PA Court Ruling Smacks Down Home Rule Fracking Bans; What Could it Mean in Ohio?

By -
From the Athens News:
Dick McGinn, who has led efforts in Athens city and county to pass community bill of rights ordinances or amendments, also criticized the Pennsylvania federal judge’s decision.

“Obviously the judge has little interest in civil rights,” he wrote in an email. “Her chosen legal path is to favor the ‘rights’ of corporations to trample on civil rights. The fight will continue. The people will win in the end.”

McGinn, in his capacity as a leader of the Athens County Bill of Rights Committee, issued a news release Tuesday celebrating the fact that Athens City Council had codified language in the Community Bill of Rights passed by voters in 2014, “exactly as voted on by the people; and includes the ballot language, too.” This is the same CELDF-originated legal reasoning that the federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected in the Grant Township case.

Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason was asked Tuesday if she felt concerned about the Athens law considering the sanctioning and referral to the Supreme Court of the CELDF attorneys in the Pennsylvania case. “I do not believe the act of codifying the Bill of Rights Initiative Petition exposes the city of Athens to the type of liability set forth in the Pennsylvania case,” she responded. “The city of Athens Bill of Rights Initiative Petition passed by an overwhelming majority and represents the ‘home rule’ will of the people.”

JACKIE STEWART, WHO DIRECTS the oil and gas industry-funded outreach group, Energy in Depth (EID) Ohio, issued a statement on Monday, praising the federal judge’s decision.

“The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund has been targeting communities all over the country for years with misinformation campaigns and has proven to be nothing more than a litigation factory, as this recent federal judge has confirmed,” Stewart wrote. “EID has been cataloging the extensive costs incurred in towns where CELDF operates, and we are pleased that a federal judge has now recognized that ‘such litigation creates enormous expense to parties and taxes limited judicial resources.’

“CELDF has made it clear that its goal is to ‘bankrupt’ towns it operates in, and now a federal judge has finally exposed how incredibly deceptive this group is. A prime example is Youngstown, where CELDF has cost taxpayers over $187,000 and voters have rejected the group's Community Bill of Rights six consecutive times."
Read more by clicking here.

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!

Popular posts from this blog

Fracktivist in Dimock Releases Carefully Edited Video, Refuses to Release the Rest

By -
Image
From Energy in Depth: There is something very strange going on along Carter Road, in Dimock, Pennsylvania, and I’m not speaking of natural gas, methane migration, contamination, litigation or even the extensive water testing there by the EPA and others.  No, I’m talking about a new “Watergate” conspiracy, complete with 18 minutes of missing tape (well, video, actually). It seems the ever-present Green Party member and  naturist   Vera Scroggins  (a/k/a  Vera Duerga ) has posted a video of Craig Sautner meeting with the EPA.  Mysteriously, the video is but 14 seconds in length, cutting off conversation in what is obviously mid-stream.  It raises a question Craig Sautner, like  Ronald Reagan in Kings Row , might have asked, “Where’s the rest of me?’  Carter Road, isn’t Kings Row, of course, (at least not until you arrive at  the mansion Scott Ely, one of the Dimock litigants, is building with his royalty money ), but there appears to be a whole lot of film editing going on there to fi
Read more

The Second Largest Oil and Gas Merger - Cabot and Cimarex

By -
Image
       Due to investor pressure, the U.S shale drillers are being pushed to improve financial and operational performance after a few years of poor returns. Even though the industry has improved its numbers, when compared to last year, investors still want more to be done for them to earn more money.      That's why two mid-tier shale drillers, Cabot and Climarex, have decided to merge in order to eliminate $100 million in annual costs, which means more money for the investors. This all-stock transaction is valued at about $7.4 billion, which is relatively high for the oil and gas sector.      The new entity will be renamed and the headquarters located in Houston, Texas. Cabot shareholders will own 49.5 percent of the new entity, and Climarex the rest.       The Cimarex-Cabot merger will address the investor's demand for a higher amount of returning cash. The initial plan is to pay a 50-cent-per-share special dividend on closing the deal while offering a quarterly variable div
Read more

Is a Strong Oil Demand Expected This Year?

By -
Image
  According to the world's largest oil traders, global oil demand is set for a rebound. Between now and the end of 2022, global consumption is expected to increase by up to 8 million barrels each day. Vitol Group, the world's largest oil trader, supports this statement.  In an interview with Bloomberg, Vitol's chief executive Russell Hardy said, "We'll need all eight cylinders to get through 2022". This, of course, is due to the lower than average demand for oil at the moment. Reopening economies and Asian markets will create a strong demand rebound by the end of this year and in 2022.  Although the demand for jet fuel will slowly increase, it will still be below average at the end of the year. Nevertheless, a surge in petrochemicals will offset the expected delay in jet fuel demand. Last year, the oil surplus reached a record of 1 billion barrels. This excess is already more than halfway drained, and experts believe it will be depleted by the third quarter th
Read more