Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Democrat representing Pennsylvania 17th Congressional District, has asked the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) to provide records about its process for monitoring the handling and disposal of wastes from hydraulic fracturing. Rep. Cartwright made the request as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs, which is part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Waste from hydraulic fracturing is regulated as a non-hazardous waste by state governments under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act. “The Subcommittee minority is conducting this oversight to determine … Continue Reading

In a case of first impression in Pennsylvania, Judge Matthew Brann of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held that an extension payment made by a predecessor-in-interest of the lessee to a predecessor-in-interest of the lessor was sufficient to extend the lease, where the lessee did not have notice of the change in ownership as required by the lease.
In Danko Holdings, LP v. EXCO Resources (PA), LLC, the lease at issue provided that the lessee was not bound by a change in ownership “until furnished with such documentation as Lessee may reasonably require.”  … Continue Reading

The possible environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing are evidently a hot subject for research. Yale University researchers recently released yet another study on the topic, this one assessing the relative rate of residents’ rates of complaints regarding their health in relation to the proximity of those residents’ homes to natural gas wells. The study categorized proximity into three groups: those less than one kilometer from a gas well, those between one and two kilometers from a gas well, and those further than two kilometers from a gas well. The study found that residents living closer to the gas wells … Continue Reading

On July 17, 2014, the Third Circuit affirmed a grant of a motion to dismiss in connection with a claim that an oil and gas lease had expired (Messner v. SWEPI LP, No. 13-3813, slip op. (3d Cir. July 17, 2014)).
The lessor claimed that vertical wells drilled to the Marcellus Shale formation and then shut-in (but not fraced or producing or, allegedly, not capable of producing without further work) did not qualify for shut-in payments under the lease to perpetuate the lease beyond the primary term. SWEPI LP, the lessee, argued that based on the shut-in language … Continue Reading

On June 6, 2014, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kale filed criminal charges against a fracking waste hauling company and its owner.The company and its owner face charges for violating Pennsylvania’s SolidWaste Management Act and Clean Streams Law, overbilling customers, and participating in multiple criminal conspiracies to commit insurance fraud.According to a presentment by a statewide grand jury, the company allowed oil, waste, and other pollutants to run into storm drains. The presentment also stated that the company allowed radioactive waste to leak onto the ground at its facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The company is further accused of storing waste … Continue Reading

Three Pennsylvania state representatives plan to introduce legislation that would separate regulations for conventional and unconventional drilling operations, asserting that “conventional drilling is, without question, far different than drilling in the Marcellus Shale, and it simply makes no sense to apply the same standards to these operations.”

They argue that conventional drilling has been overlooked in the rush to develop horizontal wells to extract natural gas.

According to the legislators, the proposed substantial re-write of the state’s Oil and Gas Act, Act 13, P.L. ___, 58 Pa. C.S. §§2301-3504, puts small-scale drilling companies that provide “good, family-sustaining jobs” at risk … Continue Reading

Shareholders, including the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, are calling for Chevron, ExxonMobil, EOG Resources, Occidental Petroleum, and Pioneer Resources to disclose their hydraulic fracturing risk assessments.

In their Proposal No. 6 on Chevron’s 2014 Proxy Statement which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Sisters of St. Francis state that “Chevron does not provide investors with relevant metrics necessary to assess the company’s exposure to risks associated with the impacts of hydraulic fracturing operations and whether the company is effectively mitigating those risks.”

The Sisters propose that the company prepare an annual report containing information … Continue Reading

On April 16, 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) issued a long-awaited report concerning shale gas activities in the state’s forests. In late 2010, the Bureau of Forestry initiated a Shale-Gas Monitoring Program to “track, detect, and report on the impacts of” shale gas development and “to provide objective and credible information to the public and inform and improve shale-gas management efforts.”
According to the report, there are approximately 1.5 million acres of state forest located over the Marcellus Shale. Of that acreage, 44% (673,000 acres) is available for gas development. Leases would restrict surface disturbance … Continue Reading

In a decision dated December 19, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Middle District, struck down major portions of Act 13, P.L. ___, 58 Pa. C.S. §§2301-3504 (a substantial re-write of the Commonwealth’s Oil and Gas Act) as unconstitutional. Robinson Township, et al v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, et al, No. 284 MD 2012

In the 4-2 decision, the Court held that portions of Act 13 violated the Environmental Rights Amendment of the state’s constitution and denied due process rights by “unconstitutionally, as a matter of substantive due process, usurp[ing] local municipalities’ duty to impose and enforce community planning . . … Continue Reading