AAPL - In a win for the industry, on April 4, in Sierra Club v. Chesapeake Operating LLC (Case No. 5:16- cv-00134), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma dismissed an environmentalist lawsuit against multiple oil and gas companies blaming hydraulic fracturing for increased earthquake risk.
The lawsuit was premised on the notion that the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) - which has primacy over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Underground Injection Control program - is doing an inadequate job implementing induced seismicity mitigation measures.
The Court disagreed, noting that "the OCC has been taking the action requested by plaintiff." Further, the Court noted that the OCC "has responded energetically to that challenge" and that the OCC "has brought to bear a level of technical expertise that this court could not hope to match."