Litigation

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    Multiple Lawsuits Against Chesapeake for Alleged Securities Fraud

    wild-kingdomWe remember watching Marlin Perkins on “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” growing up. For the younger generations, it was a TV program roughly the equivalent of watching today’s Discovery channel. In particular we remember watching a wildebeest being taken down by a pack of jackals. The jackals would watch for an advantage–a wildebeest that was old and slow, or wounded, or maybe too young to keep up with the herd. They would single it out and one after another jump on it to bring it down. That’s the image that floated through our heads as we noticed a sudden surge of law firms filing class action lawsuits against Chesapeake Energy. No, these lawsuits have nothing to do with Chesapeake shorting landowners in their royalty checks–there’s already a bunch of those lawsuits. These lawsuits are new and stem from the recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and even the U.S. Postal Service have launched investigations into Chesapeake (see Everybody Just Subpoenaed Chesapeake Energy for Everything). The suspicion is that Chesapeake may have engaged in securities fraud by making misleading or false statements that led investors to buy or sell stocks, bonds and debts in the company. With blood drawn (i.e. government suspicion and investigation), a plethora (at least 10) law firms have jumped on the back of the beast and are attempting to bring it down…
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    Last Stand: Big Coal Tries to Block NatGas Electric Plant in WV

    last-standSince April of 2014, MDN has written about and monitored a new project to build a $615 million electrical generating plant in Marshall County, WV that will burn Marcellus Shale gas (see MDN stories about it here). Called Moundsville Power, the project received a final green light in February 2015. We also discovered the plant will burn not only methane, but ethane as well (see WV Moundsville Electric Generating Plant to Burn Methane + Ethane!). Moundsville Power was supposed to break ground in early 2016. That didn’t happen. What’s the holdup? A group supporting coal-fired electric generation called Ohio Valley Jobs Alliance filed an objection to the West Virginia Air Quality Board’s permit issued for the project (see Coal Supporters Try to Stop Moundsville, WV NatGas Electric Plant). Because of the appeal, meant to block the project, Moundsville continues to be delayed–at least for a few more months…
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    Time to Start Prosecuting Towns that Pass Illegal Frack Bans?

    indictmentAs a general rule and principle, local control over decisions that affect an entire community is a good thing. Our great country as founded gives precedence to individual freedom. However, what do you do when two neighbors disagree on an important, community-changing issue? Our founding fathers wrestled with this concept and crafted an ingenious solution. If everyone in a community voted on every issue, the founding fathers recognized such a system descends into mob rule. However, in order to preserve democracy and cherished individual freedom, people should have the right to vote. Instead of voting on every issue, the founders created a system where citizens vote for small groups of representatives who act as a buffer between the “mob” and common sense/fairness for everyone–people who dedicate their time to understanding issues, how their constituents feel about those issues, and then voting in accordance with their own conscience and findings. Such a representative democracy is called a republic, which is the political system we have in the United States (NOT a straight up democracy). Even among the layers of elected representatives (local, state, federal) there is a pecking order. The founders recognized there are certain rights and issues best decided and enforced on either the federal or state level, rather than the local level. Each local community (lets call it a township) does NOT have the right to craft its own constitution and confer rights on individuals, corporations, eco-systems or any other entity. Conferring of such rights is the purview of either the federal or state government–NOT a local government. For example, in every state in the union oil and gas development is regulated by the state–not by local entities. In some states, Pennsylvania among them, zoning can affect and influence oil and gas development–where it happens, when it happens–but not control how it happens. So what if a community decides to ban oil and gas development (or pipelines, or injection wells)–in other words, “whether” such an activity happens? Such a ban is illegal. Introducing zoning regulations that result in a de facto ban is also illegal–but it’s happening in pockets across the Keystone State. Perhaps it’s time to criminally charge local representatives who pass these illegal laws (laws that trample individual property rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution) under a PA law called “official oppression.” That’s what the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) is considering right now…
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    Lawyer Breaks Down PA Supreme Court’s Latest Act 13 Ruling

    one-more-timeWe’re not trying to beat a dead horse here with yet more coverage of last week’s PA Supreme Court ruling in yet another Act 13 case (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against Act 13 Drilling Law, Yet Again), but that decision is important enough that it bears viewing from multiple angles. Below is an article from the Saul Ewing law firm. It does a good job of breaking down the key items decided by the judges, and what it means for the drilling industry and for PA residents–in terms non-lawyers (like us!) can understand. The article also points out there is at least one more aspect of the Act 13 case that has yet to be decided…
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    PIOGA Makes Legal Play to Stop Chapter 78a Regs from Taking Effect

    appealLast Friday the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA) filed a letter with the PA Joint House Senate Committee on Documents asking them to NOT publish the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) final Chapter 78a Marcellus Drilling regulations, citing last week’s PA Supreme Court ruling on Act 13 as the basis. As MDN previously reported, the DEP plans to publish the final regulations in this week’s Oct. 8 Pennsylvania Bulletin (see PA’s New Article 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8). PIOGA previously sued asking the Commonwealth Court to block the new regulations based on the legal fact that key parts of Act 13, which Chapter 78a is based on, have been “enjoined” that prevent certain Chapter 78a provisions from being adopted in their current form. It kind of gets into the weeds with legal speak, but essentially PIOGA is (a) warning these agencies they should not publish the new regulations, which prevents the regs from going into effect, until the invalid provisions are removed, and (b) further litigating to keep the regulations stopped. Below is an overview of what’s happening, along with the letter sent by PIOGA to the Joint Committee, and a copy of the appeal filed to the Supreme Court…
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    PA’s Supreme Court Orders Up the Impossible re Act 13

    cluelessYesterday MDN reported that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has essentially gutted the rest of the Act 13 drilling law passed in 2012 (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against Act 13 Drilling Law, Yet Again). One of the four provisions in the law eviscerated in the most recently ruling deals with notifications following a spill of chemicals or frack wastewater. The Act 13 law provided for a mechanism (requirement) that local public water drinking systems be notified following a spill. Immediately. But the law did not provide for the same notification to owners of private water wells. Why was that? Was it a sweetheart deal with evil, nasty frackers who don’t care if they poison the water wells of nearby residents–interested only in money? Uh, no. The fact is Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not regulate private water wells, so there is no registry, no way to know WHO to inform in case of a spill. How can you require a company to do something when there is no way to do it? Which raises this question: Do the Democrats on the Supreme Court who made this decision even understand the issue at all? Are they totally clueless?…
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    PA Supreme Court’s Final Evisceration of Act 13 – Big Deal or Not?

    eviscerationFollowing up on yesterday’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to eviscerate the rest of the 2012 Act 13 drilling law (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against Act 13 Drilling Law, Yet Again), there have been a number of articles and reactions to the decision. Most point out that the items struck down by the Supremes in their great wisdom were not really being followed or implemented after earlier court cases questioned Act 13. But some maintain there are aspects of this week’s decision that portend future trouble for the drilling industry, while others say it’s no big deal. Here’s one on each side of the issue…
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    PA Supreme Court Rules Against Act 13 Drilling Law, Yet Again

    Gavel-falling.jpgThe Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday in another (hopefully final) decision on the 2012 Act 13 Marcellus drilling law passed and signed by then-Gov. Tom Corbett. Four Democrat judges have just struck down more of Act 13, leaving not much left except the part that raises money and gives it away (called an impact fee, otherwise known as a severance tax). You will recall that seven selfish towns sued the state over the Act 13 law and it’s provision that would substitute a statewide, uniform and fair set of zoning ordinances for drilling in place of a patchwork, crazy quilt system of local ordinances for oil and gas drilling. These seven selfish towns wanted their own ordinances and sued, ultimately winning at the Supreme Court (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). The PA Supremes couldn’t, however, be bothered with deciding every tiny bit of nuance and sent some items back to the lower Commonwealth Court for final decisions. Following several cases in the lower courts, some of it came back to the Supreme Court for a final decision, and that just happened. The Supreme’s ruling (full copy of their decision is embedded below) affects the use of eminent domain, what information can be shared by doctors as it relates to privileged trade secrets for drillers, and most importantly, a decision that ends the right of the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) to keep an eye on the zoning regulations passed by towns, to ensure those regulations don’t supersede state oil and gas regulations. Most of Act 13 is now down the toilet, thanks to four left-wing Democrat judges…
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    Obama’s Disastrous Clean Power Plan Goes to Court Today

    court-houseWe’ve written plenty about President Obama’s so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), introduced last summer, a plan to force electric generators to convert to using more “renewable” sources of energy–and less fossil fuels (see Obama Stabs Natural Gas Electric Plants in Clean Power Plan). The CPP outright assassinates coal powered generation, and wounds (but doesn’t kill) natural gas. It is Obama’s attempt at picking winners and losers in who and how we get our energy. We all saw how that worked out with Solyndra. Earlier this year 29 states and state agencies, including Ohio and West Virgina, filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay of the CPP (see 29 States Ask Supreme Court to Stop Obama Clean Power Plan ASAP). In a shock decision, the Supreme Court did just that (see Supreme Court Shocker – Justices Halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan). Today the enormously complex CPP gets its day in court. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments from 16 lawyers (egads!) in a marathon session that will run for nearly four hours. Here’s a bit more about what to expect today, and in the days ahead, for this disastrous regulation forced on the American population by a dictatorial El Presidente…
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    Ohio Appeals Court: NEXUS Can Enter Private Property for Surveys

    Gavel-falling.jpgOhio’s Ninth District Court of Appeals has upheld the right of NEXUS Gas Transmission to enter onto private land in order to conduct surveys for a potential pipeline route. Ohio’s Sixth District Court previously made a similar ruing in favor of NEXUS. Top energy law firm Bricker & Eckler argued for NEXUS in both cases and turns in the following report:
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    VA Supreme Court to Hear Atlantic Coast Pipe Survey Case

    va-supreme-courtIn the southeastern U.S. much of the Big Green opposition to pipelines has centered on preventing pipeline companies from entering properties to complete required surveys. If you can stop the process before it begins (so they reason), it saves them from having to hop in the VW Microbus and go to (pot smoking) anti-pipeline rallies all over the place. Peace man! Landowners in West Virginia and Virginia have challenged the rights of various pipeline companies to enter their property. It happened with EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Sues 103 WV Landowners for Survey Access), and it happened with Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline Wins Another Virginia Court Case). Each time these cases have been litigated in Virginia courts, the pipeline companies have won (if not in the first case, then on appeal). However, a high-stakes case has just been accepted by the Virginia Supreme Court in which an 83-year old granny says she doesn’t want surveyors for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to enter her property. Dominion and other pipeline companies have a lot riding on the case…
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    IPAA Launches Campaign to Defeat EPA Methane Regs

    Yesterday MDN reported on the scorching remarks by two U.S. Congressman with regard to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s rogue actions to try and regulate oil and gas drilling by imposing new methane emissions regulations (see Congressmen Blast EPA Over New Methane Regulations). Let’s keep the heat on. The premier organization representing independent oil and gas drillers is the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). The IPAA is at the forefront in fighting the EPA to defeat these draconian new regulations. According to the IPAA (quoting the EIA), these new regulations would make marginal oil and gas wells unprofitable to operate. Those so-called marginal wells represent 15% of all the natgas produced in the U.S., and 20% of the oil produced. Can you imagine what would happen to prices if you suddenly shut down that much production? No, the Obama EPA doesn’t think of things like that–and that’s the problem. Or if they do think about it, they certainly don’t give a fig. The IPAA sent around a letter outlining their game plan for fighting the EPA’s draconian methane emissions regs. Huddle up–here’s the plan…
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    Important: OH Supreme Court Finally Rules on Dormant Mineral Act

    Gavel-falling.jpgMDN has been reporting on the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (DMA) for years (see Video: OH Lawyers Explain Dormant Minerals Act & Impact on Utica). In a nutshell, there are two DMAs in Ohio–one passed in 1989 that went into effect in 1992, and another in 2006 which added certain additional procedural requirements to the 1989 version. The DMA in its various versions provides for mineral rights that had previously been separated from surface rights to transfer back to the surface owner under certain conditions. The problem, for drillers and for landowners in Ohio, is in knowing which set of DMA rules to use (1989 or 2006) in determining who owns the mineral rights. A number of DMA cases went before the Ohio Supreme Court. Some of the minor cases have already been decided (see Ohio Supreme Court Rules in Important Dormant Mineral Act Case). However, most of the big cases remain stalled at the Supreme Court. That is, until now. Yesterday the Ohio Supreme Court ruled on the remaining big DMA cases. The Supremes issued full rulings in three cases and stated the other cases come under those three. The biggest of the three is Corban v. Chesapeake Energy, in which the justices said the 2006 law now trumps (pun intended) the 1989 law. Here’s a summary of what the court decided…
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    FERC Fights for Constitution Pipeline in Federal Court

    boxing-glovesTwo days ago MDN told you that the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) had filed a brief in a lawsuit brought by anti-drilling zealots against the much-needed Constitution Pipeline (see NGSA Lobbies Fed Court, DEC to Advance 2 Stalled Pipelines in NY). The Constitution is a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY carrying Marcellus gas. Radical environmental groups sued in federal court to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) environmental review of the Constitution. If the wackos can get FERC’s review cast aside, they can slow the project to the point where they can (hopefully for them) kill it. That’s the game plan. The NGSA pushed back against it, and now, so has FERC. On Monday, FERC filed its own brief in federal court, asking the court to throw out the challenges by the zealots…
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    OH Supreme Court Rejects County Frack Ban Ballot Proposals, Again

    court-gavel.jpgAnti-fossil fuel zealots in Athens, Meigs and Portage counties in Ohio are spitting and sputtering after the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday once again shut down their childish frack ban ballot measures–ruling that Secretary of State Jon Husted and the election boards of those counties did not violate the law in tossing out the ballot measures. The radical Pennsylvania-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is particularly torqued off. It’s not the first time the Supremes have slapped them down. Their frack ban ballot measures were also tossed last year by the Supremes (see Ohio Supreme Court Keeps Frack Bans Off Ballot in 3 Counties). It’s not good for future fundraising letters when the CELDF can’t win a case. Below we have a roundup of stories about the decision, including a full copy of the decision itself, handed down on Tuesday…
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    NGSA Lobbies Fed Court, DEC to Advance 2 Stalled Pipelines in NY

    ngsaThe Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) has gone into action to support two currently-stalled pipeline projects in the People’s Republic of New York, where Chairman Cuomo rules. Yesterday the NGSA filed a brief in federal court to respond to an effort by the rogues gallery of environmental extremist groups (including Catskill Mountainkeeper, Riverkeeper, Sierra Clubbers and other ne’er–do–wells) to stop the Constitution Pipeline from getting built. The Constitution is a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY carrying Marcellus gas. The enviro groups sued in federal court to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) environmental review of the Constitution. If the wackos can get FERC’s review cast aside, they can slow the project to the point where they can (hopefully for them) kill it. That’s the game plan. NGSA is pushing back, legally. Also this week the NGSA asked the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to get off its rear-end and approve air permits for Dominion’s New Market Project–a fairly dull $159 million capacity upgrade to an existing natural gas pipeline which runs across upstate New York from the PA line, west of Horseheads, and then northeasterly to the state’s Capital Region. Once again the DEC is doing their master’s bidding by refusing to grant necessary air permits for the New Market Project to proceed…
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