Judge Rules Royalty Lawsuit Against Chesapeake in PA Continues
Last June MDN told you about a class action lawsuit filed by the Suessenbach Family Limited Partnership. Using a Wilkes-Barre, PA law firm, Suessenbach launched a “sprawling class action” lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy and Access Midstream accusing the two companies of a $5 billion scheme to defraud landowners out of royalties rightfully due to them (see 2nd PA Class Action Lawsuit Against Chesapeake re Royalty Fraud). MDN previously covered how the Chesapeake/Access scheme worked (see Chesapeake Shafting Landowners out of Royalties Mess Gets Messier). In December, another class action lawsuit was settled (see Chesapeake’s PA Royalty Settlement Affects Some, Not All Landowners). However, Suessenbach soldiered on with their lawsuit. Chesapeake tried to have the Suessenbach lawsuit tossed, but a federal judge earlier this week denied that motion and has ruled there’s enough of a case for Suessenbach to continue…
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It’s always a sad day when we report a death related to the Marcellus/Utica industry. Thankfully it doesn’t happen often, but the fact it happens at all is almost too much to bear. We know it’s not realistic to expect no fatalities, but still… On Monday afternoon around 2:30 pm a worker at the former Marcus Hook refinery–which is being converted into a natural gas liquids terminal–was killed after a pylon fell on him. The worker’s name has not yet been released, but it is reported he was in his 50s and from New Jersey and worked for engineering firm AECOM, a contractor working at the site. In a profoundly inappropriate manner, a member of the anti-drilling group Protecting Our Waters jumped on the death as an opportunity to push her anti-drilling message…
We understand it’s a really big commitment to decide to spend $2 billion or more on a single project, like the Shell ethane cracker plant announced in June 2011 that may (or may not) be coming to the Marcellus (see