Petitions

Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC is refusing to back down in its saga to get its beleaguered 124-mile natural gas pipeline approved and has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court ruling in August against the project.

The Sierra Club on Monday filed in federal court to drop both its appeal of the Nexus Gas Transmission project and an emergency motion to stop construction, saying it no longer has the support of affected landowners.

Five environmental groups have filed a petition for review in federal court asking that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) water quality certification (WQC) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) be vacated because they claim the agency ignored the project’s threats to the state’s environment.

Two environmental groups are petitioning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strip Texas regulators of some oversight responsibilities that were delegated under the U.S. Clean Air and Clean Water acts.

The Ohio Supreme Court ordered a grassroots initiative in Youngstown that seeks to amend the city’s charter to prohibit oil and gas industry activity back on the November ballot, reversing the local county board of elections’ decision not to certify the issue for a vote.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Thursday invalidated petitions in three counties across the state that sought to ban oil and gas development, saying they were an attempt to circumvent state law in a way that the courts have already found to be a violation of the Ohio Constitution.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved petitions of Peoples Natural Gas Co. and Peoples TWP to implement long-term infrastructure improvement plans (LTIIP) in addition to a distribution system improvement charge. Peoples is to replace an average of 47 miles of pipeline per year during the five-year period of the LTIIP. Peoples plans to spend between $55 million and $71 million per year on pipeline, meter and service replacement over the five-year period. Peoples TWP is to replace an average of 28 miles of pipeline per year during the five-year period. Peoples TWP anticipates spending a minimum of $9.1 million per year over the five-year plan.

A county judge in Pennsylvania has ordered court records from a water contamination case involving several companies that operate in the Marcellus Shale unsealed and available for public view.

Wyoming has filed three petitions with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, challenging rules instituted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to combat greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, alleging that the new rules trample on states rights.