Decision

The stalled Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC (ACP) has officially petitioned the nation’s highest court in an effort to uphold its plans to cross the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, with the project’s schedule likely hanging in the balance.

A Minnesota legal verdict Monday ordered additional environmental review for Enbridge Inc.’s oil export Line 3 pipeline replacement, raising fears that the one-year delay already holding back the $9-billion project will grow longer.

The Interior Department has ordered its bureaus and offices to base its decisions “on the best available science,” and to make any scientific data, analyses and methodologies used for a rulemaking available to the public.

State Sen. Andrew Dinniman has asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to post all public comments to the official online docket as his case against Sunoco Pipeline LP, which has stopped service on Mariner East (ME) 1 and some construction on ME 2 and 2X, advances.

Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC won’t back down in its fight with New York, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday for a rehearing of the court’s refusal to vacate the state’s denial of a water quality certificate (WQC) and other permits.

The U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals has denied a plaintiff’s’ petition for a rehearing of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East’s (SLFPA-E) lawsuit against oil and gas companies alleging damages to coastal land. Plaintiffs have exhausted all avenues of litigation, except through the U.S. Supreme Court. “We are pleased with the panel’s decision to uphold the U.S. district court decision to do away with the SLFPA-E lawsuit. These frivolous lawsuits have contributed to the litigious hellhole we now find our state in.” said Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. “This action throws cold water on current litigation against Louisiana’s oil and gas industry.” In July 2013, the Board of Commissioners of SLFPA-E filed a lawsuit in Louisiana state court against 97 exploration and production oil and gas companies alleging that their activities had damaged coastal lands and that they also “increased the risk of flooding due to storm surges and necessitated costly flood protection measures.” The district concluded that on all of the board’s claims, none of the board’s stated grounds for relief constituted a claim under state law. The board then appealed. Last March the appeals court affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the claim.

The ongoing saga over whether Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. operations contaminated the water supplies of two families in rural Dimock Township, PA, will continue after the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania last week reversed a federal jury’s March 2016 decision that required the company to pay damages.

A focus of oil/natural gas industry and environmental tensions for years, the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming became a last stand for the Obama administration recently as U.S. Forest Service (USFS) officials took steps to protect 40,000 acres within the national forest from potential oil/gas leasing.

A decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday that again struck down parts of the state’s oil and gas law, known as Act 13, was applauded by environmental advocates, while the energy industry and others met it with indifference, saying the opinion won’t have much effect on daily operations.