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Mealey's Fracking

  • October 07, 2025

    Judge Says Biden’s Memos Banning Offshore Fracking Exceeded His Authority

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana has ruled that memoranda issued during the Biden administration that banned federal oil and gas leasing and development on most of the outer continental shelf (OCS) were “unlawful for exceeding the authority granted” by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).

  • October 02, 2025

    White House Council Issues NEPA Guidance To ‘Expedite’ Permitting Process

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has released guidance and a template for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which aim to “expedite and simplify the permitting process” in keeping with President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.”  The guidance replaces previous guidance and takes into account the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County.

  • October 01, 2025

    $15M Deal In Pipeline Securities Fraud Case Endorsed ‘Overwhelmingly,’ Class Says

    PHILADELPHIA — The lead plaintiffs in a long and winding securities fraud class action related to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline on Sept. 30 filed a reply brief in Pennsylvania federal court seeking final approval of a class action settlement for a cash payment of $15 million on grounds that the agreement has been “overwhelmingly endorsed by the Class.”

  • September 26, 2025

    Tribe Appeals Federal Judge’s Denial Of Intervention In Utah Fracking Case

    SALT LAKE CITY — The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation filed a notice of appeal to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a federal judge in Utah ruled that it lacked standing to intervene in a settled case involving Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at a fracking operator’s oil and gas production facilities on the tribe’s reservation.

  • September 25, 2025

    Fracking Outfit: ‘Hit Piece’ By Journalist With ‘Agenda’ Warrants Damages

    PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing operator has sued a news outlet in Pennsylvania federal court alleging that it is liable for defamation because it published “a hit piece” against the company that was written by “a journalist with a professed agenda” who made “purportedly fact-based statements” that accused the fracking outfit of “such serious business misconduct as alleged fabrication of data and alleged securities market manipulation.”

  • September 24, 2025

    Fracking Operator: Plaintiffs’ Experts Fail Standard Under Rule Of Evidence 702

    PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing company has filed two reply briefs in Pennsylvania federal court seeking to exclude plaintiffs’ witnesses in a royalty dispute, arguing that neither expert meets the standard for admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.  With regard to one of the experts, Barry Pulliam, the company insists that “given his admittedly questionable expertise,” the plaintiffs’ “attempt to slip Mr. Pulliam’s Count III opinions in the back door through hypotheticals fails.”

  • September 23, 2025

    Federal Agency Says Group Lacks Standing To Challenge Colorado Drilling Permits

    DENVER — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has filed a reply brief in Colorado federal court arguing that the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) lacks standing to challenge the BLM’s decisions that approved applications for permits to drill (APD) concerning oil and gas development in northeastern Colorado from what are called “Fee/Fee/Fed” wells.

  • September 18, 2025

    Study Shows Groundwater Was Affected By Fracking Overflow Incident In Pennsylvania

    PITTSBURGH — In a study published Sept. 17, researchers at Pittsburgh-based universities have found that evidence related to a “frac-out” event in 2022 in western Pennsylvania resulted in “oil and gas brine contributions to water chemistries as well as fugitive methane with 62% of the well water samples” and geospatial analysis determined that the extent of the water contamination was wider than initially reported.

  • September 17, 2025

    Complaint: Scam Related To Nonexistent Fracking Technology Costs Investors $40M

    TYLER, Texas — A receiver for multiple entities has sued individuals and companies in Texas federal court related to a scheme that defrauded investors out of at least $40 million by selling shares in numerous corporate entities that falsely claimed that they had developed “industry-disrupting technologies,” for hydraulic fracturing operations, as well as for other industries.

  • September 12, 2025

    Judge Denies Fracking Company’s Bid To Dismiss Offshore Drilling Permit Case

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California has denied a hydraulic fracturing operator’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmental groups that allege that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is in violation of federal law related to the fracking company’s offshore drilling permit. The judge held that the BOEM’s decision not to require the fracking company to revise its development and production plans (DPPs) does not strip the district court of jurisdiction.

  • September 11, 2025

    Department Of The Interior Seeks To Rescind Biden-Era Land Conservation Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on Sept. 11 filed a notice in the Federal Register indicating that it plans to rescind a land conservation rule enacted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the Biden administration because the rule is “unnecessary and violates existing statutory requirements.” The BLM says that the proposed rescission follows “deep concern” expressed by the energy sector and others that the current rule reduced access to land and “undermined the long-standing multiple-use mandate of the BLM.”

  • September 10, 2025

    Fracking Industry Group: Biden-Era Offshore Fracking Memos Should Not Be Upheld

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — The American Petroleum Institute (API) has filed a brief in Louisiana federal court in the long and winding litigation over offshore hydraulic fracturing activity under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), arguing that there is no sound basis to uphold memoranda that were issued during the Biden administration that ban federal oil and gas leasing and development on most of the outer continental shelf (OCS). In the months since President Donald J. Trump has taken office, his administration has weighed in on the dispute, arguing that if former President Joseph Biden’s withdrawals of certain areas for offshore hydraulic fracturing are found to be permanent, they exceeded his authority under OCSLA.

  • September 08, 2025

    Department Of The Interior Sets Long-Term Federal Fracking Lease Sale Schedule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has announced a long-term schedule for offshore hydraulic fracturing lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Cook Inlet of Alaska that calls for the first sale to be held in December, in keeping with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that was passed July 3.

  • September 08, 2025

    Class Gets Partial Approval As Judge Adopts Magistrate’s Report In Royalty Case

    PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Sept. 5 overruled the objections of hydraulic fracturing operator XTO Energy Inc. and adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation granting leaseholders partial class certification in a fracking dispute concerning XTO’s deduction of postproduction costs from the royalties the company paid.

  • September 05, 2025

    9th Circuit Nixes Rehearing En Banc In Groups’ Bid To Stop Willow Project

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a formal mandate enforcing a panel’s split decision that “largely” affirmed a lower court’s order granting summary judgment for government defendants in a hydraulic fracturing dispute related to the Willow Project, a fracking operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.  The mandate was issued following the Ninth Circuit’s denial of a petition for rehearing en banc in which environmental and Native American groups said the decision was “contrary to Ninth Circuit precedent.”

  • September 05, 2025

    U.S. Agriculture Department Begins Process To Implement Trump’s Energy Orders

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a notice in the Federal Register stating that is initiating an environmental impact statement (EIS) and rulemaking process concerning management related to approximately 44.7 million acres of National Forest System lands, including in Alaska, to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald J. Trump pertaining to “unleashing” Alaska’s resource potential.

  • September 04, 2025

    Chevron Files Supplemental Notice Insisting Groups Lack Standing In Drilling Case

    FRESNO, Calif. — Chevron USA Inc. and another oil company on Sept. 3 filed a notice of supplemental authority in California federal court in their bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmental groups challenging federal approval of permits to drill in the San Joaquin Valley, arguing that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ recent ruling in Satanic Temple v. Labrador affirms the defendants’ argument in their motion to dismiss, in which they contend that the groups fail to plausibly allege standing.

  • September 03, 2025

    Briefly: Class Seeks Approval Of $15M Deal In Securities Fraud Case About Pipeline

    PHILADELPHIA — The lead plaintiffs in a long and winding securities fraud class action related to the construction of a hydraulic fracturing pipeline on Sept. 2 filed a brief in Pennsylvania federal court seeking final approval of a class action settlement for a cash payment of $15 million.

  • September 03, 2025

    Oil Company Seeks Review Of Ruling That Nullified Its Right To Drill

    SAN FRANCISCO — An oil company on Sept. 2 filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should review a lower court’s dismissal of the company’s claim for inverse condemnation in a dispute over a default judgment that nullified the company’s zoning clearance to conduct drilling operations because to challenge the lower court’s dismissal of its claims, the oil company had to wait until the district court entered a final judgment.

  • September 03, 2025

    Leaseholders: Royalty Class Claim ‘Well-Founded,’ Fracking Company’s Objections Fail

    PITTSBURGH — Leaseholders in a hydraulic fracturing royalty dispute with XTO Energy Inc. on Sept. 2 filed a response brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that their claim is “well-founded and common issues of law and fact predominate,” therefore the court should overrule XTO’s objections to a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that calls for granting the plaintiffs’ motion for partial class action certification.

  • September 03, 2025

    Energy Company Says Royalty Dispute Was Properly Dismissed Based On State Statute

    ST. LOUIS — An energy company has filed a response brief in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that a lower court properly granted summary judgment against plaintiffs in a hydraulic fracturing royalty dispute based on the language of an Arkansas statute the energy company says “expressly discharges operators and working interest owners from any lease obligations” related to the first 1/8 of the amount of gas produced and sold from Arkansas integrated drilling units.

  • September 03, 2025

    Fracking Operator Says Royalty Dispute Fails Because Plaintiffs Lack Evidence

    PITTSBURGH — A hydraulic fracturing operator on Sept. 2 filed a reply brief in Pennsylvania federal court arguing that a royalty dispute brought by leaseholders should be dismissed because the plaintiffs cannot cite any evidence that the post-production expenses the fracking company incurs and then charges to the plaintiffs are unreasonable or were incurred in bad faith.

  • September 02, 2025

    Panel: Federal Agency’s Offshore Fracking Plan Meets Standards Set By Law

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 29 ruled that the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) satisfied the requirements of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when it drafted a program for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and, therefore, environmental groups’ challenge to the offshore leasing program in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) failed.

  • September 02, 2025

    Groups: Bid To Nix Offshore Fracking Case ‘Flies In The Face’ Of Law

    LOS ANGELES — Environmental groups have filed a brief in California federal court opposing a hydraulic fracturing operator’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is in violation of federal law related to the fracking company’s offshore drilling permit.  The groups say the fracking company’s argument in favor of dismissal “flies in the face of the plain language” of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).

  • August 22, 2025

    Agent Ordered To Comply With Discovery Request In Mineral Rights Dispute

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal magistrate judge in Ohio has ordered an agent with a company that owns land that is the subject of a mineral rights dispute to respond to discovery requests made by a drilling operator, ruling that many of the requested communications between the agent and his wife are not protected by Ohio’s marital communications privilege.