Judges

Lenape Resources Inc., an oil and natural gas producer based in New York, has filed a lawsuit against a town in Livingston County for enacting a local drilling ban, and against the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for failing to rein in the town over the ban.

Two Republican state senators, key supporters of Marcellus and Utica shale gas drilling in New York, are anxious to see Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration move forward with the process to establish rules for drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF).

Elected officials in the Town of Chenango, NY, voted unanimously on Wednesday to schedule a public hearing over whether to enact a one-year moratorium on oil and natural gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Lenape Resources Inc., an oil and natural gas producer based in New York, is threatening to sue the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) if the agency doesn’t advise three towns in Livingston County that they don’t have the authority to enact local drilling bans.

Banking on the possibility that New York will lift its moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the near future, Norse Energy Corp. ASA on Thursday completed a $37 million sale of operated production and other assets in the Empire State to EmKey Resources LLC (see Shale Daily, March 19), giving it cash to focus on core properties in the Marcellus and Utica shales in central New York.

The two federal judges in Houston and New York City who are overseeing Enron Corp.’s massive bankruptcy case ordered mediation last week in an attempt to clear some of litigation confronting the courts. In a joint hearing, Houston federal District Judge Melinda Harmon, who is handling shareholder lawsuits, and Manhattan federal Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez, who is handling the overall Enron bankruptcy, ordered several parties to attempt settlements through a mediator. District Judge Kevin Duffy, located in Manhattan, agreed to serve as mediator, and Harmon and Gonzalez said in their joint order that the mediation results would be nonbinding, unless the parties otherwise agree. A spokesman for the University of California, the lead plaintiff in the shareholders’ lawsuit, said the university welcomed the courts’ action “to help speed restitution to those victimized in the Enron fraud.” Trey Davis added, “We will fight for our fair share during the mediation process and believe we are in a strong position to prevail on behalf of the shareholders.”

FERC’s Office of Administrative Law Judges is quickly responding to the Commission’s order last week for a hearing to determine whether Transwestern Pipeline exercised market power last winter. Acting Chief ALJ William J. Cowan already has scheduled a prehearing conference for Friday (Aug. 3), and has designated ALJ Jacob Leventhal as the presiding judge in the case.

FERC administrative law judges (ALJs) this week will bring together the three Northeast independent system operators (ISOs) and Southeast transmission owners in response to a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order designed to establish a total of four regional transmission organizations (RTOs) in the United States, with one dedicated to each region: the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West.