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Mealey's Fracking

  • February 05, 2025

    Secretary Of The Interior Orders Sweeping Changes In Bid For ‘Energy Dominance’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Keeping in step with the executive orders pertaining to energy development issued by President Donald J. Trump on his first day in office, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum officially started his tenure by issuing six orders designed to “unlock America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development” by identifying “immediately” all emergency and legal authorities available to “facilitate the identification, permitting, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, distribution, exporting and generation of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.”

  • February 04, 2025

    Senator Balks At Energy Secretary’s Approval, Wants Fossil Fuel Heads Barred

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., on Feb. 3 issued a press release condemning the Senate’s confirmation of Chris Wright to be the secretary of Energy in the second administration of President Donald J. Trump, saying “Chris Wright is a bought-and-paid-for fossil fuel industry executive and hasn’t met a tract of land or aquifer of water he wouldn’t despoil through fracking.”  The senator has introduced a bill that would prohibit the appointment of former fossil fuel executive officers and fossil fuel lobbyists from serving as the heads of certain governmental departments.

  • February 04, 2025

    Nearly 9 Years Later, Judge Denies As Moot Delaware River Basin Fracking Case

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 3 granted a motion to dismiss and held that a long-running dispute over hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) is moot on grounds the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has instituted a comprehensive ban on fracking in the DRB.

  • February 04, 2025

    Fracking Defendants Say Water Contamination Plaintiffs Fail To Plead Viable Claims

    PITTSBURGH — Two defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a reply brief in support of their motions to dismiss in Pennsylvania federal court, arguing that the plaintiffs have not pleaded, and cannot plead, any viable claims against them.

  • January 31, 2025

    Petitioners Seek High Court Review Of Fracking-Related Antitrust Conspiracy Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a ruling by a federal appellate panel that affirmed a lower court’s decision and determined that the petitioners did not plead sufficient facts at the trial level to establish a plausible antitrust conspiracy on the part of certain shale oil producers with regard to allegations that they colluded to fix oil prices to control the cost of gasoline in violation of the Sherman Act.

  • January 29, 2025

    Judge With History Of Not Recusing Himself In Fracking Cases Erred, Panel Says

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate panel has ruled that a trial court judge erred in not recusing himself from a mineral rights dispute due to his personal and pecuniary interest in the case, which “presents the appearance of impropriety,” and which the panel said has been a pattern for this particular judge in other litigation involving hydraulic fracturing company EQT Production Co.

  • January 28, 2025

    High Court Gets Letter About President’s Energy Order As It Decides Fracking Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates following oral arguments held in a case about whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a federal agency to study the environmental consequences of projects beyond the proximate effects caused by the specific action over which that agency has regulatory authority in relation to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing railway project in Utah, the acting solicitor general has sent a letter to the justices stating that “because of federal respondent’s invocation of the [Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)] regulations, we wish to inform the Court that, on January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order” titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which requires the chairman of the CEQ to move toward rescinding the CEQ’s NEPA regulations.

  • January 27, 2025

    Oil, Gas Royality Settlement Objectors Brief 10th Circuit On Attorney Fee Challenge

    DENVER — A trial court in approving more than $17.3 million in attorney fees as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement ignored the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in Strack v. Continental Resources, which requires percentage-based common fund fee awards to be tested by a lodestar cross-check, and failed to follow the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate to apply controlling Oklahoma law, objectors argue in separate appellant briefs filed in the 10th Circuit.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge Nixes Company’s Bid To End Fracking Case, Says Material Questions Exist

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an oil company’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging it is liable for an injury sustained by a worker at a hydraulic fracturing well pad, ruling that “the self-serving evidence submitted by the parties is insufficient to show that there are no questions of material fact” in the case.

  • January 22, 2025

    Panel Partially Reverses Mineral Rights Ruling Based On Reading Of 1948 Deed

    CINCINNATI — A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has partially reversed and remanded a lower court’s decision in a long-running and complex mineral rights dispute, ruling that the reasoning that found in favor of the defendant, Gulfport Energy Corp., on its claim to the rights on a 165-acre tract of land was “mistaken” based on the language of the 1948 deed.

  • January 21, 2025

    Fracking Proponents Say Alaska Lease Appeal ‘Moot’ In Light Of Agency’s Report

    SAN FRANCISCO — Hydraulic fracturing proponents who sued the Biden administration over the delay caused by a temporary halt of the hydraulic fracturing lease program in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska moved in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss their appeal on Jan. 20 on grounds that the final record of decision (ROD) for ANWR’s Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Program issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on Dec. 8 “completed DOI’s supplemental environmental review and expressly lifts the Moratorium for the oil and gas program rendering all claims in this appeal moot.”

  • January 21, 2025

    President Trump’s Orders Reopen Arctic To Fracking, Call For ‘Unleashing’ Energy

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Of the many executive orders President Donald J. Trump issued Jan. 20, three of them pertained to energy policy, with one declaring a national energy emergency, one rescinding the cancellation of hydraulic fracturing leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and another “unleashing American energy” by encouraging energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf.

  • January 16, 2025

    Abandoned Wells, Groundwater Case Is Valid Based On Fraud Allegation, Judge Says

    DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado has denied two motions to dismiss a lawsuit over abandoned hydraulic fracturing wells that the plaintiffs contend pose a threat to human health and have the potential to contaminate groundwater, ruling that the plaintiffs have “sufficiently alleged fraud with particularity” against the company and its principals.

  • January 10, 2025

    Fracking Operator Says Fine Of Nearly $5.9M Violates Its Constitutional Rights

    DENVER — A hydraulic fracturing operator has sued the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) in state court arguing that it should not have to pay $5,897,892.10 in penalties related to notices of violation issued by the ECMC because “the extreme breadth” of the order calling for the penalties “violates the Commission’s mandate to regulate oil and gas activity to protect the public health, safety, welfare and the environment in a ‘reasonable manner.’”

  • January 10, 2025

    Plaintiffs Say Oil Producers Engaged In ‘Conspiracy’ Amounting To Price Fixing

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Plaintiffs have filed a putative class action complaint against numerous oil and gas producers in New Mexico federal court contending that they have engaged in a “conspiracy to coordinate, and ultimately constrain,” domestic shale oil production, which has amounted to “fixing, raising, and maintaining the price of crude oil,” in violation of the Sherman Act and various state laws.

  • January 09, 2025

    Alaska Sues Federal Agencies For Alleged Coastal Plain Fracking Lease Violations

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in Alaska federal court contending that the agency has violated Congress’ statutory mandate that the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened to oil and gas leasing and development.

  • January 09, 2025

    Final Approval Granted To U.S. Portion Of Fracking Securities Global Settlement

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to the approximately $7 million U.S. portion of a global settlement in a case brought by investors alleging that an oil and gas exploration company violated securities laws.

  • January 08, 2025

    Oil Companies To Pay $5.6M Penalty For ‘Gun Jumping Violation’ Of Antitrust Laws

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission said Jan. 7 that three crude oil producers will pay a $5.6 million civil penalty to settle allegations that they committed a “gun jumping violation” when they disregarded their obligations under the federal law governing mergers and transferred “significant operational control” over one of the companies’ business operations to the other parties without observing the proper waiting period.

  • January 07, 2025

    Panel Remands Mineral Rights Case, Says Owners Were ‘Insufficiently Compensated’

    NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 6 partially affirmed and partially reversed and remanded a complex and protracted dispute over mineral rights, ruling that although the district court correctly ruled that the mineral lease in question conveyed a gross proceeds royalty based on extrinsic evidence, the district court’s award of prejudgment interest and royalty damages “insufficiently compensated” landowners for their losses.

  • January 07, 2025

    Fracking Wells At Issue In Groundwater Case Belong To Other Party, Defendants Say

    PITTSBURGH — Defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed with regard to both parties because the plaintiffs “unambiguously plead” that only the other defendants own and operate the hydraulic fracturing wells at issue.

  • January 07, 2025

    President Biden Prohibits Drilling In Continental Shelf As Term Draws To A Close

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Jan. 6 issued two presidential memoranda prohibiting oil and natural gas leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, pursuant to his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).

  • January 03, 2025

    Judge Partially Dismisses Royalty Case, Says Claim For Equitable Accounting Fails

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has granted a hydraulic fracturing operator’s partial motion to dismiss a lawsuit involving a royalty dispute, ruling that landowners have failed to state a claim for equitable accounting and failed to state a claim for injunctive relief in a dispute over the alleged arbitrary deduction of royalties.

  • January 02, 2025

    Panel Says Fracking Operator Has Paid Royalties Due, No Issue Of Fact Exists

    DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 31 held that an oil and gas company has admitted that a hydraulic fracturing operator has paid the royalties it owes on increased gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) production, which are the only royalties due pursuant to the contract between the parties; therefore, there is no genuine issue of fact in a long-running dispute over the fracking outfit’s obligation to pay additional royalties.

  • December 20, 2024

    Drilling Company Says Some Of Mineral Rights Plaintiffs’ Claims Are Not Viable

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A drilling company on Dec. 19 filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court contending that plaintiffs suing it in a complex mineral rights lawsuit have no viable claims for unjust enrichment and arguing that the plaintiffs have waived their trespass claims.

  • December 18, 2024

    Royalty Payment Case Against Fracking Companies Is Valid, Plaintiffs Argue

    WHEELING, W.Va. — The plaintiffs who sued Southwestern Energy Co. and Southwestern Production Co. LLC (collectively, Southwestern) alleging that they paid diminished royalties regarding hydraulic fracturing mineral rights filed a brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should deny the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on grounds the defendants “knew and anticipated the impact on Plaintiff’s well but went forward with drilling,” saying the facts of the case “fit squarely within the negligence theory of liability under Atkinson v. Virginia.”