Litigation

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Judge Grants Injunction for Zoning Portion of Act 13 Law
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley issued a 120-day injunction yesterday to stop a small but important portion of the newly passed Act 13 Marcellus drilling law. Seven PA townships had filed a lawsuit to overturn Act 13 (see this MDN story). As part of their lawsuit, they filed a petition seeking an injunction from stopping the law from going into effect this Saturday, April 14. Judge Quigley’s injunction only deals with the provisions in the law that deal with changes to zoning regulations—the part that would replace local zoning laws with a “one size fits all” state law. Everything else in Act 13, including collection of an impact fee, will go into effect on Saturday.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Act 13 Lawsuit and its “Supporters”
April 10, 2012April 10, 2012

The Pittsburgh newspapers want us to believe there is a huge surge of support behind a lawsuit recently filed against what is known as Act 13—a new law passed just a few months ago in Pennsylvania that updates Marcellus oil and gas drilling rules in the state. Although the law brought much-needed new regulations to the Commonwealth, it also contained two measures that have particularly irked those who oppose drilling: an impact fee instead of a severance tax, and preemption of local oil and gas zoning ordinances with a “one size fits all” set of ordinances from the state. MDN will not recount the arguments for and against, you can read them by doing a search for “Act 13 lawsuit” in our search box (upper right corner).

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Says Another 20 Dimock Wells Tested are Fine
April 9, 2012April 9, 2012

$fracking is safe - an incovenient truth$ WARNING: This post contains snide and snarky comments. Anti-drillers are encouraged to not read this post. Proceed at your own risk.

Sometimes MDN thinks the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is more of a public relations press release-generating agency rather than an agency to protect the environment. They issue a multitude of press releases—every day. But when they find that another 20 wells in Dimock, PA are fine and have not been (never were) chemically contaminated by hydraulic fracturing, not a single public press release on it. Oh it gets reported, but the EPA slips a short message to the government’s “other” PR agency, the Associated Press. And the good ole AP will warp and spin it in just the right way to please the government overlords.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Drillers, Industry Groups File to Join Act 13 Lawsuit
April 9, 2012April 9, 2012

The oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania is not sitting on the sidelines idly while a group of municipalities attempts to temporarily halt, and eventually overturn the new Act 13 drilling legislation passed earlier this year. Seven municipalities along with an enviro-leftist group and a doctor are suing the state to stop Act 13 (see this MDN story for background, and this guest post from one of the litigants).

The Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association and the Marcellus Shale Coalition have filed a petition seeking to join the lawsuit—on the other side, trying to stop the lawsuit by the municipalities.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

PA Supreme Court to Consider Shale Gas Mineral Rights Case
April 5, 2012April 5, 2012

An update on what could be a very important case for many landowners in Pennsylvania: On Tuesday, April 3, the PA Supreme Court agreed to hear a Susquehanna County case called Butler v Powers estate. The case concerns whether or not natural gas rights are a part of “mineral rights” in old leases where it’s not specifically spelled out. PA law precedent since 1882 known as the “Dunham rule” is that natural gas is not part of mineral rights unless specifically stated as such. If the Supreme Court overturns that precedent, it would threaten hundreds of drilling leases now in place throughout PA.

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Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Tioga County (NY)

Judge Orders Arbitration in Chesapeake ‘Force Majeure’ Case
April 5, 2012April 5, 2012

U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd ordered that a lease dispute case between a group of landowners in Broome and Tioga counties (New York) and Chesapeake Energy will go to arbitration for about 150 of the landowners. That’s not-so-good news for those landowners who want to keep the case in federal court. But he also ruled a second case with 32 landowners can go forward in federal court because those leases did not contain an arbitration clause. That’s good news for those landowners, and may end up being good news for those in arbitration. A copy of the judge’s order is embedded below.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Act 13 Lawsuit Plaintiffs Seek Injunction to Stop Law Now
April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

The plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week seeking to overturn PA’s newly adopted Act 13 law that overrides local municipal zoning ordinances of the oil and gas industry, filed a motion yesterday asking the court for an injunction to prevent the new law from going into effect on April 14.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Cheerleads (but doesn’t join) Act 13 Lawsuit
April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Pittsburgh City Council, long-time opponents of the Marcellus Shale drilling industry, passed a resolution called a “Will of Council” yesterday supporting the lawsuit filed by seven municipalities, the Delaware Riverkeepers and others against the State of Pennsylvania’s newly adopted Act 13 law. The Act 13 law replaces local zoning ordinances with a state ordinance when it comes to oil and gas drilling (see this MDN article about the lawsuit). Council President Darlene Harris sponsored the measure and all nine city council members signed it. A full copy of the resolution and a letter signed by all council members is embedded below.

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Guest Post | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

Guest Post: Peters Twp Responds to MDN on Act 13 Lawsuit
April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

Last week, MDN wrote an article about the just-filed lawsuit by a group of Pennsylvania townships seeking to strike down provisions in a new PA law referred to as Act 13 (see this MDN story). Act 13 preempts local zoning ordinances that prohibit or regulate oil and gas drilling and replaces those ordinances with a set of rules from the state. In essence, Act 13 substitutes the state’s “one size fits all” zoning ordinance for local zoning ordinances. MDN’s comment at the end of that article was that in examining some of the attachments to the filed lawsuit it seems to MDN that anti-drillers are the ones driving the lawsuit.

David Ball, a council member from Peters Township (Washington County), PA—one of the towns filing the lawsuit—emailed MDN to challenge our view and assessment that he and others filing the lawsuit are anti-drilling, and to further explain their reasons for the lawsuit. MDN asked permission to publish his comments and he accepted. This is not the very first, but perhaps the second or third guest post on MDN. We are happy (from time to time) to offer guest posts that disagree with our own views if that post is courteous, serious and advances the discussion. This one does and we thank Mr. Ball for taking the time to write.

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Anadarko | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Otsego County | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

Dryden & Middlefield NY Drilling Bans Officially Appealed
March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

An update on the two New York lawsuits recently decided in lower courts that upheld local municipal bans on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling:

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law
March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

A threatened lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s newly passed Act 13 law that preempts local zoning ordinances passed to prevent shale gas drilling has finally materialized. The lawsuit was filed yesterday by seven PA municipalities and several other people (a copy of the lawsuit is embedded below). Act 13, signed into law in February by Gov. Tom Corbett, contains a provision that disallows local PA municipalities from passing zoning laws that are specifically aimed at preventing shale gas drilling. The loss of zoning power has some municipalities hopping mad.

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Beaver County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania

After 7 Years of No Drilling, PA Families Sue to End Contract
March 28, 2012March 28, 2012

Seven Beaver County, PA families filed a lawsuit yesterday in Common Pleas Court accusing O&G Investments of Wooster, Ohio of not drilling on their land (and not paying them) for the past seven years. The lawsuit also names Chesapeake Energy, who purchased the leases from O&G last year and who now, “at the last minute,” is trying to tie up the land and continue the contract by moving in equipment to start a drill pad—even though they haven’t received any permits to drill.

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Forest County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Warren County

Federal Judge Upholds Water Ban in Allegheny National Forest
March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

In a lawsuit to allow active drilling in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in Pennsylvania, a federal judge ruled last Friday that the U.S. Forest Service does not have to end a ban they imposed on drillers who want to use surface water from the ANF for hydraulic fracturing. Drillers have argued that the Forest Service’s actions in banning water withdrawals from the ANF, and in delaying signoff on new drilling permits, have in essence stopped drilling in the ANF—a de facto ban. For a background on the long-running dispute, see this MDN story from last November.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA’s Dimock, PA Water Test Results Show No Contamination
March 16, 2012March 16, 2012

Water test results from the federal Environmental Protection Agency confirm what the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection has said all along: Well water in Dimock, PA has not been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing chemicals. The PA DEP investigated claims from some Dimock residents that their water had been contaminated by gas drilling done by Cabot Oil & Gas.

In 2010 the DEP found that Cabot’s drilling had led to methane (natural gas) migration into 19 area water wells—something that Cabot still disputes as the area has been known for decades to contain methane in its water supplies. Methane is harmless to drink, but it is an explosion hazard, so the DEP ordered Cabot to pay the affected homeowners twice the value of their property and install a methane filtration system on each home’s water supply (wells or springs). Eleven of the 19 families affected refused the settlement and decided instead to sue Cabot, holding out for a bigger pay day.

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Hess | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Utica Shale

Belmont County, OH Landowner Sues Hess Over $100/Acre Lease
March 8, 2012March 8, 2012

Rebecca Bench, a landowner in Belmont County, Ohio is representing herself in a lawsuit she has brought against Hess. The lawsuit alleges that Mason Dixon Energy, whom she signed a lease with (that lease was eventually purchased by Hess) had no legal standing to conduct business in Ohio at the time they convinced Rebecca and her husband Kevin Bench to sign a lease in 2008 for $100 per acre. By comparison, recent lease agreements for Utica Shale leases in the county have gone as high as $5,200 per acre.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Washington County

MarkWest Tells Cecil Township It’s Time to Grant Permit
March 7, 2012March 7, 2012

A long-running dispute between MarkWest and Cecil Township (in PA) may soon be resolved. Last May, MDN reported that MarkWest wanted to build a Marcellus Shale gas compressor station in Cecil Township (Washington County). They filed an application for a “special exception” to allow them to build the plant but were denied by the zoning board. MarkWest then filed a lawsuit in Washington County civil court (see this MDN story).

The lawsuit is due to go to mediation next week, but MarkWest said in a letter dated March 1 to the Cecil zoning board that the new Act 13 law recently passed means the zoning board’s decision of last year is now null and void, mediation is therefore not necessary, and that they (Cecil) should move forward with granting the permit.

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