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

Mealey's Fracking

August 04, 2022
Fracking Company Says Summary Judgment Not Warranted In Federal Lease Dispute

BOISE, Idaho — A hydraulic fracturing company on July 21 filed a brief in Idaho federal court as an intervenor defendant, arguing that the court should deny partial summary judgment to environmental groups that allege that federal agencies violated the law when they issued fracking leases across the Interior West.
August 04, 2022
Drilling Company: Ohio Law Does Not Recognize Plaintiff’s Theory In Fracking Case

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A drilling company on July 15 filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court contending that it should dismiss a mineral rights purchasing company’s case against the driller because Ohio does not recognize the plaintiff’s theory that fractured pieces of earth and injectate from a hydraulic fracturing well traveled into the plaintiff’s property.
August 04, 2022
North Dakota Seeks To Intervene In Federal Fracking Lease Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The state of North Dakota on July 22 moved in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to intervene in a lawsuit related to the sale of federal hydraulic fracturing leases, contending that the state should be allowed to intervene “to protect its significant rights and economic interests” in connection with 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.
August 04, 2022
Equity Fund Says Fracking Company Committed Securities Fraud During Merger

HOUSTON — On Aug. 3, an equity fund sued a hydraulic fracturing company in Texas federal court contending that it committed securities fraud through the “sustained and intentional abuse” of the corporate form known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which misled investors regarding a merger with another fracking company.
August 03, 2022
Panel Affirms City Must Pay $33.63M After Denying Permit For Lease It Already OK’d

DALLAS — A Texas appeals panel on Aug. 1 affirmed a lower court ruling that awarded a hydraulic fracturing operator $33,639,000 for the city of Dallas’ regulatory taking related to a fracking lease between the parties that eventually expired because the city, through protracted bureaucratic wrangling, actually denied the permit needed to drill pursuant to the lease.
August 03, 2022
Briefly: Panel OKs Pipeline Permit, Says Environmental Analysis Was ‘Adequate’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Aug. 2, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for review filed by an environmental group that had challenged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of a company’s certificate to acquire an existing pipeline system and to construct two other pipeline segments, concluding that FERC’s analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was “adequate.”
August 02, 2022
Briefly: Government Says Case Related To Fracking Pipeline Rupture Is Valid

BILLINGS, Mont. — The U.S. government on July 29 filed a brief in Montana federal court contending that its drinking water contamination lawsuit against a pipeline company is not barred by the company’s previous settlement with the state of Montana regarding the damage caused by the rupture of a pipeline that polluted the Yellowstone River.
August 02, 2022
Company Seeking To Intervene In Permit Dispute Says Case Fails For Lack Of Injury

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chevron USA Inc., a proposed intervenor defendant, on July 28 filed a brief arguing that a District of Columbia federal court should dismiss a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), contending that the environmental groups that challenge the DOI’s approval of 3,535 applications for permit for drill (APDs) for hydraulic fracturing lack standing and fail to assert any particularized or concrete injury.
August 02, 2022
Judge Nixes California Lease Dispute Pending Environmental Review As Per Agreement

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Aug. 1 approved a stipulated settlement and dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought by environmental groups seeking to prevent hydraulic fracturing in California’s southern Central Coast and Central Valley region while the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) defers lease sales for fracking in that region in order to prepare a supplement to a previous environmental impact statement (EIS) in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
July 29, 2022
Companies Seek Dismissal Of Federal Fracking Lease Case For Lack Of Standing

GREAT FALLS, Mont.— Two hydraulic fracturing companies on July 26 filed a brief in Montana federal court saying it should dismiss environmental groups’ federal lease lawsuit against the Secretary of the Interior because the groups lack constitutional standing to seek cancellation of existing real property interests and contracts “under the guise” of claims brought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenging a final agency action.
July 29, 2022
Residents Say Sanctions Order In Fracking Case Violates Due Process; Stay Sought

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Landowners with water pollution claims related to hydraulic fracturing moved with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) on July 22 to stay an order sanctioning them for bad faith and harassment against a fracking operator until the conclusion of pending appeals in related cases that challenge the order on due process grounds.
July 26, 2022
Company: Fracking Operator Breached Contract When It Refused To Pay For Services

FORT WORTH, Texas — A company that provides services to hydraulic fracturing operators on July 22 sued an oil and gas company in Texas federal court, contending that it breached the contract between the parties when it failed to pay for services rendered.
July 25, 2022
Briefly: 11th Circuit Says Causation Lacking In Pipeline Leak Case

ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 22 affirmed a summary judgment ruling in favor of a pipeline company, ruling that residents who had contended that their drinking water was contaminated from a pipeline leak failed to establish causation.
July 18, 2022
Tribe Takes Battle With DOI Over Fracking Permits To 8th Circuit

BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota Indian tribe on July 8 appealed to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal court’s grant of summary judgment to the Department of the Interior (DOI) and an energy development company on the tribe’s claims that the government acted arbitrarily in issuing permits for a hydraulic fracturing drilling project.
July 18, 2022
Government Says Discovery Requests In Mineral Rights Case Are ‘Overbroad’

DENVER — The U.S. government on July 1 filed a brief in Colorado federal court contending that it should deny a discovery motion filed by property owners with whom the government is engaged in a mineral rights dispute because the landowners have not carried their burden to demonstrate that they have a legal entitlement to jurisdictional discovery, and the government says the requests themselves are “overbroad.”
July 15, 2022
Briefly: Fracking Operator Seeks Review Of FERC Pipeline Contract Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A hydraulic fracturing operator on July 8 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 dismissed the operator’s complaints against a pipeline company for failing to fulfill its contract to transport fracked gas.
July 14, 2022
Company Says Fracking Lease Case Must Be Nixed, Necessary Party Cannot Be Joined

BOISE, Idaho — A hydraulic fracturing company on July 12 filed a brief in Idaho federal court contending that a lawsuit brought by environmental groups alleging that federal agencies violated federal law in connection with fracking lease sales should be dismissed because the fracking operator says it is “a necessary party to this action that cannot be joined for a lack of personal jurisdiction, and a challenge to its oil and gas leases cannot proceed in its absence.”
July 13, 2022
Mineral Rights Company Says Trespass Case Against Drilling Operator Is Valid

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On July 1, a mineral rights purchasing company filed a brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should not dismiss the company’s trespassing case against a drilling operator because the complaint’s allegations of physical invasion are sufficient under Ohio’s notice pleading standard and “the legal fictions underlying pooled units” in Ohio law.
July 13, 2022
Groups Sue Federal Agencies For Not Evaluating Fracking Impact In Wyoming

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Wilderness Society and another environmental advocacy group on June 29 sued the secretary of the Interior in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that she and other federal agencies sold hydraulic fracturing leases covering nearly 200 square miles of public lands in Wyoming without evaluating the impact on groundwater, wildlife or greenhouse gas pollution.
July 13, 2022
Fracking Operators: Sanctions Needed For Lack Of Good Faith In Discovery Dispute

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hydraulic fracturing companies on July 1 filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court contending that it should grant their motion for sanctions against leaseholders with royalty rights because they “provide no good faith bases for how or why they repeatedly misrepresented the completeness of their document production,” related to discovery sought in connection with leases that are in dispute.
July 13, 2022
SEC Says Principals, Companies Fraudulently Sold Securities For Fracking Interests

DALLAS — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 30 sued a man and energy companies he had formed contending that they are liable for bilking investors of approximately $2,182,687 through fraud and the unregistered offer and sale of securities for working interests in oil and gas wells in Oklahoma and purported interests in hydraulic fracturing in the Utica shale of Ohio.
July 13, 2022
Fracking Company: Rehearing En Banc Needed In COVID-19, WARN Act Employment Case

NEW ORLEANS — A hydraulic fracturing services company on June 29 filed a petition in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking rehearing en banc of a ruling that reversed a lower court and held that the company violated federal law when it terminated the employment of three workers during the COVID-19 pandemic without providing advanced notice.
July 13, 2022
Groups: Agencies Violated Law With Federal Fracking Lease Approvals In 8 States

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental advocacy groups on June 28 sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and federal officials in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that they violated federal laws when they approved the sale of 173 oil and gas lease parcels for hydraulic fracturing on 144,000 acres of public lands across eight western states.
July 13, 2022
Chevron, Energy Company Tell California High Court Fracking Ban Violates State Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Chevron USA Inc. and another energy company on June 29 filed briefs in the California Supreme Court contending that a local ordinance that bans hydraulic fracturing is preempted because it conflicts with state law by overriding the state’s policy choices that encourage an increase in oil production.
July 12, 2022
Class: Companies Liable For Abandoned Fracking Wells, Fraudulent Transfers

WHEELING, W.Va. — A trio of landowners, as members of proposed class, on July 8 sued a group of energy companies and hydraulic fracturing operators in West Virginia federal court contending that their properties are burdened with abandoned wells that the defendants have a duty to plug to reduce methane emissions and restore damaged properties under state law. They also claim that the defendants made fraudulent transfers of assets as part of a “scheme” to shed liabilities.