Fed Judge Blocks Biden WOTUS in OH, WV, 24 States in Total
If leftists can redefine what is and what is not “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), they can pretty much control you and what you can and can’t do with your own private property. WOTUS, according to the Bidenistas, is pretty much anything down to mud puddles, as they proposed earlier this year (see EPA Makes Another Attempt to Regulate O&G via Waters of US). Two different groups of “red” states (with freedom-loving Republican Attorneys General) sued to block the revised WOTUS regulation in their states. In March, a federal judge in Texas issued a decision that freezes (blocks) the new WOTUS rule from going into effect in Texas and Idaho (see Federal Judge Hands Defeat to Biden EPA, Blocks New WOTUS Rule). Yesterday, a federal judge in North Dakota did the same thing for a group of 24 states, including Ohio and West Virginia. Currently, the Biden WOTUS rule is blocked in more than half the states in the country (26 states).
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In January, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see 
You knew it was only a matter of time. On March 1, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a 297-page biological opinion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) potential impact on threatened and endangered species if the 94% complete pipeline is allowed to finish (see 
In January, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see 
Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (
In his first two days in office, Joe Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry. One of the first things he did was to revive an interagency working group on the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions and directed the issuance of an “interim” cost (see 
Last summer, MDN brought you the news about a lawsuit against Diversified Energy and EQT over the issue of old and “abandoned” wells in West Virginia (see 
Last week it was a miracle when the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. 4th Circuit clown judges) turned back an appeal of a permit issued by the Virginia State Water Control Board allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross some 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest West Virginia (see 
It’s a miracle, A true blue spectacle, A miracle come true… (Lyrics from Barry Manilow’s tune, It’s a Miracle) In a 3-2 vote taken in December 2021, the Virginia State Water Control Board granted a permit (under the Clean Water Act) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross about 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia (see 
In a case initially filed last summer in Ohio, a Belmont County mineral rights owner alleges that Rice Drilling (now owned by EQT) drained natural gas from a rock layer it did not have the right to access according to the signed lease. Golden Eagle Resources says the lease allowed Rice to drill down only as far as the Utica Shale layer, which Rice did. However, Golden Eagle says fractures from Rice’s fracking of the Utica layer reached down into the adjacent Point Pleasant layer and drained some of the gas from the Point Pleasant too–and that’s a no-no according to the lease.
CNX has reached a settlement with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC) in a lawsuit brought by MAWC in 2016 claiming that CNX (and partner Noble Energy) claimed post-production deductions from royalties that should have been paid to MAWC. The original lawsuit sought combined damages of $3.6 million. The final number to be paid by CNX, according to reports, is $600,000.
A disabled Navy veteran and his wife, who live in a rural, wooded area of Cambria County, PA, say their lives were upended beginning in 2017 when Sunoco (Energy Transfer) began constructing the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline across their property. According to the vet, Sunoco cut down more than 60 large trees on his property, destroyed several small ponds, destroyed his water well, and destroyed (caved in) his septic system. The property is now susceptible to frequent flooding and sewage backups into the house.
Energy in Depth (EID) is publishing a series that exposes the activist group Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) and its extensive actions behind the scenes in New Jersey municipalities to recruit, support, and initiate climate litigation. CCI has tried, according to emails obtained by EID, to remain hidden in the background. EID is turning a bright spotlight on their unethical (and borderline illegal) activities in manipulating New Jersey officials, encouraging (goading) them to sue oil and gas companies using public funds.