Hydraulic Fracturing: What the Frack?
For your interest, here’s a handful of latest updates and law firm advisories covering a controversial topic that always draws interest on JD Supra: hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking:
- Federal Agencies Move to Regulate Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing (Morgan Lewis)
“On May 4, both the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new draft proposals related to hydraulic fracturing. The Interior Department announced proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing occurring on lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). EPA issued draft guidance on using diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing operations, which would apply to operations EPA directly permits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, regardless of whether located on federal or private lands. Both the Interior Department’s proposed rules and EPA’s draft guidance will be subject to a public comment period before being made final…” Read on»
- Oil And Natural Gas Production Subject To New Air Rules (Bryan Cave):
“While the rules are intimidating for many reasons, the hydraulic fracturing requirements will undoubtedly garner the most attention. As an initial matter, well completions are part of well construction. Applying performance standards to a construction activity is a departure from EPA’s historic interpretation and application of NSPS. This remains controversial. In addition, there is concern that, while VOC emissions associated with oil and natural gas development in certain areas present legitimate issues worthy of reasonable and scientifically defensible regulatory scrutiny, the rules do not adequately consider the wide variability in oil and natural gas production operations and emissions…” Read on»
- New Decisions — Pleading Requirements for Complaints Alleging Contamination from Hydraulic Fracturing (King & Spalding):
“During litigation in the U.S., it is typical that before incurring huge costs of discovery, a defendant may move to dismiss an action due to the plaintiff’s failure to comply with state or federal pleading requirements. This article discusses two recent federal decisions regarding such motions to dismiss complaints alleging fracking contamination, Tucker and Fiorentino. These decisions may shed light as to how other courts are likely to apply pleading requirements that may require dismissal at an early stage. They are applicable to estimating defense costs for fracking contamination litigation…” Read on»
- What Does the ERCB’s Decision in Kallisto Mean for Hydraulic Fracturing? (Lawson Lundell):
“In a recent contest before the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board between the operator of a natural gas storage reservoir and a producer seeking to drill and frack a Basal Quartz vertical oil well in the vicinity of the storage reservoir, the ERCB granted the producer its well licence, subject to conditions. While not specifically addressing any of the potential issues relating to hydraulic fracturing in tight oil reservoirs, there are interesting and useful inferences that can be drawn from the ERCB’s approach to an adjoining mineral owner’s objection to a fracking operation…” Read on»
- The Shale Play Today - April 2012 (Spilman):
“On April 17, 2012, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) finalized its long-anticipated updated New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”)and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (“NESHAP”) for the oil and gas sector, which include first-time federal air standards for hydraulically fractured natural gas wells. This suite of regulations, issued under the federal Clean Air Act, was finalized pursuant to a Consent Decree entered by the D.C. District Court in conjunction with a lawsuit filed against USEPA in January 2009 by WildEarth Guardians and the San Juan Citizens Alliance. The rules will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks, and will take effect 60 days following publication…” Read on»
—-
Related: watch this video explanation of the Marcellus Shale and what it means to United States energy consumption, from McNees Wallace & Nurick attorney James Dougherty:
[Link: Natural gas encourages industrial and large commercial end-users to revisit their operational plans - McNees]
