California Lawmakers Making a Strong Push to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) on February 25, 2021, approved a new regulation formally prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF), or fracking, in the Delaware River Basin. The final rule makes permanent...more
The US Department of Energy submitted a report to the president last month on “Economic and National Security Impacts under a Hydraulic Fracturing Ban.” This 80-page report analyzed the effects of a hypothetical United States...more
Let's be frank. The institution of a fracking ban would simply be bad policy for the U.S. oil and gas industry. In quantifying this position, I want to highlight a paper that was published in January by Michael Lynch of the...more
SEC Drops Probe of Exxon's Accounting Practices - "The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its probe into whether ExxonMobil misled investors about its knowledge of climate change and the potential effects on...more
Oil World Turns Upside Down as U.S. Sells Oil in Middle East - "Yet, in a trade that illustrates how the rise of the American shale industry is upending energy markets across the globe, the U.A.E. bought oil directly from...more
Two Democrats joined the Republicans in the Colorado House of Representatives on April 4, 2016, to defeat a bill that sought to assert local government control over oil and gas drilling. Drilling operations in Colorado have...more
When New York officially banned hydraulic fracturing in late June 2015, many assumed the long-heated political debate was over and there would be no fracing in New York unless the courts overturned the ban. In less than a...more
There is little doubt that lower commodity prices have triggered changes in the oil and gas sector. While capital remains available, independent oil and gas producers will face challenges if prices do not rebound in the near...more
In This Issue: - Breaking News: America's Next Energy Hub - Philadelphia Dealt Major Setback - First Long-Term Comprehensive Field Study of Natural Gas Underway - 1,000 More Miles of Pipeline Planned to...more
A Colorado state judge recently struck down a city’s voter-approved moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” This marks the second time a Colorado judge has quashed a city’s fracking ban within a matter of two...more
This Wednesday in Raleigh will see the first of four upcoming public hearings in North Carolina over the state’s proposed fracking rules. The hearings are part of the final phase of rule making, coming after two years of...more
Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed legislation that would have banned the treatment, discharge, and disposal of fracking wastewater in the state, arguing that the bill violated the United States...more
On Monday, June 30, the highest courts in both New York and Colorado confirmed local municipalities' rights to regulate land use within their jurisdictions. The New York State Court of Appeals upheld two towns' bans on shale...more
On Monday, New York’s highest court—the New York Court of Appeals—upheld local bans on shale gas drilling designed to eliminate hydraulic fracturing. The 5-2 decision clears the way for drilling opponents to target fracking...more
Yesterday, Senate Bill 1132 failed in the Senate. In a 18-16 vote, SB 1132 fell three votes short of the necessary majority. The bill was introduced by Senators Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and Mark Leno on February 20,...more
Yesterday, the California State Senate rejected a bill that would have put a moratorium on fracking until a state-commissioned study determined that it was safe. The bill, Senate Bill 1132, would have prohibited all “well...more
Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down a state law that required municipalities to permit oil and gas drilling in all zoning districts, including those designated exclusively for residential use. In a 4 to 2...more
In the approximately 31 states with known reserves amenable to hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a tug of war is being waged between an oil and gas industry seeking to protect its proprietary processes and environmental...more
The public comment period for new federal regulations regarding fracking on public lands—the first substantive update to the rules in three decades—ended on Friday with over 1 million submissions from both critics and...more
At a conference in Los Angeles at the end of July, the chair of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Felicia Marcus, noted that the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources...more
In an Independence Day gift to plaintiffs, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in Strudley v. Antero Resources Corp., No. 12CA1251 (July 3, 2013), that Colorado law does not allow pre-discovery Lone Pine orders, often used by...more
During 2012, several states adopted new statutory and regulation programs addressing the exploitation of shale resources within their boundaries. Continuing a common election year theme, Congress took no significant formal...more