James Brink Law

Southwestern Energy asks Pa. high court to restore the "rule of capture" for shale drilling A Marcellus Shale company is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to take up a case it says could disrupt a century of oil and gas law by defining ...

WV Supreme Court justice Loughry indicted on fraud, other charges West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry has been indicted in federal court on three criminal counts of fraud, one count of witness tampering and one count of making false

Pa. court redefines some fracking as trespassing For more than a century, Pennsylvania law has allowed drilling companies to sink a well and then drain oil and gas from a neighboring property without ...

Dura-Bond rescues businesses going down the tubes MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) — The Norris family has built a thriving enterprise from businesses that former owners abandoned in frustration. The latest phoenix ...

The Natural Gas Market Is Set To Boom | OilPrice.com With the new lower-for-longer oil price environment and the rise of renewable energy, natural gas is set to become a key bridge fuel in the energy mix

Severance tax no panacea for Pa. - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-09-22 Pennsylvania legislators looking to impose higher taxes on shale-gas extraction under the guise of substantively closing the commonwealth’s multibilliondollar budget shortfall should look elsewhere. Not only would any revenues generated be a drop in the budget-deficit bucket, even under the rosiest…

Gas drilling debate reignites in ‘Gasland’ community - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-09-03 Ken Morcom wants to sell his home in Dimock Township, but with ongoing problems from methane contamination in the water, he doesn’t think he could find a buyer.

Driller files $5M lawsuit against ‘Gasland’ resident - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-08-09 A gas driller that was targeted with allegations that it polluted residential water wells in Pennsylvania has filed a $5millionlawsuitagainstaresident and his lawyers, asserting theytriedtoextortthecompany through a frivolous lawsuit.

Boom in U.S. gas exports lifts jobs - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-08-09 The United States is on its way to being a net exporter of natural gas for the first time since 1958 when the completion of the TransCanada pipeline opened the northeastern U.S. markets to Western Canadian natural gas, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.

Feds back in ‘Gasland’ town to test water, air - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-08-04 The federal government has returned to a Pennsylvania village that became a flashpoint in the national debate over fracking to investigate ongoing complaints about the quality of the drinking water.

Marcellus shale makes Pa. a top energy exporter - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-08-01 Development of the Marcellus shale has turned Pennsylvania from a net importer to a net exporter of natural gas and has made the state one of the top five energy exporters in the country, the Energy Information Administration said Monday.

Shale boom could be succumbing to oil slump - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-07-30 Hours after Halliburton Co. warned recently that explorers are “tapping the brakes” on drilling, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it’s trimming spending in the first earnings report this quarter from a major shale producer.

Natural gas rivals coal for 2nd year in a row - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-07-28 Natural gas is on pace to either equal or exceed coal as a source of electricity for the second year in a row, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday.

Ruling on gas drilling in forests called ‘green’ win - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-06-21 HARRISBURG — A decision by Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday was hailed as a victory by environmental advocates on the use of public natural resources and money from oil and gas drilling in state forests.

EQT to acquire Rice Energy for $6.7 billion EQT Corp., a Downtown-based firm said the deal will make it the largest natural gas producer in the country.

Many Allegheny County cities, municipalities unprepared for shale gas drilling rebound Many Allegheny County cities and municipalities unprepared for shale gas drilling and development in densely populated areas

Noble Energy sells $1.2B in Marcellus shale assets - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-05-03 Texas-based Noble Energy, which owns and operates about 50 hydraulic fracturing wells in Washington and Greene counties, will move out of Marcellus shale and move on to “more lucrative oil fields,” the company announced Tuesday.

Man gets new mortgage fraud trial because of sleeping lawyer A Pittsburgh-area businessman will get a new trial on mortgage fraud charges because his defense attorney was seen sleeping by the judge, witnesses and federal court jurors who convicted him last year.

Convicted South Hills businessman granted new trial because of dozing lawyer A South Hills businessman convicted of orchestrating the region's biggest mortgage fraud scheme will get a new trial because his lawyer fell asleep during the last one. U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose has decided that James Nassida's lawyer, Stan Levenson, could not act as an effective attorney…

Very sad.

BLAST EFFECTS RECEDE - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-04-28 STEPH CHAMBERS | TRIBUNE-REVIEW FILE The shell is all that remains of a Salem house burned in a natural gas pipeline explosion a year ago.

Safety emphasized as pipeline project proceeds - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-04-24 “We came for peace and quiet. We worked very hard for what we have here,” said Joan Pinto, who lives with her husband, Lido, on a rural property that lies in the path of Sunoco Logistics Partners LP’s natural gas pipelines — one already built and two more coming.

Landowners seek to turn off wells when royalty checks disappear STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — At the annual meeting of Pennsylvania’s natural gas royalty owners association last month, attorney Robert Burnett told frustrated landowners that when the royalty checks stop coming, it is time to take a hard line. Examples abound of drilling companies drawing gas from leased p...

$4.24M verdict in Pennsylvania gas drilling lawsuit tossed - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-04-02 A federal judge has thrown out a $4.24 million jury verdict against one of the largest natural gas producers in Pennsylvania and ordered a new trial in a lawsuit alleging Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. contaminated the well water of two families.

Oil giants upending American shale turf - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-03-26 Royal Dutch Shell, along with Chevron and ExxonMobil, are planning to spend a combined $10 billion in the shale industry this year.

Some good news on the development of natural gas resources in Pennsylvania.

Pa. governor expects gas windfall in billions - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-03-22 Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that he is optimistic about a study that forecasts $2.7 billion to $3.7 billion in investments in natural gas liquid assets and an opportunity to attract more petrochemicalmanufacturingplantsto Southwestern Pennsylvania.

SHALE COMEBACK ON HORIZON? - Tribune-Review, Greensburg edition, 2017-02-26 TRIBUNE-REVIEW A common site throughout Western Pennsylvania: active gas drilling sites situated among residential properties.

A Pennsylvania landowner challenged his gas royalty deductions — and won TUNKHANNOCK TOWNSHIP — For more than four years, the natural gas company tapping the Marcellus Shale beneath Paul Sidorek’s 150-acre property in rural northeastern Pennsylvania took deductions for preparing and shipping his share of the gas. The deductions reduced his royalties by $5,000 a month, so...

Judge orders deportation to native China of ex-Pitt student who led test-taking scheme The lead defendant in a scheme by Chinese students to cheat their way into American universities received a probationary term today instead of prison and will be deported to China.  Han Tong, 24, a former University of Pittsburgh student, had faced a possible 30 to 37 months in prison, but his lawye...

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