Lawsuit

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper responded Thursday to criticism from local elected officials in his state who are upset over his government taking the city of Longmont, CO, to court over its oil and natural gas drilling rules. Legal action was what Hickenlooper called a “last resort” in a letter he sent to various local officials considering similar local drilling rules.

Ground has been broken for the Frontier Oasis, a 112-bed workforce housing camp in Karnes County, TX. It is to open in September four miles West of Kenedy, TX, along Farm Route 2102. The flat rate all-inclusive camp will offer Eagle Ford Shale workers three all-you-can-eat meals per day; to-go sack lunches; housekeeping and laundry services, indoor and outdoor recreational facilities; high-definition television and wireless internet; and an on-site general store. Karnes County currently leads the booming Eagle Ford in drilling rigs, and the camp is expected to play a major role in providing much-needed housing, food and laundry services for the operators and service companies in the area. The commercial buildings for the project will be provided by Houston-based Teton Buildings LLC. Bryan, TX-headquartered Frontier Oilfield Solutions will be constructing and operating the camp. A recent study identified housing as a critical need for Eagle Ford workers and area residents (see Shale Daily, July 11).

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has agreed to settle a lawsuit with a group of landowners in Bradford County, PA, who allege the company’s Marcellus Shale drilling operations contaminated their groundwater supplies.

A panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges heard oral arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by seven Pennsylvania municipalities and others that claim parts of Act 13, the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, are unconstitutional.

A panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges heard oral arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by seven Pennsylvania municipalities and others that claim parts of Act 13, the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, are unconstitutional.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Friday that a fourth and final round of testing indicates that water from 12 private wells in Dimock Township, PA is safe to drink, and found no evidence of contamination from natural gas drilling.

Northwest Pipeline GP, a Williams subsidiary, has filed a $20 million lawsuit against a division of Chevron Corp. in federal district court as it seeks to recover the cost of relocating a section of its pipeline away from land shifting above a coal mine near Kemmerer, WY.

Regulators in North Dakota are considering a lawsuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well stimulation. The state’s Industrial Commission might ask lawmakers for $1 million for the effort.

A lawsuit filed by Energy Transfer Partners LP against Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge Inc. over an abandoned proposal to construct an oil pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Houston “is about a company…trying to get in the courthouse what it could not achieve in the marketplace,” Enterprise said in a motion for summary judgment.