Litigation

Access Midstream Partners | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

2nd PA Class Action Lawsuit Against Chesapeake re Royalty Fraud
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

We’ve only spotted this news in (so far) two legal publications, but last Friday the Suessenbach Family Limited Partnership, using a Wilkes-Barre, PA law firm, launched a “sprawling class action” lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy and Access Midstream accusing the two companies of a $5 billion scheme to defraud landowners out of royalties rightfully due to them. MDN previously covered how this scheme worked (see Chesapeake Shafting Landowners out of Royalties Mess Gets Messier). This is the second such class action against Chesapeake over royalties in PA we’re aware of (see Bad to Worse: PA Royalty Owner Asks Court for Chessy Class Action). There are all sorts of ramifications from this latest lawsuit…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Magnum Hunter Wins Dismissal in 5 of 6 Lawsuits Alleging Mismgmt
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

This is a “hmmm, that’s interesting” revelation for MDN. Yesterday Magnum Hunter Resources, a driller mostly focused on the West Virginia Marcellus and increasingly Ohio Utica Shale, issued a press release yesterday to say that they’ve been successful in getting five of six “securities class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits” against the company dismissed–without paying a penny to either the plaintiffs or their lawyers. The company is working on a sixth (and last) such lawsuit now. What is a securities class action/derivative lawsuit?…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Supreme Court Tells EPA: You Can’t Just Rewrite Law
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

One of the Obama administration’s favorite tactics to do illegal end-runs around Congress (remember–Congress writes the laws, the President enforces them) is to have rogue agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency claim sweeping powers under older/existing laws. Like the Clean Air Act. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court yanked on the EPA’s leash pretty hard and said, “Heal boy, sit down.” The EPA tried to simply rewrite a law passed by Congress in how the agency treats so-called greenhouse gases. The EPA didn’t like what Congress wrote, so they rewrote it. The justices said, “No, you can’t do that,” to the EPA. However, as Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out from the bench, the EPA still got almost all of what it wanted in this decision…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

When Enviros like Greenpeace Don’t Get Own Way, They Bully
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

When environmentalist wacko “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs like the odious Greenpeace don’t get their way, they resort to threats and intimidation. Kind like a “green” mafia. Recently the green bullies at Greenpeace International, World Wildlife Fund and the Center for International Environmental Law sent threat letters to the CEOs and board members of Exxon Mobil and other oil and gas companies to let them know that they personally–the people running those organizations–may be liable for non-existent global warming. That is, Greenpeace and others intend to launch lawsuits against individuals running the companies to force them–at the gunpoint of the courts–to do or not do the things the bullies want them to do…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Court Says Range Resources Must Disclose Chemicals in SW PA
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operation at the site (see EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA). Litigation ensued, and years passed. In November of last year, County Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca gave Range and its contractors 30 days to cough up a list of all the chemicals ever used at the site, right down to the kind of oil used in the engines of vehicles visiting the site (see PA Judge Forces Range, Contractors to Provide Chemical List). That didn’t happen because Range appealed. Last week Range lost the appeal…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Landowners Lose Important Lease Case to Chesapeake
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Sometimes the drilling industry gets a well-deserved black eye for their sleazy actions. This is one of those times. Chesapeake Energy took over low-ball leases signed in Jefferson County, OH in 2007 that awarded landowners $10 per acre. The lease calls for paying $10 per acre until the land is drilled. Original term of the lease was five years. But at the end of the five years Chessy automatically renewed it based on something called “paragraph 19” in Ohio’s contract law. Chessy says the language in the lease allows them to renew with the same screw-ya terms. Thing is, landowners who waited now get thousands per acre when signing a lease…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martians Threaten Lawsuit Against PA Town to Prevent Drilling
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

For some time MDN has chronicled the liberal push-back from anti-drillers in the Mars School District in Butler County, PA. First we told you they need their heads examined after refusing a lease from Rex Energy that would have netted money “for the children” on the order of $1 million (see Earth to Mars (School District) – Time to Check into Funny Farm?). Then we told you that supervisors in Adams Township, where the Mars School District is located, wisely decided to not restrict drilling by Rex Energy on property near the school (see Adams Twp, PA Votes to NOT Block Drilling “Near” Mars School). Now the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is saying it’s “not a given” that the agency will grant Rex a permit to drill on any property near the school…
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Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Utica Shale

Patience Gone: OH County Recorder Threatens to Sue for More Space
June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

The County Clerk–or in some places County Recorder–is usually a pretty low-key person in a low-key job. It’s that person’s job to keep track of land deeds and official paperwork for the county. MDN has previously pointed out an early indicator of where there will soon be drilling is when the County Clerk/Recorder’s office gets busy. In some cases, land agents have camped out overnight waiting to get in to a deed records office (see Title Researchers Camp Out at Tyler County (WV) Clerk’s Office). Harrison County, OH’s County Recorder is Tracy Boyer. The records office where she works has been hopping busy going on two years now. Tracy is normally a patient person, but her patience, after two years, has run out. She’s threatening to sue Harrison County commissioners over the need to expand the physical space her office needs to accommodate the ongoing flood of people who use it…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | XTO

XTO Energy Files to Have AG Kane’s Lawsuit Dismissed
June 12, 2014June 12, 2014

It’s now obvious to everyone that Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Kathleen Kane abuses her office to selectively prosecute high-profile cases to support her own anti-drilling agenda. During her campaign in 2012 Kane pledged to fight to end fracking in PA. She’s doing her best to keep her promise. Example 1: Kane is persecuting/prosecuting a small business owner and his family, including his wife, mother and father (see Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit). Example 2: Kane is attempting to criminalize the accidental spill of a small amount of recycled wastewater by XTO that happened years before she took office (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). XTO filed a motion on Monday to dismiss Kane’s case against the company, pointing out her anti-drilling bias to the judge…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Last Gasp in Dimock Couple’s Quest for Riches
June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

Scott and Monica Ely, who once willing leased their land to Cabot Oil & Gas in Dimock, PA, then saw big bucks when their water turned cloudy, ostensibly from methane they say was the result of nearby shale drilling from Cabot, have won the right to have their “negligence” lawsuit against Cabot to continue. The single count of negligence is the only thing U.S. District Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson said could continue. All other claims made by the couple have been dismissed by Judge Carlson…
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Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Minuteman Environmental Services | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit
June 10, 2014June 10, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, had spearheaded an “investigation” against Minuteman Environmental Services, a PA company that serves the shale industry with several different businesses (see PA’s Anti-Drilling AG Charges Minuteman with Enviro Crimes). It now appears it was less investigation and more witch hunt. Minuteman sent MDN a press release yesterday in which they make very strong allegations against the AG’s office, stating members of the family-owned business have been “terrorized” and its employees “abused” by the AG and her cadre of witch hunters. Minuteman states they are about to file a lawsuit against the AG and her office for abuses suffered at their hands…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Federal Court Slaps FERC Over TGP Northeast Pipeline Approvals
June 10, 2014June 10, 2014

Even though Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline is thousands of miles long, and even though upgrades to a 200-mile section in the northeast are now complete, a federal appeals court last Friday faulted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) oversight of those upgrades. In 2012 FERC approved construction of five pipeline “loop” (or extra lines laid near existing lines) segments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The projects included upgrades at two PA compressor stations. The total project cost was $500 million and the projects together were/are badly needed to boost pipeline capacity for new quantities of Marcellus Shale gas. But that makes no difference to the ideologues at the petulant Delaware River Keeper, the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the New Jersey Sierra Club. They sued when FERC wouldn’t re-hear their bleating and blatting. So the enviro groups took it to federal court and judges ruled last week that FERC should not have treated the projects individually when considering an approval…
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Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Minuteman Environmental Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA’s Anti-Drilling AG Charges Minuteman with Enviro Crimes
June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

It only took PA’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, 13 months to investigate Minuteman Environmental Services for alleged crimes against the environment. MDN told you about a raid on Minuteman’s headquarters in May 2013 by the PA Attorney General’s office, along with agents from the PA DEP, FBI and IRS (see Shale Environmental Services Company Raided by PA AG’s Office). At the time Kane would not say why they were raided–what the alleged charges were. Last week she finally charged not only CEO Brain Bolus, but even his father and mother (wow is Kane vicious)…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Michigan | Statewide MI

Michigan AG (Unbelievably) Files More Charges Against Chesapeake
June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

Dang if the Attorney General Bill Schuette from Michigan isn’t determined to shake down Chesapeake Energy for a boatload of money. Apparently Schuette’s political future rests on being able to get something out of Chesapeake, who so far has been unwilling to bend over and take it. We’re referring, of course, to Michigan’s use of illegally obtained emails that allegedly show some sort of collusion between Chesapeake and Encana to obtain state land leases for drilling at a low price. AG Schuette has filed yet more charges in the case. The feds investigated and found nothing (see Feds Clear Chesapeake & Encana in Collusion Case, Michigan Next?). Usually a state will go along with a finding by the federal Justice Department. But not Schuette from Michigan. He has his heart set on grabbing a few hundred million from the “deep pockets” of oil and gas companies…
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Albany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Fate of NY Fracking Now in Hands of 7 Judge Court of Appeals
June 4, 2014June 4, 2014

Yesterday was an important day for the future of fracking in New York State. Attorneys Tom West (from Albany) and Scott Kurkoski (from Binghamton) argued before the New York State Court of Appeals, NY’s highest court, in the Dryden and Middlefield town ban cases. MDN has some of the comments made at the trial by both sides, a statement from the Joint Landowner’s Coalition of New York (JLCNY), and a rough estimate of when a decision will be rendered…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Hess | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Utica Shale

Hess Wins Case Against One OH Landowner, Settles with Others
June 2, 2014June 2, 2014

Last October MDN told you about a court case that Hess lost in a lower Ohio court. Hess promised to “vigorously challenge” the decision and appeal it to a higher court (see Hess Will Challenge OH Court Decision to End Lease). The crux of the case: Hess purchased leases from Mason Dixon Energy and didn’t live up to the terms of the lease–they didn’t drill within five years and didn’t make an extra payment–then tried to make up for it at the last minute with payments to extend the leases. Three landowners won that original case, but on appeal, Hess has won against one of the landowners and it appears Hess is ready to settle with the other 300 or so landowners in the area that are affected…
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