Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County
PA Court Denies “Standing” for Grandma Fighting Range Well
A grandmother concerned that if Range Resources were to build a well pad three-fourths of a mile from her granddaughter’s school (in Washington County, PA) instead of building it a full mile from the school, tried to gain legal standing to challenge a permit granted to Range by Mount Pleasant Township. Grandma says her granddaughter has a sensitivity to benzene fumes. Yesterday a Commonwealth Court panel ruled she does NOT have legal standing to challenge the permit.
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One of the worst examples of regulatory abuse under the Obama Administration was the EPA’s redefinition of what is called Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The Obamadroids redefined WOTUS to mean everything down to mud puddles–and no, we’re not exaggerating (see 
A West Virginia Circuit Court case in September 2017, Crowder and Wentz v EQT, found in favor of surface landowners ruling that EQT did not have the right to extend underground shale wells to adjacent properties where EQT also owned the mineral rights (see 
A lawsuit brought by greedy lawyers (ab)using a group of 21 ignorant children against the United States for not doing enough about mythical man-made global warming is once again in the news. The lawsuit aims to force the end of using all fossil fuels in the United States, to address so called man-made global warming.
Three families who lived near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operations at the site (see 
Ever notice how leftists force their will on the American people via leftist judges–because they can’t win at the ballot box? It’s frustrating that we elected President Trump to do a job, and his administration is doing their darnedest, and at every turn there’s a lib Dem judge waiting to make life miserable. Such is the case with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which just rendered a decision (by three Dem-appointed leftist judges) in an Appalachian pipeline lawsuit that is actually a win for the pipeline–but also a warning shot that the lib Dem judges want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to bow to their demands that FERC consider mythical man-made global warming when evaluating future pipeline projects.
It’s hard enough for drillers to get permits town by town in Pennsylvania, where the standards are all different thanks to the seven selfish towns that appealed the Act 13 law passed in 2012 (see 
Last August the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a decision overruling the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to allow National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project to proceed (see 
Antero Resources sued EnerQuest Oil & Gas in a Texas court last year claiming EnerQuest had solicited and received trade secrets for a pair of landmen who live and work in Texas. A lower court dismissed the lawsuit based on a technicality (because the solicitation from EnerQuest came via email), claiming Texas does not have jurisdiction over the case. Antero disagrees and has just asked the Texas Supreme Court to review the case.
Last December MDN told you that even though NEXUS Pipeline, a $2.6 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio into Michigan is built and has been fully online since November, the Coalition to Reroute NEXUS (CORN), along with the City of Oberlin, Ohio, filed yet another lawsuit (with the D.C. Court of Appeals) to nullify the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) original decision to approve the project (see 
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected hearing a case appealed from a lower court by a group of Lancaster County landowners who claim Williams and their Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project abused eminent domain authority by building the pipeline before litigating (for years) how much money landowners should receive–landowners who refused to negotiate in good faith in the first place.
Pennsylvania Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, and the anti-drilling Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, continue their tag-team effort to criminalize and humiliate Range Resources. Shapiro, a sleazy politician, is investigating so-called environmental “crimes” committed by shale companies in a bid to boost his chances of being the next nominee to run for governor (see 
Two weeks ago MDN reported that a New Jersey state commission, the Pinelands Commission, which has a power to block a pipeline through 10 miles of “protected” scrub pines and swamp lands, is currently paralyzed in their efforts to roll back permission previously granted for the pipeline project under Republican Gov. Chris Christie (see 
It would be a crushing defeat by the forces of evil (i.e. the Sierra Club and other radical leftist “green” groups) if Dominion Energy decides to give up on building the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) from West Virginia to North Carolina. The decision on whether to build or not appears to come down to this: If the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Dominion’s appeal about crossing the Appalachian Trail (56 other pipelines have done in the past), some analysts say Dominion will give up the fight.
Last November the judges in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a ruling in favor of Penn Township (Westmoreland County) granting “special exception” permits to Apex Energy, allowing them to drill four shale wells (see