Oil and Gas Update

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…

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…

Federal court in Pennsylvania Invalidates Township Ordinance Prohibiting Oil and Gas Waste Disposal

April 12, 2017

By opinion of March 31, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania invalidated an ordinance adopted by Pennsylvania’s Grant Township.  The Township’s “Community Bill of Rights Ordinance” prohibited corporations from “engaging in the depositing of waste from oil and gas extraction” and invalidated any “permit, license, privilege, charter or other authority issued…

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…

Maryland General Assembly Bans Fracking

April 3, 2017

Prior law in Maryland required its Department of the Environment to adopt a regulation by October 1, 2016 for the hydraulic fracturing of wells for exploration or production of natural gas, but provided they would not become effective until October 1, 2017. Further, the Department was prohibited from issuing fracking permits until October 2017.

A new bill passed by both the House and Senate of the…

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…

Little Known Agency Assumes New Enforcement Powers

October 19, 2016

A little known federal agency in charge of pipeline safety has just issued a new regulation that represents a major change in its enforcement authority over regulated pipelines. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, has announced an “Interim Final Rule” (IFR) on its website which will authorize it to…

ExxonMobil Sued by Climate Activists for Failure to Account for Climate Risks to Oil Storage Facility in Massachusetts

October 7, 2016

The Conservation Law Foundation has sued Exxon in Massachusetts for failing to acknowledge and respond to climate-based risks posed to the environment by its petroleum terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. The Complaint claims the terminal lies below the level of a storm surge that occurred in 1978 and if FEMA were to update flood hazard maps through the area, then the terminal would likely fall…

Sierra Club Expands War on Gas in Challenge to Air Permit for Gas Plant: Claims Emissions from Gas Supply Pipeline and Associated Compression Should be Included in Analyses

August 23, 2016

The Sierra Club and its acolytes have openly derided those who advocate using gas as a “bridge fuel.” Now, the group seeks to slow the construction of both a new gas-fired power plant in Virginia and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline slated to provide fuel to the Plant.  The Appalachian Mountain Advocates (“Appalmad”), who serve frequently as counsel to the Sierra Club, have bragged…

EPA’s Science Advisory Board Critiques EPA Assessment of Hydrofracking Impacts on Water Resources

August 17, 2016

In 2009, Congress asked EPA to examine the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water resources. In June 2015, EPA released for external review a draft report entitled “Assessment of the Potential Impacts for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources.”  The Executive Summary observed that the Assessment “synthesizes available scientific literature and data to assess the…

There is an Implied Right to Pool an Oil and Gas Lease

April 20, 2016

In a case of first impression in West Virginia, on April 15, 2016, Judge David W. Hummel, Chief Judge of the 2^nd Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler Counties, West Virginia), entered an order ruling that there is an implied right to pool an oil and gas lease. The case, American Energy – Marcellus, LLC v. Poling, et al., Civil Action No. 15-C-34 H, involved an 1894 lease held by…