CBF Supports Antis in Lawsuit to Block Dominion Va. Peaker Plants
Over the years, we have chronicled the far-left Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) lawfare against fracking, gas-fired power plants, and pipelines (see our stories here). So it comes as no surprise that CBF is once again attacking a gas-related project in Virginia, Dominion Energy’s $1.47 billion natural gas plant in Chesterfield County. In February, the far-left Southern Environmental Law Center, representing three radical nonprofits, appealed the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s (SCC) approval of the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (see Radical Groups File Lawsuit to Block Dominion Va. Peaker Plants). CBF has just filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the SCC’s lawfare against the project. Read More “CBF Supports Antis in Lawsuit to Block Dominion Va. Peaker Plants”
Over the past two weeks, just prior to heading out on summer vacation, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of extremely important decisions. One of them was Slaughter v. Trump, a 6-3 decision in which the Supremes overturned the 91-year-old Humphrey’s Executor precedent, granting the president broad authority to remove members of independent federal agencies for any reason. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the president must have trusted subordinates to ensure accountability, though the Court exempted the Federal Reserve to preserve its independence. This ruling permanently solidifies President Trump’s earlier removals of Democratic appointees, significantly expanding executive control over critical regulatory bodies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and most importantly for MDN readers, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 
All we can say is, get the heck out of New York while you still can. Sooner or later, property values in the “Empire” State will crash. (Probably sooner rather than later.) Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2nd Circuit) ruled in support of New York State banning natural gas from being used in new home (and business) construction across the entire state. If it stands, it is the beginning of the end for NY. The end will eventually come when Wall Street firms finally give up and move from New York City to Texas or Florida, completely bankrupting the state from lost revenues. 
We have an update on the lawsuit to overturn New York’s laws that ban shale fracking. In April, a father and son who own mineral rights for a 164-acre tract in Delaware County, NY, filed a lawsuit (with the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation) against New York for “taking” their rights to profit from fracking their minerals (see 
In mid-April, MDN brought you the great news that a major lawsuit had been filed against New York State, alleging a “taking” of private property by the state through its ban on fracking (see 
It never ends well for landowners who believe they can block pipeline surveyors from accessing their land. In April 2025, MDN told you about a new greenfield expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Elba Express pipeline into South Carolina to serve growing demand for natural gas in the state (see 
Williams’ Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SESE) is a 55-mile, 42-inch-wide pipeline that will run through Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and Rockingham, Guilford, Forsyth, and Davidson counties in North Carolina. It will provide natural gas to Duke Energy customers. Big Green sued to overturn a federal water quality permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Big Green wanted the court to block construction until the full case could be heard. In May, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) rejected arguments Big Green put forward that claimed the Army Corps’ decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and refused to block construction (see 
Honestly, this story is likely to spike your blood pressure the way it did ours. Breathe in, breathe out. Find your calm, center space. OK. Now you’re ready to hear about it. Foreign companies and billionaires are funneling money to American NGOs and law firms that use the money to attack (in court) fossil energy companies. If a lawsuit prevails and either a settlement or a judgment is entered, the foreigners who helped finance it receive a cut of the “profits” from the settlement. And they don’t pay taxes on their so-called profits! IT IS DISGUSTING and an outright attack on our country. AND IT MUST STOP. NOW. A group of 21 energy-related organizations has sent a letter to both the U.S. House and Senate, outlining a loophole in our laws that allows this immoral practice and urging them to fix it. Pronto. 
In February, MDN told you about the Kriley v. XTO Energy lawsuit (see 
The same three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who blocked the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for *years* suddenly changed course in late April, ruling on an extension of MVP into North Carolina called Southgate. Big Green, represented by the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, sued to block a permit issued by North Carolina regulators for the Southgate project. While the three judges grumbled and complained about Southgate during oral arguments (see 
In a significant ruling for Utica and Marcellus shale landowners, the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s decision denying a motion by Ascent Resources to compel arbitration in a lease-expiration dispute. The court ruled that when an oil and gas lease expires by its own terms without active production or drilling operations, the lease’s arbitration clause does not survive the lease’s expiration to govern subsequent disputes—such as claims of trespass and unauthorized drilling. To force arbitration on post-expiration events, a lease must contain explicit “survival” language or involve rights that accrued/vested while the lease was still active. 
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has issued its first subpoena in a probe of what it calls a coordinated climate litigation campaign against energy companies. The subpoena targets Roger Worthington, attorney for Multnomah County, Oregon. Multnomah seeks more than $51 billion from energy companies (and if they prevailed, Worthington’s law firm would get one-third of that, making every person working the case an instant millionaire). Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Darrell Issa are investigating possible coordination (collusion) between Worthington, the Environmental Law Institute, and its Climate Judiciary Project, despite CJP’s supposed neutrality.