Compel

Federal officials have won permission from a district judge to intervene in a New York lawsuit that would compel a full environmental review of the impact of natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin before proposed regulations for Marcellus Shale development are completed.

The federal government will ask a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which he filed to compel a full environmental review of proposed regulations for Marcellus Shale development in the Delaware River Basin.

Range Production Co.’s lawsuit to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide documents related to its investigation of Range’s alleged contamination of water wells in the Barnett Shale region in North Texas was dismissed without prejudice in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Judge Lee Yeakel said Range’s pursuit of the documents in conjunction with a case before the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) was rendered moot when the RRC found Range to be not responsible for methane in the water wells (see Shale Daily, March 23). Range and EPA are still battling in federal court over the agency’s enforcement action against Range.

Range Production Co.’s lawsuit to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide documents related to its investigation of Range’s alleged contamination of water wells in the Barnett Shale region in North Texas was dismissed without prejudice in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Judge Le Yeakel said Range’s pursuit of the documents in conjunction with a case before the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) was rendered moot when the RRC found Range to be not responsible for methane in the water wells (see Daily GPI, March 23). Range and EPA are still battling in federal court over the agency’s enforcement action against Range.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a complaint against Range Resources Corp. to compel its compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) order last month that claims at least two water wells in Parker County, TX, “have been significantly impacted by…methane contamination” from its oil and gas operations in the Barnett Shale.

Chevron Corp. shareholders on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to compel the oil major to issue an environmental protection report on its worldwide operations.