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Mealey's Fracking

  • July 14, 2025

    Trump’s Signature Act Expands Fracking, Cuts Royalties, Rescinds Methane Charge

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA) expands federal leasing for hydraulic fracturing and conventional oil drilling in onshore and offshore locations by mandating federal lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet, by opening at least 20 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for drilling, by making at least 1.6 million acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) available for drilling by 2032 and by reducing onshore royalties for new leases.

  • July 11, 2025

    Landowner: Fracking Company’s Bid To Compel Arbitration Is ‘Severely Flawed’

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A landowner who is suing a hydraulic fracturing operator in a royalty payment dispute has filed a brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that the company’s motion to compel arbitration and stay the case is “severely flawed on its face and is replete with omissions which swiftly undercut” its “misguided request.”

  • July 11, 2025

    Federal Agencies Balk At Group’s FOIA Request Tied To Trump’s Energy Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other federal agencies have filed an answer in a federal court in the District of Columbia, denying allegations brought by an environmental group that contends that the agencies are withholding records pertaining to how they are implementing President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.”  The defendants say the group, which seeks the materials pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, is “not entitled to compel the production of any record or portion of any record protected from disclosure by one or more of the exclusions or exemptions” to FOIA.

  • July 10, 2025

    States Want To Intervene In Youths’ Suit Over Fossil Fuel Executive Orders

    BUTTE, Mont. — A group of 19 sovereign states and one territory led by Montana want in on a federal lawsuit filed by 22 minors and young adults against President Donald J. Trump and several government agencies seeking to rescind and declare unconstitutional a series of executive orders that include directives to increase fossil fuel production, alleging “unique interests” in the case due to threats to their economies, use of land and budgets if the orders are eliminated.

  • July 10, 2025

    Group Reasserts Standing To Challenge Decommissioning Of Offshore Oil Rigs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An environmental group has filed a combined brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that it has standing and it has a claim that is justiciable under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and other federal energy officials for their failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related to the decommissioning of offshore hydraulic fracturing rigs.

  • July 10, 2025

    Energy Company Reiterates Its Stance That Offshore Fracking Lease Challenge Fails

    LOS ANGELES — An energy company has filed a reply brief in California federal court arguing that oil and gas operations in the Santa Ynez Unit were approved previously by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), yet environmental groups ask the court to “ignore these inconvenient facts and second-guess the BSEE” in a way that the U.S. Supreme Court “unequivocally rejected” in its recent decision in Seven Cnty. Infrastructure Coal. v. Eagle Cnty., Colo.

  • July 09, 2025

    Agency, Fracking Trade Group Say Case Over Final Rule For Offshore Leasing Fails

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API), which are engaged in a dispute with environmental groups over a final rule issued by the BOEM in 2020 that updated air quality control and reporting and compliance regulations governing oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf, have filed reply briefs in a federal court in the District of Columbia. The BOEM argues that the groups’ challenge lacks merit, and the API says that challenge is “misguided.”

  • July 09, 2025

    Texas High Court Says Fracking Operator Gets Rights To Produced Water

    AUSTIN, Texas — In a case of first impression, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a hydraulic fracturing lease “using typical language to convey oil-and-gas rights” gives the fracking operator rights to what is referred to as produced water.  The court said that if the surface owner wants to retain ownership of that water, the reservation or exception from the mineral conveyance “must be express and cannot be implied.”

  • July 08, 2025

    Plaintiffs Say Defendants’ Citation To Supplemental Authority In Shale Case Fails

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The plaintiffs in multidistrict antitrust litigation against shale oil producers on July 7 filed a brief in New Mexico federal court arguing that a case asserted by the defendants as supplemental authority in support of their motion to dismiss is “distinguishable from the present case on multiple grounds,” and the case should not be dismissed because investigations by the Federal Trade Commission “uncovered evidence of collusive communications to restrict output” of oil.

  • July 01, 2025

    In Fracking Saga, States Say Continental Shelf Law Is Partly Unconstitutional

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — States and a coalition of energy producers that operate in the Gulf of Mexico on June 30 filed a brief in Louisiana federal court seeking summary judgment and a declaration deeming part of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) unconstitutional under the nondelegation doctrine.  They also seek a ruling that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s withdrawal memos related to offshore hydraulic fracturing were “unlawful and ultra vires” because they were issued under the OCSLA section in question in a long-running dispute that has spanned presidential administrations.

  • June 17, 2025

    Split Panel ‘Largely’ Affirms Ruling On Willow Project, Remands Without Vacatur

    SAN FRANCISCO — A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 16 “largely” affirmed a lower court’s order that granted summary judgment for government defendants in a hydraulic fracturing dispute related to the Willow Project, a fracking operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The majority remanded the case without vacatur, holding that some aspects of the government’s approval of the project were “arbitrary and capricious” but that other elements of the decision complied with federal law.

  • June 17, 2025

    Groups Amend Complaint Against Trump Related To Order Calling For Coastal Fracking

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Environmental groups on June 16 filed an amended complaint in Alaska federal court naming specific harm they allege will result from President Donal J. Trump’s executive order that reopened areas of the outer continental shelf (OCS) for hydraulic fracturing.

  • June 09, 2025

    Oil Companies, Government Say Groups Lack Standing, Injury In Drilling Permit Case

    FRESNO, Calif. — Chevron USA Inc. and another oil company on June 6 filed a joint reply brief in California federal court arguing that it should dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmental groups challenging federal approval of permits to drill in the San Joaquin Valley because they fail to plausibly allege standing.  The same day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) filed a reply brief contending that dismissal is warranted because there is no causal connection between the plaintiffs’ purported air pollution-related injury and the small amount of future air pollution that might be attributable to the challenged permit.

  • June 09, 2025

    Company Says ‘All Leases’ Class Should Be Stricken From Mineral Rights Lawsuit

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A hydraulic fracturing company filed a brief in West Virginia federal court arguing that the district court should strike the “All Leases” class in the fourth amended complaint in a mineral rights dispute because “there is no reliable and administratively feasible method to determine the putative class members” and contending that the plaintiffs’ proposed method for identifying the leases that would fall under its “All Leases” Class “would necessarily transform what is intended to be a relatively uncontroversial initial step in class action litigation into a substantial, rigorous legal analysis implicating the merits.”

  • June 06, 2025

    Groups Say Federal Agency Violated Law When It Passed Offshore Fracking Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental groups have filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia opposing separate cross-motions for summary judgment filed by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) in a dispute over a final rule issued by the BOEM in 2020 that updated air quality control and reporting and compliance regulations governing oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf.  The groups contend that “Defendants’ cramped reading” of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act “is contrary to the plain language and legislative history of the statute, and the Final Rule does not even fulfill the most constrained interpretation of OCSLA.”

  • June 06, 2025

    Energy Company Says Groups’ California Offshore Fracking Lease Challenge Is ‘Moot’

    LOS ANGELES — An energy company has moved in California federal court for an order denying the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and granting the energy company’s cross-motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups that contend that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and agencies under his purview violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and other federal laws when they issued lease extensions for 16 offshore oil and gas leases in the Santa Ynez Unit.  The energy company’s argument that the plaintiffs’ claims are “moot” was echoed in a brief filed by the federal defendants on the same day.

  • June 06, 2025

    Trump Administration Says Case Over Executive Order About Fracking In Alaska Fails

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Trump administration has moved in Alaska federal court seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it related to Trump’s executive order reopening areas of the continental shelf for hydraulic fracturing, arguing that the plaintiffs lack jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and contending that the claims against Trump are barred by sovereign immunity, among other reasons.

  • June 04, 2025

    Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Leaseholders’ Title Claim Against Fracking Operator

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A split state appellate panel in Pennsylvania has issued a nonprecedential and unpublished opinion affirming a lower court’s ruling in favor of a hydraulic fracturing operator in a lease dispute, concluding that there was no genuine issue of material fact to counter the operator’s claim that it had engaged in activities sufficient to extend a drilling lease and, therefore, the leaseholder’s lawsuit failed.

  • June 04, 2025

    Judge Orders Fracking Company To Comply With Discovery Request In Royalty Dispute

    CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal magistrate judge on June 3 granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery in a royalty payment dispute with a hydraulic fracturing company, ruling that the information the plaintiff seeks, namely, documents and communications concerning the payment and distribution of royalties, is relevant to the case.

  • June 04, 2025

    Kansas Seeks To Intervene In Shale Oil Antitrust Case To ‘Defend Its Sovereignty’

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  — The state of Kansas on June 4 filed a reply brief in New Mexico federal court arguing that it should be granted limited intervention in the antitrust multidistrict litigation related to shale oil to “defend its sovereignty” and contending that it already possesses standing.

  • June 03, 2025

    Judge: Offshore Fracking Lease Case Dating Back To Biden Presidency Is Not Moot

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge has denied a motion for judgment on the pleadings filed by intervenor environmental groups in a dispute over federal offshore hydraulic fracturing leases dating back to the Biden administration, ruling that the matter is not moot and the court “can grant effective declaratory relief addressing the legality of these actions.”

  • June 03, 2025

    Pa. High Court Says Tax Sale Did Not Divest Mineral Owners Of Their Interests

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in answering a question certified by the Third Circuit U.S. Court Appeals in a protracted mineral rights dispute, has ruled that a 1908 tax sale did not constitute what is known as a “title wash” regarding the surface and subsurface mineral estate for certain tracts of land.  Rather, the sale acted as “a mere redemption of taxes owed” and, as such, did not divest the subsurface owners of their interest in the property.

  • June 03, 2025

    Agency Proposes Rescinding Rule Restricting Oil Development in Alaska

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released an announcement on its website on June 2 stating that the agency has proposed rescinding a rule put in place last year that added new restrictions on oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

  • June 03, 2025

    Officials: Group Fails To Show ‘Concrete Injury’ Tied To Oil Rig Decommissioning

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and other federal energy officials have filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that an environmental group suing the government for failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) related to the decommissioning of offshore hydraulic fracturing rigs does not have standing because it fails to identify “concrete injury causally connected to discrete agency action related to decommissioning.”

  • June 02, 2025

    Federal Agencies Deny Navajo Nation’s Challenge To Chaco Canyon Mineral Withdrawal

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Former Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland and other federal defendants on May 30 filed a response in New Mexico federal court denying claims brought against them by the Navajo Nation, which has sued Haaland alleging that she failed to adhere to statutory obligations when she implemented what is called the Chaco Canyon Withdrawal of mineral resources.  The defendants also say that, in light of President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” they are “potentially revisiting” the decision to withdraw.