mineral rights company in Ohio federal court contending that it breached the contract between the parties when it failed to pay for the energy company’s services in operating oil and gas wells.
August 16, 2023
Insurer: Insured Vs. Insured Exclusion Bars D&O Coverage For Crude Oil Entities

DENVER — An insurer filed an amended complaint in a Colorado federal court seeking a declaration that it owes no directors and officers liability coverage for underlying indemnification demands and counterclaims that directors and officers brought against their former employers and its related entities that operate a crude oil purchasing business, arguing that the business and management indemnity policy’s insured versus insured exclusion barred coverage.
August 15, 2023
Public Interest Law Group Focused On Youth Files Brief Opposing Willow Project

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A nonprofit public interest law group filed an amicus curiae brief in Alaska federal court in two separate-but-related cases related to an oil and gas development plan in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska known as the Willow Project, arguing that the additional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the project will cause “further harm and endangerment to Youth.”
August 15, 2023
Utah, Counties Appeal Dismissal Of Case Against Biden’s National Monuments Decision

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah and two counties on Aug. 14 filed a notice of appeal stating that they are appealing to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by a Utah federal judge which dismissed their case against the Biden administration for its decision to reinstate the dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
August 15, 2023
Agency Asserts Authority To Require Fracking Company To Obtain Drilling Permit

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other defendants filed a response brief in Wyoming federal court arguing that the BLM acted within the scope of its authority in deciding that an oil company needs to submit a federal application for a permit to drill (APD) before the agency would allow it to extract mineral from federal land.
August 14, 2023
4th Circuit Dismisses Pipeline Challenge, Bemoaning Power Of ‘Legislative Fiat’

RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 11 granted the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) motion to dismiss petitions for review by environmental groups of the approval and development of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), ruling that Congress has removed the Circuit Court’s jurisdiction through the passage of Section 324 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA). One judge in a concurrence called Section 324 “a blueprint for the construction of a natural gas pipeline by legislative fiat.”
August 07, 2023
Investors Say Company Officers Misrepresented Fracking, Committed Securities Fraud

HOUSTON — Investors have filed a consolidated stockholder derivative lawsuit in Texas state court arguing that the directors of a hydraulic fracturing company “drastically overstated the value of the resources” in a shale play known as the Alpine High when they made public statements to the market that are now being litigated in a separate-but-related securities fraud class action. The plaintiffs in the case at hand seek relief for breach of fiduciary duty.
August 04, 2023
Fracking Operators Say Court Properly Rejected Claims Of Underpaid Royalties

PHILADELPHIA — Two hydraulic fracturing companies filed a joint response brief in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should affirm a lower court’s ruling that rejected landowners’ claims of underpaid royalties because under the controlling principles of contract construction in Pennsylvania, the fracking leases in question were not breached.
August 04, 2023
Fracking Companies’ Bid To Nix Abandoned Wells Case Is ‘Vexatious,’ Plaintiffs Say

WHEELING, W.Va. — Landowners have filed a brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should deny a hydraulic fracturing operator’s motion to dismiss the third amended complaint in an abandoned wells case on grounds that the motion is “vexatious” and the company is attempting to “escape [its] common law obligations to plug and remediate abandoned gas wells” on his properties.
August 04, 2023
State Agency Denies Claims Related To Drilling Permits In San Joaquin Valley

FRESNO, Calif. — The California Resources Production Corp. (CRPC) on Aug. 4 filed an answer in California federal court denying all claims brought against it by environmental advocacy groups that allege violations of federal law as a result of the approval of drilling permits on public land in the San Joaquin Valley of California and asserting affirmative defenses that the plaintiffs lack standing and have failed to exhaust administrative remedies.
August 04, 2023
California Supreme Court Says State Law Preempts Monterey’s Local Fracking Ban

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on Aug. 3 ruled that state law preempts Monterey County’s anti-hydraulic fracturing ordinance known as Measure Z because it is contrary to, and conflicts with, the California Public Resources Code, which regulates oil and gas activities in the state.
August 03, 2023
Judge Says Energy Company Has No Right To Claim Royalties From Fracking Wells

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has granted summary judgment to a hydraulic fracturing operator in a royalty interest dispute, ruling that the energy company that sued the operator has no interest in the oil and gas produced by deep horizontal wells operated by the fracking company.
August 03, 2023
Judge Refuses To Reconsider Mineral Rights Ruling About Certain Tracts Of Land

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio denied a motion to reconsider her ruling in which she dismissed many claims made by an energy company in a complex mineral rights dispute, concluding that the company identified “no controlling precedent that the Court disregarded, misapplied, or failed to recognize” when it determined that the company did not have claims to specific tracts of land.
August 03, 2023
Fracking Operator Says Arbitration Is ‘Exclusive’ Remedy For Royalty Dispute

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A hydraulic fracturing operator filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court contending that a mineral rights owner has not met her “very great burden” of establishing that the arbitration provision in her agreement with the company is unconscionable; therefore, arbitration is the “exclusive remedy” to the royalty dispute between the parties.
August 02, 2023
Agencies Say Mandamus Relief Not Warranted In Fracking Permit Application Dispute

DENVER — Federal agencies have filed a brief in Colorado federal court arguing that it should deny mandamus relief sought by a hydraulic fracturing operator because it has not identified a “clear, nondiscretionary action” that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to take with respect to the company’s applications for permits to drill (APDs) under the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA).
August 02, 2023
Briefly: FERC Says Pipeline Case Is Now Moot, Should Be Dismissed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) moved in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss a petition filed by environmental groups that oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline, arguing that the petition is moot because Congress has ratified FERC’s orders approving the pipeline through its passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
August 02, 2023
Briefly: Pipeline Companies To Pay $12.5M In Penalties For 2 Oil Spills

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it has reached a consent agreement with two pipeline companies under which they will pay a combined $12.5 million in civil penalties for violating safety laws and the Clean Water Act (CWA) in connection with oil spills in Montana and North Dakota.
August 02, 2023
Climate Change Law Group Says Court Must Vacate Willow Project Master Plan

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An academic think-tank affiliated with Columbia Law School that is focused on issues pertaining to climate change filed an amicus curiae brief in Alaska federal court seeking to advise the court “on the errors underpinning” the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of the Willow Project and “the consequences of allowing the project to proceed without an adequate analysis of alternatives and climate change impacts.”
August 01, 2023
Mineral Owners’ 2nd Amended Complaint Seeks Class Status For Royalty Dispute

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mineral rights owners filed a second amended complaint on July 31 in Ohio federal court seeking to make their lawsuit against a hydraulic fracturing operator and a drilling company for “intentionally, knowingly, and unlawfully” underpaying royalties on lease agreements a class action, saying there are “hundreds” of mineral interest owners that are affected by the defendants’ conduct.
August 01, 2023
Fracking Operator Joins Agency’s Motion To Dismiss Dispute Over Fracking Report

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A hydraulic fracturing operator joined a motion to dismiss filed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with the state Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) in an appeal filed by a resident who says the DEP failed to act in response to contamination of his water supply from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were used in fracking operations. The operator adopts the DEP’s argument that the resident attempts to “bootstrap” other general claims of DEP inaction regarding soil and air concerns that are outside the EHB’s jurisdiction.
August 01, 2023
Appellate Panel: Fracking Operator Has Exclusive Rights To Produced Water

EL PASO, Texas — A split appellate panel in Texas affirmed a lower court’s decision that held that, based on the language and context of the mineral leases in dispute, a hydraulic fracturing operator has the exclusive right to the oil and gas product stream, including the produced water, contrary to the claims of a water well services company.
July 31, 2023
Pennsylvania Appeals Panel Affirms Fracking Injury Award Of More Than $1.3M

HARRISBURG, Pa. — In an unpublished nonprecedential opinion, a Pennsylvania appellate panel has affirmed an award of $1,304,906.17 in damages to a man who was injured while working on an oil rig, ruling that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in various procedural decisions made throughout the trial.
July 27, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Stay, Says Mountain Valley Pipeline May Proceed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on July 27 granted a motion to vacate the stay orders issued by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that halted development of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).