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

Mealey's Fracking

November 23, 2022
Fracking Company Asks 9th Circuit To Let It Intervene In Federal Lease Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed an opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that an environmental group that is challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) approval of 667 fracking leases is also attempting to deny the operator’s due process rights to defend their specific leases. The operator argues that it is a necessary party to the litigation.
November 23, 2022
Groups Seek To Intervene In Case Over Dimensions Of National Monuments

SALT LAKE CITY — Environmental advocacy groups on Nov. 22 moved in Utah federal court seeking to intervene in a lawsuit pertaining to the dimensions of two national monuments, arguing that it is entitled to intervention as a matter of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) because the size of the monuments has implications for potential hydraulic fracturing activity in the region.
November 22, 2022
Chevron: Fracking Ban Is Not A True Land Use Regulation; Justification Lacking

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Chevron U.S.A. Inc. has filed a brief in California Supreme Court arguing that a local ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing is “not a true land use regulation in the relevant sense” and contending that the environmental groups who filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the measure fail to identify any “locality-specific land use justifications” for the ban.
November 22, 2022
Federal Agency: Landowners’ U.S. Supreme Court Pipeline Challenge Lacks Merit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court contending that it should not review a petition filed by landowners who oppose a hydraulic fracturing pipeline on grounds that the petition lacks merit and does not conflict with precedent.
November 21, 2022
Jurisdiction Is Lacking, Federal Agencies Say, In Mineral Rights Dispute

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has moved in Wyoming federal court seeking to dismiss an oil company’s complaint that it has the right to drill a traversing well through a tract of federal land belonging to the BLM without getting its permission because the surface owner has granted the oil company an easement. The BLM argues that the lawsuit is not ripe and that there is no longer a live controversy.
November 21, 2022
Mineral Rights Owner: Fracking Operator Broke Contract By Drilling Horizontal Well

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A company that owns oil and gas mineral rights has sued a hydraulic fracturing operator and a drilling contractor in Ohio federal court contending that it illegally produced gas by drilling into a shale formation underneath the company’s property for which the operator did not possess a permit.
November 14, 2022
Mineral Rights Company Says Fracking Operator Failed To Pay Royalties Properly

BISMARCK, N.D. — A company that owns hydraulic fracturing mineral rights sued a fracking operator on Nov. 14 in North Dakota federal court, contending that it is liable for failing to pay mineral owners statutory interest on payments when the company is late in paying them the royalties they are owed.
November 14, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Favoring Worker Fired By Fracking Company

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 14 decided not to hear a case in which a federal appellate court denied a hydraulic fracturing company’s petition for rehearing en banc related to its previous ruling that the company violated federal law when it terminated the employment of three workers during the COVID-19 pandemic without providing advance notice.
November 10, 2022
Family Says Fracking Operators Polluted Drinking Water With PFAS, Other Chemicals

WASHINGTON, Pa. — A family in Pennsylvania has sued hydraulic fracturing companies in state court contending that they are liable for contaminating their drinking water with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and exposing them to radioactive material from drilling activities in wells located on the family’s property.
November 09, 2022
In A Precedential Ruling, 3rd Circuit Denies Nuns’ RFRA Challenge To Pipeline

PHILADELPHIA — In a precedential opinion, a panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 8 ruled that a lawsuit brought by Roman Catholic nuns who opposed a hydraulic fracturing pipeline underneath the grounds of their property pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) constituted an impermissible collateral attack on the certificate granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) because the order’s claim should have been raised with the commission.
November 07, 2022
Group Tells 10th Circuit Air Quality Rules Failed To Consider Fracking Emissions

DENVER — The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of air quality standards for the Denver Metro Area that were submitted by the Colorado Department of Public Health (CDPH) on grounds that they failed to address the effects of hydraulic fracturing emissions.
November 07, 2022
Investor Seeks To Compel Inspection Of Records Connected To Fracking Merger

WILMINGTON, Del. — An investor has filed a complaint in Delaware state court seeking to compel the inspection of books and records pertaining to a proposed merger between a well services company and a hydraulic fracturing operator, contending that the documents are needed to ascertain whether members of the well services company were motived by their own self-interests when they pursued the transaction in question.
November 04, 2022
Judge Axes Some Claims By Fracking Groups Related To Pause Of Federal Leases

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana, in response to a report and recommendation by a magistrate judge, on Nov. 3 partially dismissed a lawsuit brought by hydraulic fracturing trade groups that argue that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) violated federal law by not holding regular fracking lease sales.
November 04, 2022
Judge Says Certification Of Fracking Royalty Payment Class Is ‘Impractical’

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado has denied class certification for plaintiffs who sued multiple hydraulic fracturing companies seeking payment related to surface owner royalties, ruling that although the plaintiffs stand to gain “millions of dollars,” some absent members of the putative class benefit from the status quo and stand to lose from the payment methodology the class asserts. He also ruled that joinder was “impractical.”
November 03, 2022
Groups Oppose Agencies’ ‘Flawed’ Reaffirmation Of Trump-Era Fracking Decisions

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Native American group and environmental advocacy organizations have filed a petition in New Mexico federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its decision to reaffirm the “flawed authorization” of the Trump administration that issued hydraulic fracturing leases for 42 parcels of land and approved approximately 120 applications for permit to drill (APDs).
November 03, 2022
Company Insists It Has No Duty Regarding Abandoned West Virginia Fracking Wells

WHEELING, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing operator has filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a putative class action by landowners who sued over abandoned wells, contending that the lawsuit fails because the company has established as a matter of law that it has not violated the well plugging duty codified in West Virginia law.
November 03, 2022
Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Fracking Royalty Interest Case Based On Lease Language

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — An appellate panel in Ohio has affirmed a trial court decision that found that overriding royalty interest holders were not entitled to payment of those interests for oil and gas extraction based on the language of the hydraulic fracturing leases they hold with fracking operators.
November 03, 2022
Oil Company Intervenors Seek Dismissal Of Federal Fracking Permit Approval Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil and gas companies that are intervenor defendants in a hydraulic fracturing lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) have moved in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbiaarguing that it should dismiss the case because the plaintiffs’ challenges to the DOI’s decisions approving fracking permits are barred by limitations on judicial review of administrative action.
November 02, 2022
Briefly: Another Group Challenges FERC Approval Of Fracking Pipeline

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of natural gas providers has petitioned the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsseeking review of an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that approved construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline that would carry fracked gas to Louisiana.
November 01, 2022
Properly, Timely Pleaded Securities Claims Wrongly Dismissed, Investors Argue

DENVER — A federal district court erred in dismissing federal securities law claims brought by investors against the members of an oil, gas and mineral exploration joint venture as time-barred under the statute of limitations because not only did the investors sufficiently plead the necessary elements of the claims, they also showed they were not put on inquiry notice of the alleged fraud until August 2020, the investors say in an appellant brief filed in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
November 01, 2022
Groups, Federal Agency Agree To Dismiss Fracking Lease Dispute With Prejudice

DENVER — An environmental group and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) mutually decided to dismiss with prejudice a lawsuit initially brought as a challenge to a development plan that would allow hydraulic fracturing in the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forests within the Paonia Ranger District. The stipulation, entered in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, did not elaborate on the reasons for the agreement.
November 01, 2022
2nd Circuit Rules Fraud Case Against Fracking Operator Fails To State Claim

NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against a hydraulic fracturing company, ruling that the complaint fails to state a claim for the alleged violation of federal securities laws.
October 25, 2022
Groups’ Amicus Brief Calls For California High Court To Uphold Local Fracking Ban

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Environmental groups have filed an amicus curiae brief in the California Supreme Court contending that a lower court decision that struck down a local ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing “threatens to interfere with municipalities’ efforts to address the localized impacts of oil and gas drilling in ways that are responsive to concerns of their most vulnerable residents.”
October 25, 2022
Board Institutes Review Of Patented Reciprocating Pump Assembly

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an Oct. 24 holding, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board deemed a petitioner likely to prevail with respect to at least one challenged claim in a patent that claims a power end housing for a reciprocating pump assembly used in oil and gas extraction,
October 24, 2022
Investor: Directors Violated Securities Laws Connected To Fracking Company IPO

DALLAS — A stockholder sued a hydraulic fracturing operator, contending that the company and its board of directors breached their fiduciary duties by filing materially false information with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the company’s initial public offering (IPO).