Class

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy Inc.’s motion to dismiss what could be a class action lawsuit filed against it last year for allegedly deducting post-production costs from royalty payments in the state.

Fearing that the downturn in oil and natural gas prices has battered the finances of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and could eventually threaten an $18 million settlement with thousands of Pennsylvania landowners, two plaintiffs have filed a motion for court ordered mediation to approve the settlement swiftly.

The safeguards enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state regulators to protect underground sources of drinking water from contamination by Class II injection wells don’t adequately address emerging threats like seismic activity, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.

A federal judge last Monday certified five separate class action cases against EQT Corp. and Consol Energy Corp. that could potentially add up to 15,000 plaintiffs in Southwest Virginia alleging that the companies cheated them out of millions of dollars in royalty payments (seeDaily GPI,Sept. 18). In dispute are past payments for coalbed methane (CBM) gas production in the far western corner of the state dating back 23 years.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday ordered that some payments required to be paid by BP plc be halted to Gulf Coast businesses claiming they were impacted by the Macondo well blowout.

A decision by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) that D&L Energy Inc. cannot keep its injection well permits and must properly dispose stored material has been upheld by the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission.

Despite a dozen small earthquakes in 2011 blamed on wastewater disposal wells, voters in the City of Youngstown, OH, stood firm on Tuesday and defeated, by a 57-43% margin, an amendment to the city’s charter that would have banned hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

D&L Energy Inc. has filed an appeal with the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, asking it to overturn the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) decision to revoke six of the company’s permits, deny three permit applications and order a halt to all temporary storage operations near Youngstown, after oilfield waste was illegally dumped into waterways near Youngstown in late January.

Authorities have charged D&L Energy Inc. CEO Ben Lupo with one count of violating the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) after allegedly ordering an employee to dump oilfield waste into a storm drain that empties into the Mahoning River near Youngstown, OH.