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Mealey's Fracking

  • June 09, 2025

    Oil Companies, Government Say Groups Lack Standing, Injury In Drilling Permit Case

    FRESNO, Calif. — Chevron USA Inc. and another oil company on June 6 filed a joint reply brief in California federal court arguing that it should dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmental groups challenging federal approval of permits to drill in the San Joaquin Valley because they fail to plausibly allege standing.  The same day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a reply brief contending that dismissal is warranted because there is no causal connection between the plaintiffs’ purported air pollution-related injury and the small amount of future air pollution that might be attributable to the challenged permit.

  • June 09, 2025

    Company Says ‘All Leases’ Class Should Be Stricken From Mineral Rights Lawsuit

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing company filed a brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that the district court should strike the “All Leases” class in the fourth amended complaint in a mineral rights dispute because “there is no reliable and administratively feasible method to determine the putative class members” and contending that the plaintiffs’ proposed method for identifying the leases that would fall under its “All Leases” Class “would necessarily transform what is intended to be a relatively uncontroversial initial step in class action litigation into a substantial, rigorous legal analysis implicating the merits.”

  • June 06, 2025

    Groups Say Federal Agency Violated Law When It Passed Offshore Fracking Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental groups have filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia opposing separate cross-motions for summary judgment filed by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) in a dispute over a final rule issued by the BOEM in 2020 that updated air quality control and reporting and compliance regulations governing oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf.  The groups contend that “Defendants’ cramped reading” of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act “is contrary to the plain language and legislative history of the statute, and the Final Rule does not even fulfill the most constrained interpretation of OCSLA.”

  • June 06, 2025

    Energy Company Says Groups’ California Offshore Fracking Lease Challenge Is ‘Moot’

    LOS ANGELES — An energy company has moved in California federal court for an order denying the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and granting the energy company’s cross-motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups that contend that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and agencies under his purview violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and other federal laws when they issued lease extensions for 16 offshore oil and gas leases in the Santa Ynez Unit.  The energy company’s argument that the plaintiffs’ claims are “moot” was echoed in a brief filed by the federal defendants on the same day.

  • June 06, 2025

    Trump Administration Says Case Over Executive Order About Fracking In Alaska Fails

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Trump administration has moved in Alaska federal court seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it related to Trump’s executive order reopening areas of the continental shelf for hydraulic fracturing, arguing that the plaintiffs lack jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and contending that the claims against Trump are barred by sovereign immunity, among other reasons.

  • June 04, 2025

    Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Leaseholders’ Title Claim Against Fracking Operator

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A split state appellate panel in Pennsylvania has issued a nonprecedential and unpublished opinion affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of a hydraulic fracturing operator in a lease dispute, concluding that there was no genuine issue of material fact to counter the operator’s claim that it had engaged in activities sufficient to extend a drilling lease and, therefore, the leaseholder’s lawsuit failed.

  • June 04, 2025

    Judge Orders Fracking Company To Comply With Discovery Request In Royalty Dispute

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal magistrate judge on June 3 granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery in a royalty payment dispute with a hydraulic fracturing company, ruling that the information the plaintiff seeks, namely, documents and communications concerning the payment and distribution of royalties, is relevant to the case.

  • June 04, 2025

    Kansas Seeks To Intervene In Shale Oil Antitrust Case To ‘Defend Its Sovereignty’

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  — The state of Kansas on June 4 filed a reply brief in New Mexico federal court arguing that it should be granted limited intervention in the antitrust multidistrict litigation related to shale oil to “defend its sovereignty” and contending that it already possesses standing.

  • June 03, 2025

    Judge: Offshore Fracking Lease Case Dating Back To Biden Presidency Is Not Moot

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge has denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by intervenor environmental groups in a dispute over federal offshore hydraulic fracturing leases dating back to the Biden administration, ruling that the matter is not moot and the court “can grant effective declaratory relief addressing the legality of these actions.”

  • June 03, 2025

    Pa. High Court Says Tax Sale Did Not Divest Mineral Owners Of Their Interests

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in answering a question certified by the Third Circuit U.S. Court Appeals in a protracted mineral rights dispute, has ruled that a 1908 tax sale did not constitute what is known as a “title wash” regarding the surface and subsurface mineral estate for certain tracts of land.  Rather, the sale acted as “a mere redemption of taxes owed” and, as such, did not divest the subsurface owners of their interest in the property.

  • June 03, 2025

    Agency Proposes Rescinding Rule Restricting Oil Development in Alaska

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released an announcement on its website on June 2 stating that the agency has proposed rescinding a rule put in place last year that added new restrictions on oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

  • June 03, 2025

    Officials: Group Fails To Show ‘Concrete Injury’ Tied To Oil Rig Decommissioning

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and other federal energy officials have filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that an environmental group suing the government for failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related to the decommissioning of offshore hydraulic fracturing rigs does not have standing because it fails to identify “concrete injury causally connected to discrete agency action related to decommissioning.”

  • June 02, 2025

    Federal Agencies Deny Navajo Nation’s Challenge To Chaco Canyon Mineral Withdrawal

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Former Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland and other federal defendants on May 30 filed a response in New Mexico federal court denying claims brought against them by the Navajo Nation, which has sued Haaland alleging that she failed to adhere to statutory obligations when she implemented what is called the Chaco Canyon Withdrawal of mineral resources.  The defendants also say that, in light of President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” they are “potentially revisiting” the decision to withdraw.

  • June 02, 2025

    Companies Seek Damages For Unpaid Royalties In Fracking Breach Of Contract Case

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Two companies that own oil and gas interests have sued a hydraulic fracturing company in West Virginia federal court, arguing that it breached a contract among the parties by not paying royalties owed pursuant to leases related to specific fracking wells.

  • May 30, 2025

    Young Montana Residents Sue Trump, Federal Agencies For GHG Pollution Exposure

    BUTTE, Mont. — A group of 22 minors and young adults in a May 29 complaint asks a federal judge in Montana to rescind and declare unconstitutional a series of executive orders issued by President Donald J. Trump and his administration that include directives to increase fossil fuel production, alleging fossil fuel greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution is “destroying the foundation of” their lives and infringing on their constitutional rights.

  • May 29, 2025

    Magistrate Recommends Granting Judgment To Life Insurer In Row Over $400K Policy

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Florida federal magistrate judge on May 28 issued a report and recommendation advising granting default judgment to an insurer in its suit seeking to rescind a $400,000 life insurance policy for alleged policy application material misrepresentations regarding health status, finding that because the allegations in the complaint are deemed admitted by the insured’s default, the insurer is permitted to rescind the policy.

  • May 29, 2025

    High Court Says Lower Court Incorrectly Interpreted NEPA In Fracking Railway Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 29 reversed and remanded a decision by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, finding that when it blocked the construction of a hydraulic fracturing railway project in Utah, it failed to afford the Surface Transportation Board (STB) the substantial judicial deference required in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) cases and incorrectly ruled that the STB was required to consider the environmental consequences of projects that are separate from the construction of the railway.

  • May 27, 2025

    Groups Reiterate Mootness Argument In Dispute Over Federal Offshore Fracking

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — Environmental groups have filed a reply brief in Louisiana federal court reiterating that a case brought by states and hydraulic fracturing industry groups challenging orders issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that withdrew offshore waters from oil and gas leasing should be dismissed as moot and arguing that “neither the Plaintiffs nor the government provide any reason to doubt that the questions in this case have become all but academic.”

  • May 22, 2025

    Parties Voluntarily Dismiss Methane Case, Agree With EPA On Lack Of Liability

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA) on May 21 voluntarily dismissed their methane waste emissions charge lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups in Michigan federal court, saying that in light of the fact that the EPA agrees “that no charge can lawfully be imposed or collected until it takes further, final action to implement the charge,” the chamber of commerce and the oil and gas association “understand that their members have not accrued, and will not accrue, liability” under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

  • May 22, 2025

    Compliance With Fracking Law In Colorado Is ‘Woefully Inadequate,’ Report Says

    DENVER — A report issued by Physicians for Social Responsibility in Colorado, in cooperation with Colorado Sierra Club and FracTracker Alliance, has found that hydraulic fracturing operators’ compliance with a 2022 state law requiring the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking is “woefully inadequate,” and as a result it is unclear whether companies are still using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

  • May 21, 2025

    Admitting Prior Error, Judge Says Group’s Fracking Lease Challenge Is In Fact Ripe

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah has acknowledged “factual errors” in her previous decision regarding an environmental group’s challenge to federal hydraulic fracturing leases and ruled that the claims that she once dismissed are in fact ripe. The judge concluded that because the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) considers the lease approval to be a final agency action, the court should also treat it as such.

  • May 21, 2025

    Energy Company Denies It Breached Lease Related To Drilling, Mineral Rights

    MIDLAND, Texas — An energy company has filed an amended answer in Texas federal court denying the allegations brought in an amended complaint filed by mineral rights owners who contend that the energy company failed to pay compensatory royalties.  The energy company also asserts affirmative defenses and argues that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

  • May 16, 2025

    5th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Derivatives Suit Against Fracking Company

    NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative suit alleging an energy company’s directors breached their fiduciary duties in overseeing the company’s efforts to comply with environmental laws and regulations after the discovery that its hydraulic fracturing work caused methane gas to leak into residential water supplies in Dimock Township, Pa., agreeing with the trial court’s findings that the directors did not act in bad faith.

  • May 12, 2025

    15 States Say President Trump’s Order Declaring An Energy Emergency Is ‘Unlawful’

    SEATTLE — Fifteen states sued President Donald J. Trump and others on May 9 in Washington federal court arguing that Trump’s executive order titled “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” constitutes an “unlawful use of emergency permitting procedures that bypass critical ecological, historical, and cultural resource review” and that the order “commands that federal agencies disregard the law and in many cases their own regulations.”

  • May 09, 2025

    Fracking Trade Group Says Groups Lack Standing To Sue Trump Over Alaska Leases

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The American Petroleum Institute (API) has filed an answer as an intervenor defendant in Alaska federal court arguing that the groups that have sued President Donald J. Trump and his administration over his executive order reopening areas of the outer continental shelf for hydraulic fracturing lack standing.