Litigation

Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Construction Co. Sues MVP for $104M, Demands Sale of Pipe
August 18, 2020April 20, 2022

Last December MDN brought you news that Equitrans had canceled a contract with Trinity Energy Services to build a portion of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline project (see Equitrans Cancels Trinity Energy Contract re Mountain Valley Pipe). Since that time talks have broken down between the two sides over compensation for change orders and other items, and now Trinity is suing Equitrans, demanding MVP sell the pipe in the ground to pay Trinity $103.8 million to satisfy the money Trinity says it is owed.
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Law Firm Files Class Action Against Cabot Claiming Securities Fraud
August 14, 2020August 14, 2020

In June MDN told you that a New York City law firm was “investigating” Cabot Oil & Gas with an eye to filing a class action lawsuit, on behalf of investors, over false allegations made by the Pennsylvania Attorney General who had filed felony charges against Cabot regarding a long-closed regulatory issue in Dimock, PA (see Law Firm Targets Cabot for Class Action Claiming Securities Fraud). The investigation is now over and the law firm found an investor to file a class lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in a federal court in Texas.
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide MD | Trucking

Mountaineer Gas Seeks Truck Alternative to Blocked Maryland Pipe
August 13, 2020August 13, 2020

Anti-fossil fuelers are on a holy mission to stop a 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline from being built under the Potomac River by Columbia Gas (see Maryland Antis Oppose 13th Pipeline Under Potomac as “Dangerous”). The pipeline, from Maryland on one side of the river to West Virginia on the other side, will be built to feed a larger pipeline project from Mountaineer Gas called the Eastern Panhandle Expansion. Mountaineer Gas is getting desperate for more gas to feed growing customer demand.
Read More “Mountaineer Gas Seeks Truck Alternative to Blocked Maryland Pipe”
Crime | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | FirstEnergy | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Not Guilty Pleas in FirstEnergy Nuke Bailout Bribery Scandal
August 12, 2020August 12, 2020

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder

FirstEnergy Solutions (now called Energy Harbor) allegedly paid $60 million in bribes to (now former) Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four of his associates to gain their assistance in passing the hugely unpopular House Bill 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). HB 6, which became law, gives Energy Harbor $1.1 billion in ratepayer funds to prop up the company’s uneconomic nuclear power plants (disadvantaging other energy sources, like gas-fired power plants). Four of the five defendants have just entered pleas–all of them “not guilty.”
Read More “Not Guilty Pleas in FirstEnergy Nuke Bailout Bribery Scandal”
Ashtabula County | Energy Services | Erie County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | RH energytrans

Contractor Sues Risberg PA-to-OH Pipeline for Nonpayment $35M
August 11, 2020August 11, 2020

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In March 2019 MDN brought you the news that Wood Group had been awarded a $34 million contract to build 28 miles of the 60-mile Risberg Pipeline from Crawford County, PA to Ashtabula County, OH (see Wood Wins $34M Contract to Build PA to OH Risberg Pipeline). The portion Wood built was new “greenfield” pipeline. The rest of the pipeline (32 miles) already existed and was repurposed.
Read More “Contractor Sues Risberg PA-to-OH Pipeline for Nonpayment $35M”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | New York | Steuben County

Sierra Club Loses Court Case to Block Drill Cuttings in NY Landfill
August 6, 2020August 6, 2020

In February MDN told you about an effort by the radicalized Sierra Club to block a New York landfill from accepting drill cuttings from the Pennsylvania Marcellus (see Antis Fabricate Data in Attempt to Block NY Landfill Expansion). The Clubbers fabricated (made up, lied about) data, trying to use this new made-up data in a court case aimed at stopping the C&D Hakes Landfill in Painted Post, NY (near Elmira, located in Steuben County) from accepting PA drill cuttings. The judge has just ruled in the case–against the Clubbers.
Read More “Sierra Club Loses Court Case to Block Drill Cuttings in NY Landfill”
Accidents | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kentucky | Litigation | Pipelines

Third Lawsuit Filed Against Enbridge for KY TETCO Pipe Explosion
August 5, 2020August 5, 2020

On August 1, 2019, Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Pipeline Company (TETCO) pipeline exploded in Lincoln County, Kentucky–killing one and sending six to the hospital (see TETCO Pipe Explodes in Kentucky Killing 1; Southbound M-U Gas Stops). In September we reported that at least two lawsuits had been filed against Enbridge and TETCO–one for wrongful death, the other by a couple severely injured and burned following the incident (see Two Lawsuits Filed Against Enbridge for KY TETCO Pipe Explosion). A third lawsuit, on behalf of 80 people “affected by the blast,” has just been filed by a personal injury lawyer now a year after the accident.
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Virginia

Wealthy Va. Landowners Consider Next Moves Post-ACP Cancellation
July 30, 2020July 30, 2020

Earlier this month Dominion Energy announced it is throwing in the towel and canceling the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project that would have stretched from West Virginia to North Carolina. The company also announced it is selling its pipeline business to Warren Buffett (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). Uppity, wealthy Virginia landowners who didn’t want the pipeline buried under their horse pastures are still celebrating. Now that the hangovers have mostly cleared up, the uppity landowners are asking questions about what comes next. Can they sue Dominion to recoup legal costs in fighting the project? Can the legally-obtained easements against their properties for ACP be sold to someone else who wants to build a different pipeline?
Read More “Wealthy Va. Landowners Consider Next Moves Post-ACP Cancellation”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Empire Pipeline | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County

Another Outrage: PA AG Charges NFG with Crimes for Pipe Accident
July 23, 2020July 30, 2020

This absolutely must stop. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is completely out of control and abusing his power as AG. He has charged a third Marcellus/Utica company, National Fuel Gas Company, with crimes because of a few minor cases of erosion runoff during the installation of a pipeline in Washington County, PA. Since when is erosion a CRIME?
Read More “Another Outrage: PA AG Charges NFG with Crimes for Pipe Accident”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Summit County

Some OH Lawsuits Against Long-Finished NEXUS Pipe Still Active
July 20, 2020July 20, 2020

NEXUS Pipeline, a $2.6 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio into Michigan, has been fully online since October 2018 (see More of NEXUS Pipe Goes Online, FERC Approves Compressor). In typical fashion, Big Green groups and landowners (some of them backed with Big Green money) tried to shut the pipeline down via lawsuits, but ultimately could not (see our NEXUS lawsuit stories here). Some landowners claimed the pipeline damaged their property during construction. Most of those lawsuits were either tossed or settled. However, there are still a few outstanding landowner lawsuits against NEXUS still active.
Read More “Some OH Lawsuits Against Long-Finished NEXUS Pipe Still Active”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Regulation

Riverkeeper Lawsuit Challenges Trump Changes to Water Permits
July 16, 2020July 16, 2020

In April 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline projects (see Trump Signs Executive Order Making it Harder to Block Pipe). In keeping with the EO, the EPA issued a draft new rule in August 2019 tightening up standards used in Section 401, creating new boundaries so states like New York and Washington can’t continue to “color outside the lines” by rejecting pipelines for political reasons, as they have both done (see EPA Issues Proposed New Rule for Section 401 Water Permit). A final version of the new rule was released on June 1 (see EPA Issues Final Rule to Prevent States from Blocking Pipelines). On Monday, extreme leftist group THE Delaware Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit challenging the new rule.
Read More “Riverkeeper Lawsuit Challenges Trump Changes to Water Permits”
Empire Pipeline | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Niagara County | Pipelines

Federal Judge Overrules NY Town to Allow NFG Compressor Station
July 15, 2020July 15, 2020

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National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) $500 million Northern Access Pipeline project aims to build 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY to flow PA Marcellus fracked shale gas into the Empire State. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline and a compressor station in Niagara County, NY. The Town of Pendleton, where the compressor station will be located, has refused to issue a permit for the station. Yesterday a federal judge overruled the town and said NFG can move forward with construction of the compressor station when it’s ready to do so.
Read More “Federal Judge Overrules NY Town to Allow NFG Compressor Station”
Anadarko | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Revisiting the PA AG Royalty Case Against Chesapeake Energy
July 13, 2020July 13, 2020

It’s time to revisit a long-festering royalty lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy and Anadarko Petroleum filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office. The case has been through several layers of courts and finally ended up at the PA Supreme Court last fall (see PA Supremes to Consider Long-Running Chesapeake Royalty Lawsuit). The lawsuit hinges on the answer to this question: Are landowners/royalty owners the buyers or the sellers in cases of royalty leases?
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

What is “Due Diligence” in Severed Mineral Rights Cases in Ohio?
July 13, 2020July 13, 2020

How much of an effort is “enough” when a surface landowner in Ohio tries to locate the owner(s) of the belowground mineral rights under his or her land using the Dormant Mineral Act (DMA)? Is it enough to search the public record archive in the county where the land is located? The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in a case to say no, it’s not enough to run a quick search in one county when attempting to locate mineral rights owners.
Read More “What is “Due Diligence” in Severed Mineral Rights Cases in Ohio?”
Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Rice Energy | Statewide OH | XTO

OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep
July 10, 2020July 10, 2020

Do you remember the child’s game called “Simon Says”? That’s what we were thinking when we read about a lawsuit in Ohio by landowners against a group of shale drillers. The lawsuit, initiated by several landowners in Belmont County, OH, claims the drillers drilled too deep–into the Point Pleasant rock layer–when the leases signed only mention the Utica rock layer. The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, claims “unjust enrichment” by the drillers.
Read More “OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep”
Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Weymouth Compressor Continues Construction Despite Judge’s Ruling
July 10, 2020July 10, 2020

Weymouth compressor station construction (credit: Patriot Ledger)

The Weymouth compressor station is the last piece of Spectra Energy/Enbridge’s Atlantic Bridge pipeline project–a project which took years to build. In July 2019 the Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) granted an air permit for the final piece, the Weymouth compressor station (see Mass. DEP Issues Air Permit for Weymouth Compressor Station). Last month (a full year later!), Obama Judge William Kayatta from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overturned the state permit, telling the DEP to do it all over again (see Obama Judge Overturns Air Permit for Weymouth, MA Compressor Stn). We’re delighted to see the judge’s ruling has not stopped construction on the project.
Read More “Weymouth Compressor Continues Construction Despite Judge’s Ruling”