Posts Tagged Legal

Special Report: U.S. Builders Hoard Mineral Rights Under New Homes

Reuters Special Report       Wed Oct 9, 2013
Robert and Julie Davidson fell hard for the gleaming new house at the Valencia Golf and Country Club in Naples, Florida. They loved the way the palm-fringed, Spanish-style home backed up to the fifth-hole fairway. And they were taken with the three-bedrooms high ceilings and open plan. Plus the neighborhood with its power-washed driveways, blooming hibiscus and guarded gatehouse seemed all dressed up. 
But when the Davidsons paid $255,385 in 2011 for

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Controversy in the Loyalsock

Mark Szybist     Staff Attorney      PennFuture
What are the Clarence Moore Lands?
The Clarence Moore lands are 25,621 acres of “split estate” lands in the Loyalsock State Forest where the surface rights are owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the oil and gas rights are owned by two private parties – an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (Anadarko) and a private company called International Development Corporation (IDC). The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) calls this

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Drillers Silence Fracking Claims With Sealed Settlements

Jim Efstathiou Jr. & Mark Drajem     Bloomberg Businessweek    June 06, 2013
Chris and Stephanie Hallowich were sure drilling for natural gas near their Pennsylvania home was to blame for the headaches, burning eyes and sore throats they suffered after the work began.
The companies insisted hydraulic fracturing the technique they used to free underground gas wasn’t the cause. Nevertheless, in 2011, a year after the family sued, Range Resources Corp (RRC). and two other companies agreed to

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NY, 6 Other States Will Sue Over Drilling Methane

Kevin Begos     Associated Press    December 11, 2012
Seven Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states announced plans Tuesday to sue the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, which has boomed in nearby states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said in a news release Tuesday that the EPA is violating the Clean Air Act by failing to address the emissions.

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Request from Range Resources Dismissed by Court

Christie Campbell       Observer-Reporter       Nov 16, 2012
Washington County Court Judge Katherine B. Emery has denied a request by Range Resources to order three Amwell Township families to provide specific evidence that their water supply was contaminated by nearby natural gas drilling activity.
The case involves homeowners Stacey Haney and her two children, Beth and John Voyles and their daughter, and Loren and Grace Kiskadden. They are suing Range Resources and 16 other companies, saying they have suffered health

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PA Officials Seek Expedited Review of Act 13 Appeal

Laura Olson      Pittsburgh Post-Gazette        July 31, 2012
State officials are seeking a speedy review by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of their appeal to a decision last week overturning statewide zoning for shale gas drilling.
That request, outlined in a legal brief filed on Monday, asks the Supreme Court to hear the case during its October session in Pittsburgh.
Attorney representing the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are appealing the decision from

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PA Court Overturns Act 13 Zoning Rules

Laura Olson & Erich Schwartzel    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette     July 27, 2012
HARRISBURG A dispute over Pennsylvanias attempt to establish statewide zoning for Marcellus Shale drilling likely is headed to the states top court, after an appellate panel on Thursday overturned the new rules.
Judges on the Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania cannot require municipalities to allow drilling in areas where it would conflict with their zoning rules, siding with several towns challenging the five-month-old law.
That law enacted

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Insurance Companies Are Slow to Cover Risks of Drilling

Erich Schwartzel         Pittsburgh Post-Gazette     July 25, 2012
As gas drilling expands across Pennsylvania and into neighboring states, the insurance industry is trading memos expressing trepidation and uncertainty over how to assess the risk involved in covering the controversial development.
One company has written an exclusion that forces clients working with oil and gas companies to obtain additional coverage. An industry group drafted a memo encouraging brokers to brush up on potential liabilities, even including knowledge of the rare earthquakes said

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Chesapeake to Pay $1.6 Million for Contaminating Water Wells in Bradford County

Susan Phillips    StateImpact PA   June 21, 2011
Chesa­peake has a large pres­ence in Brad­ford County. A bill­board touts the gas company’s sup­port of a local hospital.
Chesa­peake Energy has agreed to pay $1.6 mil­lion in dam­ages to three fam­i­lies in Wyalus­ing, Brad­ford County. The case may be the first Mar­cel­lus con­t­a­m­i­na­tion law­suit to get resolved with­out a nondis­clo­sure agree­ment, mean­ing the par­ties can speak freely about the case. Todd O’Malley, an attor­ney for two of the fam­i­lies, says the plain­tiffs

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PA Gas Drilling Law Debated in State Court

Laura Olson       Pittsburgh Post-Gazette        June 7, 2012
HARRISBURG Did the state overreach in its new law outlining where drilling sites and compressor stations can be located, or are municipal officials out of bounds in seeking to retain the ability to manage the industry themselves?
That question is now before a panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges, who spent more than an hour on Wednesday morning firing questions at attorneys dueling over the legality of the states new gas drilling

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