Nuisance Gas Wells Facing Legal Action in Fayette County, PA

By S. Tom Bond, Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

We here at FrackCheckWV are eagerly awaiting more news from a legal case recently announced in Bloomberg. Several other news sources have had coverage too, such as the Akron Beacon Journal and Business Week. Such legal actions are sometimes called quality-of-life lawsuits.

Six families living in Fayette County, south of Pittsburgh and north of Morgantown on the WV state line, are bringing a nuisance suit against a group of companies related by contract in extracting natural gas from the Marcellus in the families immediate surroundings. They claim the drilling has decreased their ability to use and enjoy their property. Nuisance suits are based in part on the loss of use and enjoyment of property, as opposed to physical damage like poisoned water.

The attorney for the families, Charlie Speer, of Speer Law Firm P.A. in Kansas City, claims such litigation in the fracking context may face an easier path through courts because it doesn’t rely on “scientific” evidence in defense which must be carefully planned before drilling and all-to-often is well beyond the checkbook of the injured.

Nuisance complaints tied to fracking have been filed in at least 10 different states, including several in Pennsylvania, said Josh Galperin, associate director at Yale Law School’s Center for Environmental Law & Policy. They involve complaints both on and off the individual’s property, and are settled by juries. They make use of widespread appreciation for “quiet enjoyment” of one’s private property.

The companies named in the action by Spear include:  Chevron Appalachia, LLC f/k/a Atlas America, LLC; Atlas Pipeline Partners, GP, LLC; Atlas Pipeline Partners , L. P.;Laurel Mountain Midstream Operating LLC, f/k/a Atlas Pipeline Pennsylvania, LLC; Atlas Resources, LLC f/k/a Atlas Resources, Inc.; Chevron Corporation f/k/a Atlas Energy, Inc. f/k/a Atlas America, Inc.; Chevron, Inc.; Chevron Natural Gas Services, Inc.; Chevron USA Inc. d/b/a Chevron North America Exploration & Production Company; WPX Energy Appalachia, llc f/k/a Williams Production Appalachia LLC; WPX Energy keystone, LLC f/k/a Williams Production Keystone LLC; and WPX Energy Marcellus Gathering, LLC f/k/a Williams Marcellus Gathering, LLC.

Spear is experienced in law suits claiming nuisance in large scale hog farms. If you don’t see the similarity between problems with hog farms and shale drilling problems, you might want to look at this.

The Spear firm brings an extensive, well trained staff to the case. Many eyes are on this new type of action, all over the U. S. and the world.