Two US Judges Dismiss Chemical Firms’ Lawsuit Over Fracking
A judge in the US state of West Virginia in late December rejected a second legal challenge from Eagle Natrium, a New Martinsville-based subsidiary of Axiall, a manufacturer of chlorovinyl and aromatic chemicals formerly owned by PPG, asserting that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations near its facility in the state's Marshall County would negatively affect the company's operations.
The lawsuit was Eagle Natrium's second attempt to stop the fracking operations of Gastar Exploration, a Houston-based oil and gas company with operations in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.
The chemical producer argued that natural gas and the fluids associated with hydraulic fracturing have the potential to permeate the saltwater wells it uses for its salt mining operations. In a 2013 incident, Eagle Natrium's lawyers blamed the high-pressure fracking fluids being used by another company across the Ohio River for damaging a brine well.
In October, a lawsuit filed by the company in Pennsylvania seeking to stop Gastar's fracking operations was thrown out by a judge in that state, who ruled that the evidence indicated "a possibility of damage, but not a high probability" under existing geological conditions.
The West Virginia lawsuit claimed that additional precautions and monitoring ordered by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection were not adequate and that a more detailed evaluation was necessary. In throwing out the challenge, the judge agreed with Gastar that Eagle Natrium is legally barred from retrying its claims in his state after losing the lawsuit in the other.
In a statement, Gastar said it had previously drilled and hydraulically fractured 57 Marcellus Shale wells near Eagle Natrium's operations with no impact on the environment or public safety, adding that it was "gratified that both courts made decisions based on science rather than fear."
The company announced plans to frack the three wells put on hold by the lawsuits within 60 days of the court decision.
