Litigation 76 - Marcellus Drilling News

PA PUC Affirms Decision to Reject ME 1&2 Pipe Shutdown Request

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) yesterday upheld an administrative law judge’s December decision against an “emergency” request by pipeline opponents to shut down both Mariner East 1 and 2 by claiming they are unsafe and need to be stopped. Can we FINALLY put this to rest and move on? ME1 and ME2 are both now online. There’s no going back.
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Was PA Supreme Court Right to Tax Strippers? PIOGA Pushes Back

January 17, 2019March 8, 2019

Did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court err in its judgment declaring so-called “stripper wells” can be taxed under the 2012 Act 13 law, slapped with an impact fee assessment, if those wells produce more than 90 thousand cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) of gas in a single month (see PA Supreme Court Rules Strippers Not Exempt from Impact Fee)? We have a different take on the high court’s decision than others.
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County DA’s ME2 Pipe Criminal Probe Evidence: Instagram Post

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019

Chester County DA Tom Hogan, conducting a sham criminal investigation of ME2 Pipeline

Since when did calling a woman on Instagram a “retard” and a “c–t” become a crime? Sure, the language is crude and offensive. But a crime?! A pipeline worker in the Philly area used that language responding (in exasperation) to an anti, and his comments appear to be all the evidence Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan has so far in his “criminal” probe of Mariner East 2 pipeline.
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines

3 Important Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Cases Up for Review @ SCOTUS

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019

Three important pipeline lawsuits are under consideration at the U.S. Supreme Court, waiting for the court’s decision on whether or not to hear them. One of the three, involving an appeal of whether or not Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) should have the right to use federal eminent domain laws, gets reviewed tomorrow.
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Landowner Group Sues NY State to Allow Propane Fracking

January 16, 2019January 16, 2019

This news is a bit dated, but still interesting and is new for us: Last October a group of landowners in Tioga County, NY filed a lawsuit to force the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to quit dragging its feet and set a date to consider the groups application to allow LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, i.e. propane) fracking for a shale well.
Read More “Landowner Group Sues NY State to Allow Propane Fracking”

Antero “Nuisance” Lawsuit Heard by WV Supreme Court Temp Judges

January 16, 2019January 16, 2019

Three years ago lawsuits filed by some 200 West Virginia residents against Antero Resources were combined into a class action lawsuit (see More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit). The lawsuits are called “nuisance” lawsuits because, according to the plantiffs, Antero is a nuisance to them–truck traffic, noise, lights at night, etc.
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4th Circus Clowns Refuse to Clarify Decision re Atlantic Coast Pipe

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

In early December, the clown judges of the Fourth Circus Court of Appeals (our name for the Fourth Circuit) put a hold on a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that allows the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline to get built through areas with so-called endangered and threatened species (see 4th Circus Blocks Permit, Stops All Work on Atlantic Coast Pipe).
Read More “4th Circus Clowns Refuse to Clarify Decision re Atlantic Coast Pipe”

PA Enviro Hearing Board Rejects Air Permit for Marcus Hook

January 11, 2019January 11, 2019

Score a minor victory for the odious Philadelphia Clean Air Council in their fight to block any/all fossil fuel projects any/everywhere. They’ve convinced the PA Environmental Hearing Board to question a previously issued air quality permit for the Marcus Hook refinery in Delaware County, near Philadelphia.
Read More “PA Enviro Hearing Board Rejects Air Permit for Marcus Hook”

Riverkeeper Appeals Atlantic Sunrise Lawsuit to US Supreme Court

January 10, 2019January 12, 2019

Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper

THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, along with a couple of radicals from Lancaster County flying under the name Lancaster Against Pipelines (the Clatterbucks), are hoping they can convince the United States Supreme Court to consider a case that a series of lower courts have dismissed–a case that would shut down the now-operating Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline.
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Time for Exxon to “Resist” & Refuse to Comply with Mass. AG?

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019

When the radical left repeatedly loses court cases, they put on their arrogant “civil” disobedience clothes and pronounce they are engaging in the age-old American practice of resisting an unethical practice or situation. Is it time for Exxon Mobil to do the same?
Read More “Time for Exxon to “Resist” & Refuse to Comply with Mass. AG?”

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

List of 18 PA Drillers Who Owe $6M+ in Impact Fees from Strippers

January 8, 2019January 8, 2019

Although Snyder Brothers Inc. valiantly fought a legal battle against the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) over paying impact fees (taxes) on low-producing “stripper wells,” they lost. But it wasn’t just Snyder Bros. withholding impact fees on stripper wells.
Read More “List of 18 PA Drillers Who Owe $6M+ in Impact Fees from Strippers”

Chester County DA Gets “Free” Help with ME2 Pipe Criminal Probe

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

Tom Hogan – Chester Co. DA with vendetta against ME2

RINO (Democrat wannabe) Tom Hogan, District Attorney for Chester County, PA, continues his vendetta against Sunoco Logistics Partners and the Mariner East 2 pipeline–foolishly spending gobs of taxpayer money in a frivolous and fruitless investigation (see Chester County DA Goes Rogue, Targets ME2 Pipe w/Criminal Probe).
Read More “Chester County DA Gets “Free” Help with ME2 Pipe Criminal Probe”

NJ’s Dem AG Lectures Fed Judge re PennEast Eminent Domain

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

New Jersey’s radical Democrat Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, is telling (off) a federal judge, telling him he erred in a recent decision that allows PennEast Pipeline to use the power of eminent domain to access 44 so-called “protected” properties owned by the Garden State (see Federal Court in NJ Grants PennEast Pipeline Eminent Domain).
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines

Court Delays Costing Atlantic Coast Pipe $20M per Week

January 4, 2019January 9, 2019

Disappointingly, the Fourth Circus Court of Appeals has turned down Dominion Energy’s request to move up oral arguments (from March to end of January) in a case that has shut down work along the entire 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Read More “Court Delays Costing Atlantic Coast Pipe $20M per Week”

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA DEP Eagerly Anticipates Millions of Dollars from Strippers

January 4, 2019January 4, 2019

The bureaucrats at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) are rubbing their hands together, eagerly anticipating millions of dollars to roll through the door and into the agency’s pockets following a recent PA Supreme Court ruling on strippers (see PA Supreme Court Rules Strippers Not Exempt from Impact Fee).
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PA Supreme Court Rules Strippers Not Exempt from Impact Fee

January 2, 2019January 2, 2019

Pennsylvania strippers are back in the news. Hold on, this is a family-friendly site! We’re talking about stripper wells.
Read More “PA Supreme Court Rules Strippers Not Exempt from Impact Fee”