Litigation

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Court: Landowner Can’t Reclaim Rights for ‘Not Enough’ Drilling
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

In yet another case of “know what’s in your lease,” an Ohio court (Fifth District Court of Appeals) has upheld the rights of a driller to not develop all portions (or layers) of leased acreage. The case is Bilbaran Farm, Inc. v. Bakerwell, Inc. The plaintiffs, Bilbaran Farm, claimed that the 275 acres they own was not “fully developed” because the driller drilled three wells targeting the Clinton sandstone and then stopped. The landowner alleges after a certain period of time the portions not developed (and obviously won’t be developed by the current driller) should revert back to them so they can re-lease with someone else and have it developed, and that by not doing so they are economically harmed.

The judges of the Fifth District did not agree…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Anti-Drilling Group Sues Muskingum Watershed for Mailing List
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

An insignificant handful of anti-fossil fuel agitators in Ohio have formed a group called Southeast Ohio Alliance to Save Our Water (SOASOW) and have sued the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) because the MWCD won’t fork over their mailing list of customers so the SOASOW can send scare-tactic propaganda fliers. Poor babies. So now the SOASOW will tie up the court system with their temper tantrum to try and force MWCD to comply. Shows what people with time on their hands do…
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Delaware County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Exclusive: Sidney, NY Sued by Landowners over Fracking Moratorium
June 14, 2013June 14, 2013

Three town board members in the Town of Sidney (Delaware County), NY should be concerned–very concerned. They voted February 13th to enact a one-year moratorium against shale drilling and fracking. Two other board members voted against the moratorium, so it passed. Now, all residents of the Town of Sidney will have to shuck out more money in taxes to defend that vote–on Wednesday they were sued by a group of local landowners whose property rights have been violated by the ban.

The worrisome part for Sidney is who is doing the suing on behalf of the landowers–Hinman, Howard & Kattell (HHK)–the same law firm that successfully sued Binghamton over their moratorium. Binghamton’s moratorium was found illegal and tossed last year (see NY Judge Throws Out Binghamton Fracking Moratorium). Below is a summary of the lawsuit against Sidney, as provided to MDN by HHK:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

Dryden Files Request with NY Highest Court to Not Consider Appeal
June 14, 2013June 14, 2013

Although New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has dithered for more than a year on whether or not to allow fracking–and continues his equivocation–there is a much more important drama unfolding that will ultimately, in our opinion, determine whether or not New York will ever see meaningful shale drilling. The more important issue is now in the courts. Specifically, it revolves around whether or not New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, will hear a pair of cases from towns that have banned drilling.

A few weeks ago we told you about the appeals from a landowner near Cooperstown (Middlefield) and from Norse Energy (Dryden) asking the Court of Appeals to hear the case and overturn the town bans. The Town of Dryden has now sent their own request to the Court of Appeals–asking them to not consider the case…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Litigation

The Thorny Issue of Proving Water Contamination from Fracking
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

Does fracking cause water contamination? Anti-drillers have repeated the claim so often, and the claim has been picked up and repeated and amplified by the mainstream media so often, that it’s now almost an article of faith. Axiomatic. Self-evident. At a minimum, a wide swath of Americans who don’t know much about oil and gas drilling have their suspicions that fracking may indeed contaminate water–primarily because of the negative media coverage they’ve heard.

Keith Hall, director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute and an assistant professor of law at Louisiana State University has written an excellent article appearing in the online Ohio State Law Journal Furthermore. The article is titled, “Hydraulic Fracturing Contamination Claims: Problems of Proof” (full copy embedded below). In the article, Hall addresses the problems of landowners in attempting to prove that fracking (or oil and gas drilling) has contaminated their water. He concludes it this way:
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Marshall County | West Virginia

WV Landowners Settle with Chesapeake Out of Court
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

A lawsuit in Marshall County, WV that previously escaped our notice has just been settled. Landowners David and Sharon Hall, owners of 116 acres, sued Chesapeake Energy and Statoil alleging damage to their surface property. The lawsuit also says Chesapeake did sloppy work on the drill pad, destroyed crops and destroyed timber on seven acres of the Hall’s land.

Last Friday the judge dismissed the case because it was settled out of court…
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Antero Resources | Chevron | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Fayette County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Williams

6 Western PA Families Sue Chevron, Williams over Drilling Activity
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Six families in Fayette County, PA have filed a “nuisance” lawsuit against Chevron, Williams and WPX Energy claiming nearby gas drilling activities have “diminished their ability to make use of their property” and have ruined the “quite use and enjoyment” of their homes. The families claim they’ve suffered from the effects of “toxic chemicals” due to the drilling activities in the area.

The AP story with details (slightly edited to remove some of the anti-drilling commentary AP adds to such stories):
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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

13 States Send Letter to EPA, Draws a Fracking Line in the Sand
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

We’re not quite sure how this one slipped by our radar, but a month ago the attorneys general from 13 brave states–1/4 of all states–sent a letter (copy embedded below) to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drawing a line in the sand and saying, “Don’t step over that line” when it comes to regulating fracking. To which we say, “Horray!” Finally, someone with backbone to push back against a rogue, out-of-control EPA desirous of regulating anything and everything–in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

New York, of course, was not one of the 13 signatories. However, West Virginia (with a Democrat governor), was. Ohio signed it too. Sadly, even though Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is pro-drilling, the new Democrat attorney general in PA, Kathleen Kane, is anti-drilling and she refused to participate in signing the letter–even though her state is reaping huge rewards from shale drilling and stands to lose big-time under an activist EPA.

Here’s what prompted the letter…
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Centre County | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Columbia Gas Sues State College, PA for Blocking NatGas Pipeline
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Unbelievable. The main campus of Penn State University, located in State College, PA, wants to convert an electrical-generating steam plant from burning coal to burn clean natural gas–and the Borough of State College refuses to let Columbia Gas run a pipeline underneath an uppity neighborhood (appropriately named “the Highlands”) to provide said clean-burning natural gas to Penn State. So Columbia has filed a lawsuit against State College, calling their action just what it is: “arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and against applicable law …”

The lawsuit, however, is on temporary hold for a month while Columbia and Penn State attempt to see if they can concoct a new pretzel-like route to reach the university, avoiding any uppity neighborhoods…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Landowner Says Chesapeake Trespassed, Court Decides for Chessy
June 7, 2013June 7, 2013

In yet another case of “be careful how you word your lease,” the Valley Rod & Gun Club (in Pennsylvania) leased land to Chesapeake Energy for drilling. The two disagreed over where the drill pad should be located and Chesapeake moved forward with a site they wanted against the wishes of the landowner. The landowner sued saying Chesapeake trespassed in building the pad. Earlier this week U.S. District Court in PA ruled…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Judge Rules on When Drilling “Begins” & Extends a Lease
June 5, 2013June 5, 2013

An important question for PA landowners whose leases are set to expire soon: When, exactly, does the law consider a driller has begun drilling? Sometimes drillers will do the bare miniumum to prepare a site without doing any actual drilling and declare they’ve met their lease obligation, and those very basic actions reset the clock, giving the driller more time (sometimes years) to actually drill the well. Such was the case with Range Resources and Good Will Hunting Club in southwestern PA. Last week a district court judge ruled and said the drill bit doesn’t have to touch the ground for drilling to have “commenced”…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Landowner, Norse File Appeal with NY’s Highest Court on Town Bans
June 4, 2013June 4, 2013

In a very high stakes game, a New York landowner and Norse Energy have rolled the dice and last week asked New York’s highest court, the New York York Court of Appeals, to accept their appeal of two lower court losses on the issue of so-called home rule. A copy of both appeals are embedded below.

In early May, a mid-level NY court upheld a mid-level court ruling that says local towns can willy nilly ban all drilling at the pleasure of a simple majority vote at the town board level (see Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans). Anti-drillers call it “democracy” and a victory for self-determination. MDN calls it unchecked mob rule because it allows a simple majority to violate the Constitutional rights of the minority–in this case landowners.
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Cecil Township Re-Votes to Not Meet with Range Resources
June 4, 2013June 4, 2013

In the on-again, off-again antics of Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, things are “off again” when it comes to having a civil, private meeting with Range Resources to try and resolve the lawsuits Range filed against the town. Supervisors last night re-voted on a proposed meeting they previously approved (see When We Get Behind Closed Doors…Range Resources & Cecil Twp). One of the supervisors, Andy Schrader, was stomping mad about the vote to meet, behaving like a petulant child (see Cecil Twp Dysfunctional Family Feud over Range Meeting). Little Andy finally got his way last night…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Marion County | West Virginia | XTO

Judge Rescinds Request for WV Supremes to Rule on Surface Rights
May 29, 2013May 29, 2013

In early April, MDN told you about a case referred to the West Virginia Supreme Court by a federal district court judge. Judge Irene Keeley requested the WV Supreme Court rule in a case over whether or not a driller can build a drill pad on a surface owner’s land for the purpose of getting the gas underneath a neighbor’s property (for background, see District Court Judge Asks WV Supremes to Rule in Surface Rights Case).

We have a new development in the case. Judge Keeley has changed her mind and told the supremes to forget about it–at least for now. She wants the lawyers for both sides in the case to submit more “facts” before she decides on whether she’ll rule or resubmit it to the high court…
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Broome County | Chenango County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Madison County | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

New Rough Patch for Norse Energy: Force Majeure Lawsuit
May 22, 2013May 22, 2013

Is this lights out for Norse Energy in New York State? The company owns leases for some 130,000 acres of land in New York State. All of it is in either the Marcellus or Utica Shale play window with 33,000 acres in the liquids-rich area, according to Norse. Just one problem: New York has not allowed drilling going on five years. That delay caused Norse to file for bankruptcy last December (see Norse Energy Hurt by NY Fracking Delay Files for Bankruptcy).

Norse has tried valiantly to hold on, even through bankruptcy. But now they have a different problem: A group of 89 landowners with a collective 6,314 acres in Broome, Chenango and Madison counties who signed with Norse are suing the company because Norse sent a notice of force majeure. Force majeure means the leases, which otherwise would now be expired (after five years), can be kept in place until New York opens up to allow drilling. The landowners and their lawyer say the moratorium on fracking is not an unforeseen “Act of God” circumstance which would trigger force majeure–Norse says it is. Who’s right?
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation

Oil & Gas Lease Problems? Ask the Experts
May 20, 2013May 20, 2013

Someone at the Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP law firm has a sharp eye for marketing. Every few weeks they re-bundle some of their previous blog posts on oil & gas drilling and issue them as a downloadable ebook. They’ve done it again. Their latest is titled “Common Oil and Gas Lease Conundrums” and it’s a good read for landowners. We’ve embedded it below for your convenience.

In particular we like the article, “My Sister is a Fractivist and Won’t Sign an Oil and Gas Lease. What Can We Do?” Practical advice from legal experts to answer some tough questions. Really great marketing! Take a moment to read this latest from Porter Wright…
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