Judge Grants NEXUS Pipeline Survey Access in Wayne County, OH
The NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline, a $1.5-$2.0 billion natural gas pipeline that will carry Utica and Marcellus Shale gas spanning 11 counties in Ohio, 3 counties in Michigan, and eventually connect to the Dawn Energy Hub in Canada, has had to take some Ohio landowners to court simply to gain access to their property survey for potential routes. Sometimes county judges rule against NEXUS (see Summit County, OH Judge Denies NEXUS Request to Survey Properties). Most of the time county judges rule in favor of NEXUS (see NEXUS Pipeline Sues for Survey Access, Wins Most of the Time). Another place NEXUS has just won is in Wayne County, where a county judge has ordered two property owners to allow NEXUS access to their property…
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The Philadelphia-based anti-fossil fuel group Clean Air Council has announced through their media/public relations mouthpiece (the taxpayer-funded PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania) that they’ve launched yet another frivolous lawsuit–this time against Sunoco Logistics and their Mariner East 2 pipeline plan. Clean Air Council has launched so many lawsuits against the oil and gas industry we’ve lost count of the number. The Clean Air Council, once called The Delaware Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air, is a non-profit (i.e. non-taxed) group engaging in political activity in violation of their non-profit charter–yet government officials ignore those violations. The Clean Air Council, without standing, filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (the lowest trial court, essentially what other states call county court), charging that Sunoco Logistics, contrary to decades of accepted recognition as a public utility in Pennsylvania, is not actually a public utility and therefore cannot assert eminent domain against a few holdout landowners who refuse to allow the Mariner East 2 pipeline to be placed next to the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline already crossing their land…
A potentially troubling development in Penn Township (Westmoreland County), PA. Apex Energy had a permit from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection to drill a Marcellus Shale well in Penn Twp. An anti-drilling group called Protect PT filed a lawsuit against the town for allowing the well to be drilled with first requiring a full environmental impact statement (EIS)–something that drives up the cost of drilling a well. The town caved to pressure and withdrew permission to drill, so Apex also sued the town. A deal has been worked out. Apex will have to pay for and conduct an EIS, and then they will be allowed to drill. Other towns populated with anti-drillers are catching wind of it and eyeing it as a potential way to slow or stop drilling in their towns…
In May, MDN told you the maddening news that the federal Environmental Protection Agency had, once again, illegally grabbed power not granted to them under the Constitution by redefining what are “waters of the United States” (see 
MDN is pleased to add another occasional voice to Marcellus Drilling News. Stephen Heins is an energy and regulatory consultant for a Wall Street firm, and the former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems. Steve has penned an article (below) pointing out five critical problems with the recently announced EPA Clean Power Plan. Steve makes a strong case that the EPA needs to hold off on implementing this draconian new plan until the Supreme Court hears a case brought against the plan by 16 states. Pull up a chair and enjoy Steve’s expert insights…
An unfortunate decision in an Ohio court case may have far-reaching implications for Ohio landowners. In Armstrong v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., landowners Myron and Nikki Armstrong purchased 61 acres of land in Tuscarawas County, OH in 2003 with an existing oil and gas lease (dating back to 1972). After purchasing the property, the Armstrong’s land was pooled into a drilling unit and a well was drilled. We do not know how much (or even if) the well produced in the way of gas and oil. We don’t know if it was hooked up to a pipeline for production. We assume it was hooked up and is producing because the Armstrongs have sued to cancel the lease saying they haven’t received a single royalty check since the well was drilled. Tuscarawas County Court ruled that because there is no express provision in the original lease saying “you can cancel this lease if we don’t pay you the royalties we say we’ll pay you,” the court ruled in favor of Chesapeake and the company that owns the lease and is supposed to pay the royalties–Belden & Blake. The Armstongs appealed the decision to the Ohio Court of Appeals, Fifth Appellate District. That court has just ruled the same way–saying even though royalties haven’t been paid, that’s not a good and sufficient reason to cancel the lease…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, located in New York State, released a decision yesterday in a case known as Beardslee v. Inflection Energy, LLC (copy of the decision is embedded below) that may create problems for future shale drilling in New York State–should the existing statewide ban ever be lifted. Yesterday’s decision is good news for landowners in one sense–it officially upholds the right of Tioga County, NY landowners party to the lawsuit to be released from old leases made in pre-Marcellus days when landowners signed leases for $3 per acre. Those leases were signed before the words “Marcellus” or “Utica” meant anything other than municipalities in New York State. (Interesting factoid: both shale plays are named after the NY towns where they were first identified. Further interesting factoid: both Marcellus, NY and Utica, NY banned fracking before the statewide ban was official.) The Second Circuit upheld a previous decision which we first wrote about in 2012 (see 
The Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (currently Rick Simmers) is a man with a lot of power. He has the power, according to a ruling just handed down on August 12, to make his own decisions about suspending permits to operate in the absence of specific violations of a law or regulation. In September 2014 Simmers suspended permits for two wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH after a very low level earthquake was detected close to those wells (an earthquake that couldn’t be felt at the surface and caused no damage of any kind). American Water Management Services sued saying they hadn’t violated any laws or regulations on the books and their permits could not just be arbitrarily revoked like that. But the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission said nope–Tom Cruise, er, a, Mr. Simmers can arbitrarily do what he wants when there is no specific rule or guideline or law–because he has the best interests of the people at heart…