Courts

Kern County, CA, has begun a process that could lead to resuming oil and gas well permitting in April if county supervisors approve a draft environmental report prepared after an appellate court last year set aside efforts to streamline the process. The Fifth District Court of Appeals based in Fresno, CA, halted the permitting system…

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has finalized a supplemental environmental review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a key step in resolving a permitting setback that has prevented construction on a small portion of the project routed through the Jefferson National Forest. Late last week, the USFS released a final supplemental environmental impact statement for…

A federal district court has denied ongoing legal challenges to the Trump administration’s 2019 approval of TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL oil pipeline.  In separate orders handed down late last week, Chief District Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for Montana denied requests filed by tribal and environmental groups seeking a preliminary injunction…

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has asked a district court to shelve three large-scale plans that would open most federal lands in the state to oil and gas development, arguing they were invalidated when a federal court ruled the Trump administration’s top public lands official was serving illegally. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of the District…

A federal court on Thursday paused a rescission by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Obama-era regulations to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Swift legal action against the sweeping rule change had been promised by environmental advocates, and judicial intervention had been widely anticipated by experts. The U.S. Court of…

Parties to ongoing litigation challenging the continued operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline LLC (DAPL) have agreed to a schedule that would see the last brief filed in mid-December, raising the prospect that a ruling in the case won’t arrive until after the election. Lawyers in the case, between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and…

Deliveries resumed Wednesday through both pipes in Enbridge Inc.’s 540,000 b/d Line 5 across the lake floor of the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, after a safety examination shuttered one of the conduits for 11 weeks. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) allowed the Calgary-based operator to restore full capacity. The Michigan Circuit…

Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, beset by legal and regulatory hurdles that have pushed back the startup of its 303-mile, 2 million Dth/d Appalachian natural gas conduit, has asked FERC for a two-year extension to bring the project online. Citing “unforeseen litigation and permitting delays” outside of the project’s control, MVP in a filing Tuesday with…

An administrative law judge has allowed Sunoco Pipeline LP to resume horizontal directional drilling (HDD) on a stretch of its Mariner East pipeline system in southeast Pennsylvania, overturning an order from state regulators that stopped construction last week. Sunoco appealed the order to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), which oversees decisions made by the…