Oil and Gas Update

Virginia Supreme Court Largely Affirms Right of Pipeline to Conduct Property Surveys and Examinations without Landowner Approval

August 2, 2017

The Virginia Supreme Court issued two opinions on July 13, 2017, addressing the rights of pipelines to survey property without landowner permission. In the first, Chaffins v. Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC, the Court considered what constitutes adequate prior notice by a pipeline company to gain access for surveys and property evaluation in the absence of landowner approval. In the second, Palmer…

California Plaintiffs Seek to Address Climate Change Via State Tort Suits

August 2, 2017

On July 17, 2017, the governments of California’s Marin and San Meteo counties, as well as the city of Imperial Beach, filed three separate complaints in California Superior Court in their respective counties against 37 oil, gas, and coal companies. We have previously written about similar suits filed by citizen groups, states, and cities in federal court here.

Although most of these suits…

Pennsylvania Court Rules that DEP Applied Wrong Standard in Requiring Compressor Station and Natural Gas Well Pad to Aggregate Air Emissions for Permitting Purposes

June 16, 2017

In a decision issued on June 2, 2017, a Pennsylvania court disagreed with the conclusions of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) that a compressor station and natural gas well pad owned and operated by two separate business entities should be considered a single source of air emissions regulated by a single air permit simply because they…

EPA Reconsidering Methane Rule

May 5, 2017

In an April 18, 2017 letter to oil and gas industry leaders, Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the agency will reconsider its June 3, 2016 methane emissions rule following a petition from three oil and gas industry associations. See EPA Letter here. The industry petition raised objections concerning provisions for receiving an alternative…

Delaware Riverkeeper Asks Third Circuit to Expedite Review of Corps-Issued Permit for Pipeline

April 28, 2017

We have written before about the effect of the Natural Gas Act on environmental permits issued for pipelines.   Generally, the Natural Gas Act preempts the effect of many local laws on pipelines, but preserves obligations to obtain permits under the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.  Nonetheless, in 2005, Congress amended the Natural Gas Act to provide that challenges to those permits are to be heard…

South Carolina Federal Court Upholds Distinction Between Point Source and Non-Point Source Pollution

April 26, 2017

On April 20, 2017, a South Carolina federal district court dismissed an environmental group’s Clean Water Act (“CWA”) citizen suit against Plantation Pipe Line Company, Inc. (“PPL”) and its parent company, Kinder Morgan Energy Partner, L.P., which own a 3,100 mile petroleum pipeline.  The pipeline leaked 369,000 gallons in December 2014.  The leak was repaired within a few…

Ohio Supreme Court to Hear Appeal on Expansion of Implied Covenants

April 24, 2017

Ohio Supreme Court to hear case seeking to expand the implied covenant to reasonably develop to include the obligation to explore deeper formations in Alford v. Collins-McGregor Operating Company, Washington App. No. 16CA9, 2016-Ohio-5082.

In this case, the plaintiff landowners sought a declaration of partial forfeiture of their leases, as to all depths below the Gordon Sand Formation, on the…

New Jersey Town Claims it Was HooDooed by Pipeline Company

April 5, 2017

Chesterfield Township, New Jersey has sued Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company (Transco) for fraud. The Township claims that it sold a parcel of property to Transco for the construction of a compressor station, believing it would simply be used to service an existing transmission line running along the New Jersey Turnpike.  After selling the property, however, the Township learned that…

EPA Withdraws 2016 Information Request on Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry

March 9, 2017

On November 10, 2016, EPA issued an Information Collection Request requiring oil and natural gas companies to provide extensive information that EPA desired to develop regulations for reducing methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources.

The information request was sent to more than 15,000 owners and operators in the oil and gas industry. The request was comprised of two parts:  An…

Virginia Court Allows ACP Pipeline to Conduct Surveys Without Landowner Permission

February 13, 2017

According to the Nelson County Times, a trial court in Nelson County, Virginia has ruled that the Virginia statute authorizing natural gas companies to conduct surveys means what it says.   The Virginia statute provides that:

Any firm, corporation, company, or partnership, organized for the bona fide purpose of operating as a natural gas company … may make such … surveys for its…

Monkey Wrenches on the Way: Anti-Pipeline Group from the Midwest Wants in on the Appalachian Action

January 30, 2017

According to a recent publication by Inside Climate News, a group claiming to have played a pivotal role in the efforts to block the Keystone XL Pipeline, is here to help wage war against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. A group known as Bold Alliance bills itself as a network of “small and mighty” groups in rural states (Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana and Oklahoma), which…

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY THINKING LONG TERM; SEEKS 50-YEAR “TAKE” PERMIT UNDER ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

December 20, 2016

The oil and gas industry is working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) to obtain an “incidental take” permit to cover potential effects of industry activities on five bat species located in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act prohibits unpermitted “takes” of protected species, but authorizes the USFWS to issue permits for “takes” incidental…