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

Mealey's Fracking

November 06, 2024
San Diego Sues Oil Companies For Colluding, Conspiring To Fix Gas Prices

SAN DIEGO — The city of San Diego has sued Hess Corp. and other oil and gas companies in California federal court contending that they violated antitrust laws when they engaged in a conspiracy to raise and fix the price of crude oil, which keeps gasoline prices at an artificially high level in the United States.
November 05, 2024
Group: Companies Conspired To Fix Prices By Restricting Supply Of Oil

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A group of individuals and businesses on Nov. 4 sued oil and gas producers in New Mexico federal court seeking damages for engaging in a “conspiracy to coordinate, and ultimately constrain, domestic shale oil production, which has had the effect of fixing, raising, and maintaining the price of crude oil, and thereby the price paid by end-users of oil-derivative products, including but not limited to gasoline,” in violation of the Sherman Act and numerous state antitrust and unfair competition laws.
October 30, 2024
Energy Companies Debate Deeds, Mineral Rights At 6th Circuit

CINCINNATI — Energy companies involved in a mineral rights dispute presented oral arguments on Oct. 30 before the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, debating whether documents pertaining to a 165-acre tract established that the oil and gas beneath its surface was reserved, in light of the fact that the rights were reserved for a neighboring related tract.
October 30, 2024
Objectors Appeal $17.3M Attorney Fees Award In Settled Oil, Gas Royalty Class Suit

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two objectors in an oil and gas royalty payments class lawsuit that has gone on for more than a dozen years and that was settled for $52 million filed two separate notices of appeal after a federal judge in Oklahoma granted a renewed motion for $17,333,333 in attorney fees.
October 30, 2024
Amicus Briefs Endorse Fracking Railway Ruling; 1 Cites Chevron Deference Reversal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight amicus curiae briefs and two motions for divided argument have been filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case in which petitioners seek reversal of a lower court ruling that held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to adequately examine the risk of wildfires and the impact on groundwater posed by the construction of a proposed rail line in Utah that would carry products related to hydraulic fracturing to and from the shale formation in the Uinta Basin. The Constitutional Accountability Center filed an amicus brief in support of the respondents, arguing that in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which reversed what is known as Chevron deference, the Supreme Court should reject the petitioners’ interpretation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
October 24, 2024
Fracking Royalty Owners Seek Class Certification, Say Case Is Not Too Complex

WHEELING, W.Va. — The plaintiffs who are suing Southwestern Energy Co. and Southwestern Production Co. LLC (collectively, Southwestern) alleging that they paid diminished royalty payments regarding hydraulic fracturing mineral rights have filed a reply brief in West Virginia federal court in support of a motion for class certification, contending that Southwestern takes “a time-honored but unremarkable approach in its argument, largely insisting that this case is far more complex than it really is and that untold numbers of individualized inquiries requiring endless ‘mini-trials’ stand firmly in the way of certifying the proposed class.”
October 22, 2024
Fracking Operator To Pay $9.4M To Settle Emissions Case Brought By EPA, New Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $9.4 million settlement with a hydraulic fracturing operator to resolve violations of new federal standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) related to toxic emissions from crude oil and natural gas facilities and to settle claims brought under the state administrative code of New Mexico.
October 21, 2024
Parties’ Supreme Court Briefs Debate Duty Under NEPA Related To Fracking Railway

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Colorado county on Oct. 18 filed a respondent’s brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that the petitioners that want it to reverse a lower court ruling that held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to adequately examine the risk of wildfires and the impact on groundwater posed by the construction of a proposed rail line in Utah that would carry products related to hydraulic fracturing to and from the shale formation in the Uinta Basin and now ask the Supreme Court to impose limits on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) “that have no basis in its text whatsoever.” The same day, environmental groups filed their respondents’ brief contending that the lower court reached a “sensible result” and reversal is not warranted.
October 07, 2024
U.S. High Court Denies Stay Of EPA Methane Rule Sought By States, Energy Sector

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 issued a combined order denying two related applications to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. by some states and members of the energy sector asking the court to stay the 2024 methane rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
October 07, 2024
2 California Municipalities: Energy Companies Conspired To Violate Antitrust Law

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two California municipalities sued multiple oil and gas companies in New Mexico federal court contending that they have engaged in a conspiracy with Wall Street investors, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and others to restrict the production of crude oil, which the municipalities say constitutes a “per se unlawful restraint of trade under numerous state antitrust and competition laws.”
October 04, 2024
Fracking Advocate Seeks Ruling That Lease Cancellation In Alaska Was Unlawful

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An organization that supports hydraulic fracturing has filed a reply brief in Alaska federal court arguing that it is entitled to summary judgment on its claims that the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) decision to cancel federal fracking leases in the Coastal Plain of Alaska was unlawful and was based on pretext.
October 04, 2024
Judge: Company Did Not Show Relevance Of Discovery Sought In Fracking Rights Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a hydraulic fracturing operator’s letter motion to compel discovery in a long-running and complex dispute over whether the operator trespassed and took natural gas from landowners’ property without authorization, ruling that the company had failed to satisfy its burden “to demonstrate that the requested discovery is relevant to a claim or defense at issue in this case.”
October 03, 2024
Fracking Operator Says 2nd Bid To Compel Discovery In Long-Running Case Fails

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing company filed a response brief in West Virginia federal court on Oct. 2 objecting to a second motion to compel production of documents filed by the plaintiffs in a long-running mineral rights class action, arguing that they sought the same information in the previous motion to compel and the company’s objections to the first motion are still pending.
October 03, 2024
In 18 Of 19 Briefs, Amici Urge Supreme Court To Reverse Fracking Railway Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Various parties, including members of the energy sector, states, federal legislators and business advocacy groups have filed a total of 19 amicus curiae briefs, 18 of which support petitioners that want the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) failed to adequately examine the risk of wildfires and the impact on groundwater posed by the construction of a proposed rail line in Utah that would carry products related to hydraulic fracturing to and from the shale formation in the Uinta Basin. In one of the amicus briefs that is representative of those supporting the petition, the Anschutz Exploration Corp. says the lower court did not heed the instruction of Dep’t of Transp. v. Public Citizen.
October 03, 2024
$65M Deal In Securities Case Against Fracking Operator Is ‘Fair,’ Investors Say

HOUSTON — Investors who have brought a securities fraud lawsuit against a hydraulic fracturing operator have filed a reply brief in Texas federal court arguing that the proposed $65 million cash settlement is “fair, reasonable and adequate” pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2) because it is “the result of protracted negotiations following extensive discovery and years of hard-fought litigation” and there have been no objections to any aspect of the deal.
October 02, 2024
Governments, Fracking Operator Reach $15.5M Deal Resolving Toxic Emissions Lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it reached a settlement valued at $15.5 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at oil and gas production facilities of a fracking operator on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.
October 02, 2024
Fracking Fluids Company Wins More Than $514,885 For Breach Of Contract

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas has awarded a drilling fluids company a combined $514,885.08 for breach of contract, attorney fees and interest in a dispute over an agreement between the fluid company and a hydraulic fracturing services operator. The judge said the fracking services operator presented no evidence to support its position that it did not owe payment pursuant to the contract.
October 02, 2024
States: Supreme Court Stay Of Methane Rule Needed To Avoid ‘Irreparable Harm’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of states has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their application for a stay of the 2024 Methane Rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that “absent a stay, EPA’s gambit to force the States to submit to EPA’s ‘presumptive standards’ will impose irreparable harm upon the States.”
October 01, 2024
More Than $17.3M In Attorney Fees Awarded After Royalty Class Settlement

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma granted a renewed motion for $17,333,333 in attorney fees in an oil and gas royalty payments class lawsuit that has gone on for more than a dozen years and that was settled for $52 million, finding that the requested fees were “reasonable” and opining that distribution of the “fees among class counsel is a matter within their sole discretion.”
September 24, 2024
Groups: Re-Authorization Of Federal Fracking Leases Violated The Law

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Conservation groups have filed an amended complaint against Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and a federal agency in New Mexico federal court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief for their re-authorization and issuance of 32 oil and gas leases covering 5,942.36 acres of land in New Mexico, arguing that they violated federal law when they issued the leases.
September 24, 2024
Panel Says Gas Development Agreement Applied Only To 1 Operator Contract Dispute

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A state appellate panel in Pennsylvania affirmed a trial court’s ruling that an energy development operator breached its contract with a natural gas resources company, but it vacated another part of the trial court’s ruling with regard to a second energy development operator who was a defendant in the matter. The panel said the second energy development operator was a party to a joint development agreement (JDA) and an arbitration provision between the resources company and the second operator; therefore, the trial court erred in granting a preliminary injunction to the resources company.
September 23, 2024
States Ask Supreme Court To Deny Application To Stay EPA’s Emissions Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Sept. 20, the state of California and other states filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court contending that it should deny applications made by the state of Oklahoma and energy companies that want to stay implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule for methane emissions guidelines related to the oil and gas sector because the applicants “fail to demonstrate irreparable harm.”
September 19, 2024
Federal Agencies Seek Reversal Of Ruling On Environmental Impact Of Lease Sales

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and affiliated agencies have filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicating that they seek reversal in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of three separate rulings in a dispute with environmental groups over federal hydraulic fracturing. In one of the rulings a judge held that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) erred at times when assessing the environmental impact of a lease sale in Wyoming.
September 17, 2024
Judge Says States’ Claim That Federal Emissions Rule Is ‘Arbitrary’ Has Merit

BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota has granted a motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining implementation of a rule promulgated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) establishing standards for methane and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the oil and gas sector, ruling that at the preliminary stage the states have shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the rule is “arbitrary and capricious.”
September 09, 2024
Judge Approves Settlements For More Than $42.66M Combined In Royalty Class Action

WHEELING, W.Va. — A federal judge in West Virginia has approved two settlements for a combined $42,667,289 between class representatives and hydraulic fracturing operators related to claims that the companies failed to properly calculate and pay royalties on natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) pursuant to the leases held by the members of the class.