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

Mealey's Fracking

June 08, 2023
Ohio High Court To Hear Fracking Dispute Over Definition Of ‘Utica Shale’

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A divided Ohio Supreme Court will hear a case on the common meaning of the language in a hydraulic fracturing lease that is the subject of a dispute between fracking operators and a mineral rights owner pertaining to the definition of what constitutes the “formation commonly known as the Utica Shale.” The rights owner contends that the companies drilled beyond the shale formation in violation of the lease agreement.
June 07, 2023
Judge Says Pipeline Company Fails To Show Injunction Is Warranted In Permit Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania denied a pipeline company’s motion for an injunction to prevent environmental advocates from appealing permits required for a gas pipeline expansion project, ruling that the company failed to show that the “extraordinary remedy of a preliminary injunction is warranted in this case.”
June 07, 2023
Fracking Operator: Energy Company’s Bid To Reconsider Mineral Rights Ruling Fails

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed a brief in Ohio federal court opposing an energy company’s motion to reconsider a previous ruling that dismissed many of that company’s claims in a complex mineral rights dispute. The fracking operator contends that the court has already rejected the arguments for reconsideration and that based on recent developments in the case, the issue of reconsideration is moot.
June 06, 2023
Biden Administration, Tribes: Court Should Deny Objections To Intervention Ruling

SALT LAKE CITY — The Biden administration and Native American tribes on June 5 filed a brief in Utah federal court contending that it should deny objections by groups that were denied the right to intervene in a lawsuit pertaining to the administration’s decision to reinstate the dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments because the potential intervenors “inaccurately claim” that in issuing the ruling the judge adopted a “novel” approach to intervention.
June 06, 2023
Texas High Court Will Hear Fracking Dispute Over Fairness Of Pooling Offer

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court will hear Ammonite Oil & Gas Corp.’s case against the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) for the RRC’s denial of Ammonite’s request for forced pooling of oil and gas resources with EOG Resources. Ammonite contends that the RRC wrongly determined that Ammonite’s voluntary pooling offer to EOG was not “fair and reasonable.”
June 05, 2023
U.S. High Court Will Not Hear Trade Group’s Petition Related To Offshore Fracking

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 5 refused to hear a hydraulic fracturing trade group’s petition in which it had argued that a federal appellate panel “drastically expanded the meaning of ‘final agency action’” under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it ruled that federal agencies violated the law when they approved drilling in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of California.
June 02, 2023
U.S. Chamber: NEPA Does Not Require Additional Analysis Of Federal Fracking Leases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce permission to file an amicus curiae brief in a hydraulic fracturing lease dispute, and a proposed version of the brief that the U.S. Chamber filed with its motion for leave argues that the “rule of reason” in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) does not require the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to conduct the additional analysis on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that environmental groups demand.
June 01, 2023
3rd Circuit Says Faulty Workmanship Is Not Occurrence, No Coverage Owed To Insured

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal on May 31 reversed a district court’s ruling that an insurer must indemnify its insured for damages to natural gas wells caused by the insured’s fracking work because neither faulty workmanship nor failure to perform a contract in a workmanlike manner can be construed as an occurrence under the policy at issue.
June 01, 2023
Panel Vacates Ruling In Fracking Case, Says Dispute Belongs At Pipeline Commission

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A state appeals panel in Pennsylvania vacated a trial court’s dismissal of a pipeline dispute brought by residents contending that a pipeline to carry hydraulically fractured oil and gas through residential areas and remanded the matter with instruction that the plaintiffs’ unfair trade practices claims should be stayed and the remaining causes of action should be transferred to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC).
May 19, 2023
Briefly: Panel Says Expert Reports Not Privileged In Pipeline Explosion Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate court panel ruled that a hydraulic fracturing pipeline company’s expert reports are not privileged and therefore are discoverable in litigation brought by a midstream services company that is suing the pipeline company for breach of contract in relation to an explosion that damaged the pipeline and other property.
May 19, 2023
Alaska Seeks Intervention In Offshore Fracking Lease Dispute

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska filed a reply brief in federal court arguing that it should be permitted to intervene in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) decision to hold a lease sale for offshore hydraulic fracturing in Cook Inlet.
May 19, 2023
Briefly: Pipeline Company Failed To Meet Safety Standards, Panel Says

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate panel ruled that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) did not err in finding a hydraulic fracturing pipeline company’s public awareness program for safety failed to meet the reasonable service standard required.
May 19, 2023
Panel Reverses, Remands Lease Dispute, Says Pipeline Company Owns Mineral Rights

HOUSTON — A Texas appellate court panel granted a motion for rehearing in an oil and gas lease dispute and remanded the matter to the trial court, ruling that a pipeline company owns the remaining royalty under a long-disputed mineral lease contract.
May 17, 2023
Operators Say Supreme Court Must Hear Offshore Fracking Dispute Under Federal Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Petroleum Institute (API) and its affiliates on May 16 filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should hear their case pertaining to alleged violations of federal law with regard to offshore hydraulic fracturing because a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision “drastically expanded the meaning of ‘final agency action’” under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
May 05, 2023
Judge Says Fracking Operators Failed To Meet Standard Of Care In Injury Lawsuit

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a motion to dismiss a hydraulic fracturing injury case, ruling that “a reasonable factfinder” could find that the fracking operators’ conduct “constituted an extreme departure from the standard of care.” The judge also said that questions remained regarding the application of “gross negligence” in the master service agreement between the operators and a third-party contractor and, therefore, the case could not be dismissed.
May 05, 2023
Alaska: Case Challenging Fracking In Petroleum Reserve Fails For Lack Of Injury

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The state of Alaska has filed a brief in Alaska federal court arguing that a lawsuit brought by an environmental group challenging the adequacy of an environmental impact statement for planning hydraulic fracturing activities in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) should be dismissed because the group has not suffered any injury.
May 04, 2023
Leaseholders Say Company Deprived Them Of Fracking Proceeds With ‘Willful Intent’

OKLAHOMA CITY — Leaseholders have filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma federal court seeking declaratory judgment and damages against an oil and gas exploration company, contending that it failed to pay revenues and that it did so “with actual, knowing and willful intent to deprive” the leaseholders of their proceeds.
May 03, 2023
Groups Say Summary Judgment Proper In Alaska Fracking Case Due To NEPA Violation

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Sierra Club and other environmental groups moved for an Alaska federal court to take judicial notice of supplemental factual materials they say support their motion for summary judgment, in which they say the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated federal law when it approved oil and gas exploration activities known as Peregrine Program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
May 03, 2023
Government Says Fracking Lease Sale ‘Far From Arbitrary,’ Federal Laws Were Honored

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal defendants filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that their decisions regarding the sale of oil and gas lease parcels for hydraulic fracturing complied with federal regulations and standards, therefore they are entitled to summary judgment on claims brought by groups alleging that the environmental analysis accompanying the sale was not sufficient.
May 03, 2023
Groups Insist Supreme Court Review Of Offshore Fracking Ruling Is Not Needed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and other environmental groups filed an opposition brief in the U.S. Supreme Court contending that it does not need to review a petition filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its affiliates pertaining to alleged violations of federal law with regard to offshore hydraulic fracturing because the court below properly applied the Supreme Court’s two-part test for evaluating when an agency action is final pursuant to Bennett v. Spear and because the decision does not have “far-reaching practical or legal implications.”
May 03, 2023
Group Drops Fracking Waste Lawsuit Against Delaware River Basin Commission

PHILADELPHIA — An environmental group has voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) related to the dumping of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in the basin, contending in a press release that as a direct result of filing the lawsuit the DRBC removed a loophole in its regulations that now makes it “crystal clear” that the discharge of any imported wastewater from any well subject to high-volume hydraulic fracturing is not allowed.
May 02, 2023
Agencies Deny Claims They Violated Federal Law In Approving Offshore Fracking

LOS ANGELES — On May 1, the secretary of the Interior and associated federal agencies filed an answer in California federal court denying all claims against them related to alleged violations of federal law pertaining to their approval of offshore oil and gas activities along the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). They also contend that the environmental groups suing the government fail to state a claim for which relief can be granted.
May 02, 2023
Native American Group Drops 9th Circuit Willow Project Appeal, Seeks Resolution

SAN FRANCISCO — A Native American organization has voluntarily dismissed its appeal against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) related to the Willow Project in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, saying it aims to resolve the case on the merits at the district court level before commencement of “further ground-disturbing activities” during the 2023-24 winter construction season.
May 02, 2023
Panel Vacates, Remands Groups’ Federal Fracking Lease Case, Saying It Is ‘Moot’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a lawsuit over federal lease sales for hydraulic fracturing, with instructions to declare the case moot on grounds that none of the arguments presented by environmental groups that alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is persuasive.
May 01, 2023
California Opposes Supreme Court Review Of Ruling That Nixed Offshore Fracking

WASHINGTON, D.C. — California and a state agency on April 28 filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should deny a petition filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and its affiliates on grounds that the trial court correctly ruled that they violated federal law and correctly interpreted the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) when it held that permits for hydraulic fracturing off the coast of California were granted improperly (American Petroleum Institute, et al. v. Environmental Defense Center, et al., No. 22-703, U.S. Sup.).