Showing posts with label Dimock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dimock. Show all posts

Monday, August 14, 2017

Shale Law Weekly Review - August 14, 2017

Written by Jacqueline Schweichler - Education Programs Coordinator
The following information is an update of recent local, state, national, and international legal developments relevant to shale gas.

Water Quality: Cabot Oil Files Suit Against Dimock Township Resident for Harassment
On August 7, 2017, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (Cabot) filed suit against Dimock, Pennsylvania resident, Ray Kemble and his legal team (Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation v. Charles Speer et al.). Cabot claims the defendants abused the legal process and lacked probable cause in their April 2017 complaint against Cabot. Cabot also claims that the defendant’s complaint breached their settlement agreement and now seeks to recover 5 million in punitive damages. Lawsuits against Cabot were initially brought in 2009 by Dimock residents who claimed their water was contaminated by nearby hydraulic fracturing operations.
Pipelines: Sunoco and Environmental Groups File Settlement Agreement for Mariner East 2
On  August 8, 2017, the Clean Air Council and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed a proposed settlement agreement regarding Sunoco Pipeline L.P.’s Mariner East 2 Pipeline. The settlement follows a court order prohibiting construction activities by Sunoco. Under the settlement agreement, Sunoco must perform several evaluations by re-examining geology at sites where spills or “inadvertent returns” occur. In addition, Sunoco must consider additional data, conduct geotechnical evaluations, including sampling, surveys, radar and tomography.

Pipelines: Hearings Begin for Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska
On August 7, 2017, the Nebraska Public Service Commission commenced an evidentiary hearing on TransCanada’s application for the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline is a “36-inch diameter crude oil pipeline, beginning in Hardisty, Alberta and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska.” The hearing continued for five days and included witness testimony, exhibits, and cross examination. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, attorneys for landowners primarily questioned how TransCanada plans to avoid damaging land and natural resources. Recordings of the hearing can be found on Nebraska’s PBS & NPR Station.

Public Lands: Repeal of Oil and Gas Valuation Rule for Federal Leases
On August 8, 2017, the Office of Natural Resources Revenue published in the Federal Register their intent to repeal the Consolidated Federal Oil & Gas and Federal Indian Coal Valuation Reform Final Rule. The rule amended regulations governing oil and gas royalty valuation for Federal and Indian leases. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior press release, the rule “created confusion and uncertainty regarding how companies report and pay royalties…” The repeal will go into effect on September 6, 2017, and previous valuation regulations will be reinstated.
Public Lands: BLM Requests Comment On Oil and Gas Leasing in Alaska
On August 7, 2017, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published in the Federal Register a Call for Nominations and Comments for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Oil and Gas Lease Sale. The call for nominations affects 22.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska as well as all tracks under the NPR-A Oil and Gas Lease Sale. Nominations and comments are due by September 6, 2017. The BLM press release can be found here.  
Induced Seismicity: Oklahoma Governor Creates Task Force to Evaluate Oklahoma Corporation Commission
On August 7, 2017, Mary Fallin, Governor of Oklahoma issued an executive order creating a Task Force to conduct an organizational analysis of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) for the purpose of improving agency operations. The OCC regulates oil and gas drilling as well as enforces federal regulations for underground injection of water and chemicals. The Task Force will conduct a performance assessment, assess the OCC’s mission, examine funding, and evaluate the OCC’s structure. The final report  is due to the governor by November 15, 2018.

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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Shale Law in the Spotlight: Legal Developments Continue in the Effort to Assess Responsibility for Water Contamination in Dimock, Pennsylvania

Written by Chloe Marie – Research Fellow

More than eight years ago, contaminated drinking water wells, and their relationship with nearby gas wells, placed rural Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, at the center of the international shale debate. With a recent federal court ruling setting aside a multi-million-dollar jury award against the well operator, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (Cabot) and the filing of a new lawsuit by a landowner seeking damages against this well operator, legal developments exploring the responsibility of Cabot for this water contamination continue on. The legal battle between Cabot and some residents of Dimock Township began in early 2009 following the explosion of a residential water well, due to methane accumulation in the water wellhead, at the home of Norma Fiorentino on New Year’s Day. This residential water well was located in the vicinity of the several gas wells operated by Cabot. During this time period, several other residents also reported a degradation in their drinking water supplies due to what they alleged to be the discharge and spillage of pollutants associated with shale gas development.

In January 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began an immediate investigation to identify the causes for those incidents. DEP’s investigation revealed high levels of dissolved methane and the presence of combustible gas in some of the nearby drinking water wells. Subsequently, DEP put in place a temporary moratorium on Cabot’s drilling activities in the Dimock area. In a Consent Order and Agreement dated November 4, 2009, DEP requested Cabot to develop and submit a casing and cementing plan, the purpose of which was to ensure the integrity of each new well to be drilled in the affected area. Furthermore, DEP required Cabot to provide and maintain temporary potable water supplies to residents until it identified and implemented corrective actions to comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations.

Less than one month after the issuance of the Consent Order, on November 19, 2009, some local residents filed a lawsuit against Cabot in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania arguing that Cabot’s drilling operations had been improperly conducted, resulting for the residents in “health injuries, loss of use and enjoyment of their property, loss of quality of life, emotional distress, and other damages.”

As part of the ongoing investigation, DEP found that Cabot did not fully eliminate the risks of water contamination and did not restore or replace the affected water well supplies; therefore, on December 15, 2010, DEP and Cabot entered into a modified and final Consent Order and Settlement Agreement. Among other things, the Consent Order mandated that Cabot eliminate unpermitted natural gas discharges into state waters either by plugging wells or by using remedial actions as well as undertaking additional screening and water sampling. Furthermore, Cabot was required to establish an escrow fund in order to restore or replace the water supplies and to provide temporary whole house water supplies and fund residential water well treatment systems for selected residents. Finally, Cabot agreed to pay $500,000 to help DEP offset some of the costs associated with the investigation along with $4.1 million to the affected residents. Some of them, however, refused to settle, including the Ely and Hubert families. Thus, these plaintiffs continued to pursue the civil litigation that was filed on November 19, 2009.

In October 2011, Dimock residents requested EPA to further investigate the matter, which EPA agreed to do in November 2011. A month later, the EPA Region 3 Office asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), an agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, to conduct an analysis of available water well data in the Dimock area. After reviewing the available data, ATSDR supported a “Do Not Use Until Further Notice” action for residential water wells fearing a risk for public health due to elevated levels of chemicals in the water. ATSDR also recommended that additional groundwater quality sampling be conducted. Meanwhile, following a request from Cabot, DEP authorized the corporation to stop supplying temporary water supplies to the affected residents in November 2011 on the basis that Cabot had satisfied its obligations under the Consent Order and Agreement.  

EPA, together with ATSDR, carried out successive water samplings on 64 private water wells from January to July 2012 and, based on the results of the sampling, found traces of toxic substances in certain wells, including lithium, arsenic, barium and manganese. On July 25, 2012, EPA concluded, however, that “the sampling and an evaluation of the particular circumstances at each home did not indicate levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action,” and thus ended its investigation. Shortly thereafter, in August 2012, DEP lifted the drilling moratorium on Cabot’s natural gas operations in the Dimock area.

Once Cabot resumed its natural gas drilling and completion activities, some residents remained concerned about changes in the quality of their drinking water, and thus they specifically requested the ATSDR to review the 2012 EPA water sampling data. In May 2016, the ATSDR released a new report – this time without any further intervention of EPA - reevaluating the 2012 water data and “recommend[ing] that people take steps to reduce health risks from exposure to contaminants found in their residential private wells.” More precisely, ATSDR found “some of the chemicals in the private water wells at this site at levels high enough to affect health (27 private wells), pose a physical hazard (17 private water wells), or make the water unsuitable for drinking.” According to the report, “this health consultation completes the ATSDR assessment of the EPA 2012 private well water data” and the findings and recommendations in this report “supersede” the prior ATSDR recommendations.

In late February 2016, the Dimock residents finally proceeded to trial. After years of multiple dispositive motions and extensions of time as well as extensive briefing, the jury reached a verdict on March 10, 2016, holding Cabot responsible for water contamination in Dimock Township arising from its natural gas exploration and production activities. The jury directed Cabot to pay a total of $4.25 million to the remaining plaintiffs covering property and private nuisance damages. On April 7, 2016, however, Cabot filed a number of post-trial motions including a motion for judgment as a matter of law, a motion for new trial, a motion to set aside verdict, and a motion for damages remittitur.

On March 31, 2017, in a Memorandum Opinion, the U.S. District Court denied Cabot’s motion for judgment as a matter of law but “agree[d] with Cabot that the weaknesses in the plaintiffs’ case and proof, coupled with serious and troubling irregularities in the testimony and presentation of the plaintiffs’ case . . . combined so thoroughly to undermine faith in the jury’s verdict that it must be vacated and a new trial ordered.” Thus, the U.S. District Court granted Cabot’s motions to set aside the verdict and placed the case on a path for a new trial.

On April 13, 2017, Raymond Kemble, a Dimock resident, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleging that Cabot’s shale operations constituted a “private, temporary, continuing, abatable nuisance, and negligence/recklessness.” Kemble stated in his complaint that “[his] property, [his] livelihood, and [his] quality of life have all been negatively impacted and [he] is no longer able to enjoy his home and property in the way he previously enjoyed prior to [Cabot’s drilling activities].”

While significant legal developments have occurred in the past eight years, it does not appear that these legal developments will be concluded in the near future. Stay tuned for any further legal developments!


Further information on both lawsuits Ely et al. v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and  Kemble v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation et al. can be found respectively at docket no. 3:09-cv-02284 and no. 3:17-cv-00665 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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Monday, April 24, 2017

Shale Law Weekly Review - April 24, 2017

Written by Jacqueline Schweichler - Education Programs Coordinator

The following information is an update of recent local, state, national, and international legal developments relevant to shale gas.

Public Utility Commission Announces Intent to Appeal Stripper Well / Impact Fee Court Ruling
On April 11, 2017, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown wrote to Governor Tom Wolf announcing an intent to appeal a decision by the Commonwealth Court regarding the interpretation of low producing wells (so called “stripper wells”) that are subject to impact fee payments. (Snyder Brothers, Inc. v. Pa. Public Utility Commission, No. 1043 C.D. 2015). The court held that the language in Act 13 defined stripper wells as those that produced less than 90,000 cf of gas in at least one month, rather than less than 90,000 cf of gas in every month. Brown stated that this decision by the court “has significantly jeopardized the current and future fees generated by Act 13.  According to Brown the impact fee collection will be affected by $16 million or 10 percent of Pennsylvania's total annual impact fee.

New Dimock Township Lawsuit Filed Against Cabot Oil
On April 13, 2017, a resident of Dimock Township filed suit against Cabot Oil & Cas Corp., Gassearch Drilling Services Corp., and Williams Field Services Co. alleging that his water was contaminated as a result of natural gas exploration and production in the area (Kemble v. Cabot Oil and Gas Corp, et al.). The resident, Raymond Kemble, alleges that soon after the defendants began drilling, the water from his well became discolored and had sediment build up. The complaint seeks $75,000 plus costs, as compensation for the loss of “use and quiet enjoyment of his property” as well as punitive damages.

EPA Issues Stay of Oil and Gas Emissions Rule for Reconsideration
On April 19, 2017, a press release by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their intent to reconsider the Oil and Gas New Source Performance Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified Source Rule. The purpose of the rule was to amend source performance and establish new greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds standards for oil and natural gas operations. The EPA will issue a 90 day stay on the June 3rd compliance date originally set for the rule. The EPA is reconsidering the rule after receiving petitions for review from the Texas Oil and Gas Association, GPA Midstream Association, and other oil and gas companies. According to the letter sent from the EPA to the petitioners, the issues raised met the requirements for reconsideration of the rule.

IECA Argues Against U.S. LNG Exports
On April 13, 2017, Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA) sent a letter to United States Department of Energy Secretary detailing concerns over liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. The IECA argued that “U.S. natural gas policy should focus on how to use natural gas to “maximize” job growth.” In addition, the IECA states that exports of LNG “represent a serious threat to U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and jobs long-term.”

Pennsylvania Lawsuits Proceed Against Townships that Prohibit Injection Wells
On April 13, 2017, Citizens Advocating a Clean Healthy Environment (CACHE) and the Crystal Spring Ecosystem filed a motion to intervene in a Pennsylvania court case between Seneca Resources and Highland Township in Elk County, according to a press release issued by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) (Seneca Resources v. Highland Township).  The case involves Highland Township’s municipal ordinance that prohibits wastewater injection wells. Seneca Township filed suit against the township in 2015 arguing that the ordinance was invalid. Similarly, this year the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection filed suit against Highland Township and Grant Township in Indiana County after approving permits for a new injection well in each township. Both townships have ordinances prohibiting injection wells, which ordinances conflict with the DEP permits. According to StateImpact, the townships have agreed to temporarily halt enforcement of portions of the charters while the cases proceed.
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Thursday, July 25, 2013

House Subcommittee hosts hearing on EPA studies

On July 24, 2013 the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment hosted a hearing to examine the EPA’s prior and on-going studies on the effects of hydraulic fracturing on the environment. Witnesses from the EPA, Utah Department of Natural Resources and Cornell University fielded questions about previous EPA studies conducted in Dimock, PA, and Pavillion, WY. Questions about the quantitative rigor of the studies were fielded by every witness. In particular, why the EPA would release draft reports suggesting that hydraulic fracturing was linked to groundwater contamination, but then withdraw the reports before peer review while “standing by their validity.” Further, committee members asked witnesses what the EPA was doing to ensure its national scale report on hydraulic fracturing, expected in 2016, would not follow this same pattern.

For detailed statements by witnesses, and a web archive of the hearing, visit the House Committee on Science’s website.

Written by: Garrett Lent, Research Assistant
Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center
July 2013
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