Mealey's Fracking : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Fracking

February 07, 2025
Panel: Marketable Title Act Did Not Extinguish Royalty Rights In Age-Old Dispute

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — In a complex dispute over royalty interests dating to 1900, an appeals panel in Ohio has held that a trial court correctly ruled against royalty holders who argued that the Ohio Marketable Title Act (MTA) had extinguished the rights of a competing group of royalty interest holders who hold title to the same tract of land.
February 06, 2025
Groups: Federal Agency Violated Law With Fracking Permits For San Joaquin Valley

FRESNO, Calif. — Environmental advocacy groups have sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other federal agencies in California federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to stop “unlawful permit approvals” for new oil and gas wells on public land in the San Joaquin Valley, which the groups say violate multiple federal laws.
February 06, 2025
Bill Would Prohibit Presidents From Declaring A Moratorium On Hydraulic Fracturing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill introduced by a U.S. representative from Texas that would prohibit a president from declaring a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing without authorization by an act of Congress has been referred to two House committees for consideration.
February 05, 2025
Justices Say Trial Court Erred In Ruling About Commencing Of Drilling Operations

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas appellate justices have reversed in part and remanded in part a case involving a breach of contract dispute, ruling that a trial court erred when it concluded that an oil and gas operator cannot breach a joint operating agreement (JOA) by failing to timely “actually commence” a proposed drilling operation.
February 05, 2025
Secretary Of The Interior Orders Sweeping Changes In Bid For ‘Energy Dominance’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Keeping in step with the executive orders pertaining to energy development issued by President Donald J. Trump on his first day in office, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum officially started his tenure by issuing six orders designed to “unlock America’s full potential in energy dominance and economic development” by identifying “immediately” all emergency and legal authorities available to “facilitate the identification, permitting, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, distribution, exporting and generation of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.”
February 04, 2025
Senator Balks At Energy Secretary’s Approval, Wants Fossil Fuel Heads Barred

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., on Feb. 3 issued a press release condemning the Senate’s confirmation of Chris Wright to be the secretary of Energy in the second administration of President Donald J. Trump, saying “Chris Wright is a bought-and-paid-for fossil fuel industry executive and hasn’t met a tract of land or aquifer of water he wouldn’t despoil through fracking.” The senator has introduced a bill that would prohibit the appointment of former fossil fuel executive officers and fossil fuel lobbyists from serving as the heads of certain governmental departments.
February 04, 2025
Nearly 9 Years Later, Judge Denies As Moot Delaware River Basin Fracking Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 3 granted a motion to dismiss and held that a long-running dispute over hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) is moot on grounds the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has instituted a comprehensive ban on fracking in the DRB.
February 04, 2025
Fracking Defendants Say Water Contamination Plaintiffs Fail To Plead Viable Claims

PITTSBURGH — Two defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a reply brief in support of their motions to dismiss in Pennsylvania federal court, arguing that the plaintiffs have not pleaded, and cannot plead, any viable claims against them.
January 31, 2025
Petitioners Seek High Court Review Of Fracking-Related Antitrust Conspiracy Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners are seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of a ruling by a federal appellate panel that affirmed a lower court’s decision and determined that the petitioners did not plead sufficient facts at the trial level to establish a plausible antitrust conspiracy on the part of certain shale oil producers with regard to allegations that they colluded to fix oil prices to control the cost of gasoline in violation of the Sherman Act.
January 29, 2025
Judge With History Of Not Recusing Himself In Fracking Cases Erred, Panel Says

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appellate panel has ruled that a trial court judge erred in not recusing himself from a mineral rights dispute due to his personal and pecuniary interest in the case, which “presents the appearance of impropriety,” and which the panel said has been a pattern for this particular judge in other litigation involving hydraulic fracturing company EQT Production Co.
January 28, 2025
High Court Gets Letter About President’s Energy Order As It Decides Fracking Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates following oral arguments held in a case about whether the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires a federal agency to study the environmental consequences of projects beyond the proximate effects caused by the specific action over which that agency has regulatory authority in relation to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing railway project in Utah, the acting solicitor general has sent a letter to the justices stating that “because of federal respondent’s invocation of the [Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)] regulations, we wish to inform the Court that, on January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order” titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which requires the chairman of the CEQ to move toward rescinding the CEQ’s NEPA regulations.
January 27, 2025
Oil, Gas Royalty Settlement Objectors Brief 10th Circuit On Attorney Fee Challenge

DENVER — A trial court in approving more than $17.3 million in attorney fees as part of a $52 million oil and gas royalty settlement ignored the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in Strack v. Continental Resources, which requires percentage-based common fund fee awards to be tested by a lodestar cross-check, and failed to follow the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mandate to apply controlling Oklahoma law, objectors argue in separate appellant briefs filed in the 10th Circuit.
January 24, 2025
Judge Nixes Company’s Bid To End Fracking Case, Says Material Questions Exist

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an oil company’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging it is liable for an injury sustained by a worker at a hydraulic fracturing well pad, ruling that “the self-serving evidence submitted by the parties is insufficient to show that there are no questions of material fact” in the case.
January 22, 2025
Panel Partially Reverses Mineral Rights Ruling Based On Reading Of 1948 Deed

CINCINNATI — A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has partially reversed and remanded a lower court’s decision in a long-running and complex mineral rights dispute, ruling that the reasoning that found in favor of the defendant, Gulfport Energy Corp., on its claim to the rights on a 165-acre tract of land was “mistaken” based on the language of the 1948 deed.
January 21, 2025
Fracking Proponents Say Alaska Lease Appeal ‘Moot’ In Light Of Agency’s Report

SAN FRANCISCO — Hydraulic fracturing proponents who sued the Biden administration over the delay caused by a temporary halt of the hydraulic fracturing lease program in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska moved in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss their appeal on Jan. 20 on grounds that the final record of decision (ROD) for ANWR’s Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Program issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on Dec. 8 “completed DOI’s supplemental environmental review and expressly lifts the Moratorium for the oil and gas program rendering all claims in this appeal moot.”
January 21, 2025
President Trump’s Orders Reopen Arctic To Fracking, Call For ‘Unleashing’ Energy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Of the many executive orders President Donald J. Trump issued Jan. 20, three of them pertained to energy policy, with one declaring a national energy emergency, one rescinding the cancellation of hydraulic fracturing leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and another “unleashing American energy” by encouraging energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf.
January 16, 2025
Abandoned Wells, Groundwater Case Is Valid Based On Fraud Allegation, Judge Says

DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado has denied two motions to dismiss a lawsuit over abandoned hydraulic fracturing wells that the plaintiffs contend pose a threat to human health and have the potential to contaminate groundwater, ruling that the plaintiffs have “sufficiently alleged fraud with particularity” against the company and its principals.
January 10, 2025
Fracking Operator Says Fine Of Nearly $5.9M Violates Its Constitutional Rights

DENVER — A hydraulic fracturing operator has sued the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) in state court arguing that it should not have to pay $5,897,892.10 in penalties related to notices of violation issued by the ECMC because “the extreme breadth” of the order calling for the penalties “violates the Commission’s mandate to regulate oil and gas activity to protect the public health, safety, welfare and the environment in a ‘reasonable manner.’”
January 10, 2025
Plaintiffs Say Oil Producers Engaged In ‘Conspiracy’ Amounting To Price Fixing

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Plaintiffs have filed a putative class action complaint against numerous oil and gas producers in New Mexico federal court contending that they have engaged in a “conspiracy to coordinate, and ultimately constrain,” domestic shale oil production, which has amounted to “fixing, raising, and maintaining the price of crude oil,” in violation of the Sherman Act and various state laws.
January 09, 2025
Alaska Sues Federal Agencies For Alleged Coastal Plain Fracking Lease Violations

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska has sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in Alaska federal court contending that the agency has violated Congress’ statutory mandate that the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened to oil and gas leasing and development.
January 09, 2025
Final Approval Granted To U.S. Portion Of Fracking Securities Global Settlement

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to the approximately $7 million U.S. portion of a global settlement in a case brought by investors alleging that an oil and gas exploration company violated securities laws.
January 08, 2025
Oil Companies To Pay $5.6M Penalty For ‘Gun Jumping Violation’ Of Antitrust Laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission said Jan. 7 that three crude oil producers will pay a $5.6 million civil penalty to settle allegations that they committed a “gun jumping violation” when they disregarded their obligations under the federal law governing mergers and transferred “significant operational control” over one of the companies’ business operations to the other parties without observing the proper waiting period.
January 07, 2025
Panel Remands Mineral Rights Case, Says Owners Were ‘Insufficiently Compensated’

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 6 partially affirmed and partially reversed and remanded a complex and protracted dispute over mineral rights, ruling that although the district court correctly ruled that the mineral lease in question conveyed a gross proceeds royalty based on extrinsic evidence, the district court’s award of prejudgment interest and royalty damages “insufficiently compensated” landowners for their losses.
January 07, 2025
Fracking Wells At Issue In Groundwater Case Belong To Other Party, Defendants Say

PITTSBURGH — Defendants in a class action over allegations that fracking waste fluid has contaminated residents’ water supply have filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed with regard to both parties because the plaintiffs “unambiguously plead” that only the other defendants own and operate the hydraulic fracturing wells at issue.
January 07, 2025
President Biden Prohibits Drilling In Continental Shelf As Term Draws To A Close

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Jan. 6 issued two presidential memoranda prohibiting oil and natural gas leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, pursuant to his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).