Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection entered an Administrative Order today temporarily suspending construction permits for Sunoco’s Mariner East II pipeline that transverses the Commonwealth. The Order is a victory for environmental groups, which have alleged that Sunoco has engaged in unlawful drilling and unpermitted discharges, damaging water supplies in the process. The effect of the Administrative Order, however, is only to suspend construction until Sunoco either complies or successfully challenges it on appeal to the Commonwealth’s Environmental Hearing Board. Continue reading
Tag: pennsylvania
Is it an Unfair Trade Practice When You're the Buyer?
Most consumers are at least familiar with the existence of unfair trade practice statutes and anti-trust law. Likely very few, however, have stopped to consider whether those statutes apply to the leasing of oil and gas interests in the Marcellus Shale. Yet, those are the precise questions at issue in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Chesapeake Energy Corp. et al., No. 2015IR0069 (Pa. Ct. Comm. Pl. Dec. 15, 2017). Continue reading
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Strikes Down Act 13 (Again)
I have a post on Spilman Thomas & Battle’s website – link here – concerning the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s most recent decision on Act 13, the comprehensive oil and gas legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2014. Continue reading
Joseph Schaeffer 