Barnett Shale

Appeals court lets Range's defamation suit against Lipsky continue

A state appeals court said Fort Worth-based Range Resources can pursue a defamation claim against Parker County landowner Steven Lipsky, but it also dismissed several of Range's other counterclaims against Lipsky, his wife and their environmental consultant. The Texas Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth had been asked by the Lipskys and Wolf to dismiss Range's suit, which followed the Lipskys' lawsuit in 2011 that claimed Range contaminated a water well on the family's property. 

A link to the story in the Star-Telegram is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Appeals court could return water contamination case to Weatherford court

The Texas Second Court of Appeals today said it may return to Parker County courts the lawsuit of Parker County landowners Steven and Shyla Lipsky against Range Resources in a water contamination case. Former State District Judge Trey Loftin had denied the motion by the Lipskys and their environmental consultant, Alisa Rich, to have Range's counter-suit against them dismissed. In its ruling today, the appeals court said that because Loftin lost his re-election bid last May, it would "abate" its jurisdiction in the case and return the case to Loftin's successor, Judge Craig Towson, if all parties agree. The appeals court gave until April 11 for the parties to tell the court what they want to do.

-- Jim Fuquay

Bigger operators safer in Pennsylvania, Wall Street Journal finds

The Wall Street Journal crunched the numbers for safety and environmental violations in Pennsylvania portions of the Marcellus Shale and concluded that larger producers generally have better records than smaller producers. It leads its report with the example of Royal Dutch Shell's violation rate of 13 percent per inspection in 2010, compared to a 63 percent rate at East Resources right before the independent sold its Marcellus assets to Shell in 2010. In another example, the newspaper said that following its acquisition by Exxon Mobil, XTO Energy's rate of safety violations "has fallen by half, even though drilling takes place in the same counties, often with the same personnel." (Anyone who has read Steve Coll's recent history of Exxon, Private Empire, will not be surprised, considering Coll's account of the zero-accidents mentality Exxon developed after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.)

Bigger isn't always better. Fort Worth-based Range Resources, an early developer of the field, had a better-than-average record among mid-sized producers, the Journal reported. All operators improved their records in the past two years, according to the newspaper's analysis of state records. For example, Shell has since lowered its violation rate to 5 percent in 2012.

You'll probably run into the Journal's pay wall, but a link to the story is here.

-- Jim Fuquay

2010 Pennsylvania contamination case settled for $750,000

Court documents unsealed in a Pennsylvania lawsuit against Fort Worth-based Range Resources and others show the companies paid $750,000 for the homeowner's property, attorney fees and related claims. The records had been sealed since the July 2011 settlement but two Pennsylvania newspapers had sought to have them made public, which a judge approved on Wednesday.

The case concerns Chris and Stephanie Hallowich, who in June 2005 purchased 10 acres in Hickory, Penn., a rural area. They started building their home there in November 2006. "Unknown to the plaintiffs, the prior owner, Nancy Stewart, had subdivided the property and then sold a portion to defendant Range Resources Corp. for the purpose of drilling natural gas wells," according to court documents. Stewart also signed a mineral rights lease on the property, the documents say. By 2008 the Hallowich home was in the proximity of four natural gas wells drilled by Range, as well as a compressor station and a gas treatment facility operated by other companies, who were also defendants in the suit. The Hallowich family and another neighboring landowner soon complained of water contamination. The family sued Range, MarkWest Energy Partners, Williams Gas/Laurel Mountain Midstream and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2010. The state regulator had found high concentrations of some compounds, including manganese, in the landowners' water but could not say Range or the other companies were responsible.

According to a copy of the settlement released Thursday, the companies agreed to pay a total of $750,000. Of that, $594,820.37 went to the family, including trust accounts of $10,000 for each of the couple's two small children. The settlement says the children's "alleged claims involve nuisance and personal injury. There is presently no medical evidence that support that these claims are related to any exposure to the activities of defendants as set forth in plaintiff's complaint." The family's legal counsel received 20 percent of the settlement, or $150,000, plus $5,179.63 in expenses.

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella, in an e-mailed statement, said: "The family began building their home after several early Marcellus wells and associated infrastructure was starting to be developed near them. The family was in a unique situation and one that was not ideal for them or for Range. Range believed that the right thing to do was to allow both sides to move forward." He said the company "does not have concerns with the judge's decision, which we greatly respect, to make the court file public. This information combined with the vast public data accessible through the DEP's extensive investigations should provide the public with even greater clarity that shale gas is being developed safely and responsibly."

A link to the documents, posted online by State Impact Pennsylvania, can be found here.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Pennsylvania contamination case to be unsealed

A Pennsylvania ruled the settlement of a water contamination case between drillers, including Fort Worth-based Range Resources, and two homeowners should be unsealed. According to a Bloomberg News report, "Chris and Stephanie Hallowich, told National Geographic magazine in 2010 that their water was polluted by the wells, pipelines, processing operations and truck traffic that came into the rural area where they had built their home. They also said they suffered burning eyes, sore throats and other symptoms when gas was released into the air."

Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said the company, which had opposed the unsealing, is fine with it now. In an e-mail, he told Bloomberg that unsealed documents "should provide the public with even greater clarity that shale gas is being developed safely and responsibly." The National Geographic story, posted online on Oct. 17, 2010, recounts the Hallowich family's  experience buying 10 acres in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2007, then finding themselves in the middle of natural gas development.  "From a nuisance perspective, I will tell you they have a legitimate concern," the online report quotes Pitzarella as saying of the Hallowich family of four. Range drilled a well "that produces gas beneath the Hallowich site," the report says, and the "company and others say the bulk of their operations—the well sites themselves—are short-term disruptions and that the land is restored, as the state of Pennsylvania requires, within nine months after drilling is complete." It says there are unresolved disputes over water quality from a well on the family's property, which was drilled after Range commenced its own drilling operations.

Bloomberg News has a report on the judge's ruling here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Duke Power CEO says fracking is transforming utilities, cutting CO2

James Rogers, the longtime chairman of North Carolina-based Duke Power, said environmentalists should make their peace with natural gas and hydraulic fracturing because of its contributions to dramatic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from power generation. Rogers said the substitution of natural gas-fired generation for coal-fired power plants has lowered U.S. CO2 emissions to 1990 levels and to 1960's levels on a per-capita basis. "Natural gas is transforming our industry," Rogers told an audience at the IHS CeraWeek energy conference in Houston. Natural gas production can be done responsibly and its contribution to lower carbon and other emissions outweigh concerns about natural gas' possible impacts on water and air in areas where it is produced.

-- Jim Fuquay

Railroad Commission rules will encourage recycling

The Texas Railroad Commission will consider adoption of rules that seek to encourage producers to recycle water used in hydraulic fracturing, agency Chairman Barry Smitherman said today at a Houston energy conference. Smitherman told the Star-Telegram that the rules are not mandatory, but will try to "streamline the process" of handling and reusing produced water, such as permits required for holding ponds and water transportation. He said he intends to vote in favor of the new rules. The agency's next scheduled public meeting is March 26.

-- Jim Fuquay

Efforts to reduce water use in fracturing

 Walter Dale, manager for water solutions at Halliburton, a big oilfield services company, told an industry group in Houston that the firm is working to cut water use in its hydraulic fracturing jobs by 25 percent. Water can be a significant cost of a fracturing job. Another panelist, Johan Themaat, vice president at High Sierra Water Services of Denver, said recycling is another option for improving water use by cleaning produced water just enough to be reused as fracturing fluid or even thoroughly cleaned enough to be discharged into waterways. He said service companies like Halliburton are reworking their fracturing fluids to allow the use of more brackish, or salty, water. That not only reduces new freshwater used, but also reduces the amount of fluid that must be disposed of, typically by underground injection. The Barnett Shale, however, is a difficult field for recycling because existing disposal options are relatively inexpensive, he said.

-- Jim Fuquay

Anti-fracking rally in Austin planned for Monday

A group holding an anti-fracking summit in Dallas this weekend also plans a rally in Austin on Monday. Organizers say they hope residents "from Texas and across the country" will meet at the state capitol "to end dangerous oil & gas extraction, to require water protections & accountability of industry and respect for local control." It's set for noon, March 4, at 11th Street and Congress Avenue. For more information, click here.

-- Jim Fuquay

Frack Attack Summit comes to Dallas

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing plan two days of workshops and education on the hazards of the widely used oil and gas production technique this coming Saturday and Sunday in Dallas. On the agenda are sessions on community organizing, health effects, environmental and climate consequences and the local impacts of pipelines, compressor stations and other oil and gas production infrastructure. Among confirmed speakers are: Fort Worth resident Deborah Rogers, who was recently named to a U.S. Department of Interior advisory committee on natural resource development; Anthony Ingraffea, a Cornell University professor who has done a number of studies on environmental impacts of drilling; and Wilma Subra, an environmental chemist who has been active helping Gulf Coast communities deal with petrochemical issues.

The Frack Attack National Summit is March 2-3 at the Best Western Plus Dallas Hotel & Conference Center, 8051 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy. The summit is open to the public, but there is a charge based on whether hotel, meal and other charges are included. For more information, click here.

-- Jim Fuquay