Appeals judges return Range suit against homeowners to district court
By News Wires 02 April 2013 22:00 GMT
From Star-Telegram, By Jim Fuquay, 04/02/13 – Range Resources Corp.’s lawsuit against Parker County homeowners who accused the Fort Worth-based producer of fouling their water well should go back to a Weatherford state district court, the 2nd Court of Appeals in Fort Worth ruled this week.
It’s the latest development in a proceeding that has included a high-profile enforcement action in 2010 that was later withdrawn by the Environmental Protection Agency against Fort Worth-based Range.
U.S. Fifth Circuit rebukes EPA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: David Guenthner
August 13, 2012
(512) 615-7957
Texas Public Policy Foundation praises U.S. Fifth Circuit’s rebuke of EPA
Appeals court: EPA overreached in rejecting Texas’ Flexible Permit Program
AUSTIN – The Texas Public Policy Foundation praises today’s ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s rejection of Texas’ Flexible Permit program violated the federal Clean Air Act.
Animal rights group to sue pork farmers over … paperwork problems?
From The Daily Caller, by Stephanie Wang, 07/11/2012 – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) picked a fight with pig farmers Wednesday, announcing its intent to sue 51 pork producers over what it said was a failure to report discharges of ammonia into the environment.
But the National Pork Producers Council, a farmers’ trade group, told The Daily Caller that the animal rights group was taking “alleg[ed] … paperwork violations” and weaving them into a made-up environmental disaster.
EPA’s ‘crucifixion’ enforcement strategy
From Texas Public Policy Foundation, by David Guenthner, May 2, 2012 - Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency often describe it as a job-killing agency. But is crucifixion really among its chosen methods?
Al Armendariz, the EPA’s regional administrator for Texas and surrounding states, resigned Monday after video footage showed him comparing the EPA’s enforcement philosophy to the ancient Roman practice of using public crucifixions to cow the populace in conquered territories.
EPA Official Not Only Touted ‘Crucifying’ Oil Companies, He Tried It
From Forbes.com, by Christopher Helman, April 26, 2012 - Confirming what many in the industry long suspected, a video surfaced Wednesday in which Al Armendariz, an official at the Environmental Protection Agency, promotes the idea of crucifying oil companies. Armendariz heads up the EPA’s region 6 office, which is based in Dallas and responsible for oversight of Texas and surrounding states. The former professor at Southern Methodist University was appointed by President Obama in November 2009.
In a talk to colleagues about methods EPA enforcement, Armendariz can be seen saying, “The Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”
The EPA Abuses First, Apologizes Later
National Review Online, By Mario Loyola, April 4, 2012 -
Mario Loyola
Last summer, I wrote about the Environmental Protection Agency’s shameful persecution of a Texas natural-gas company, Range Resources Corp. The year before, EPA had slapped the company with an “emergency order” under the Safe Drinking Water Act, alleging that it “caused or contributed to” the contamination of two water wells west of Fort Worth. Almost immediately, however, EPA was forced to admit that Range had no connection whatsoever to the contamination in question. It nonetheless insisted on the company’s obedience to the original order.
I argued then that this was all a shameful abuse of power. Well, just last week, after a nearly two-year odyssey in which the company has spent $4.2 million defending itself, EPA agreed to drop the whole thing.
EPA drops action against Range Resources over Parker County water wells
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, by Barry Shlachter, Mar. 30, 2012 -
In an about-face, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday withdrew its 15-month-old emergency order against Range Resources that had blamed the Fort Worth-based drilling company for methane contamination in water wells and demanded that it supply safe drinking water to two Parker County homes.
“Range is very pleased to see that the EPA’s order in Parker County has been withdrawn,” Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella said. “It’s important for people to know that their environment, health and safety is protected, and hopefully this provides them with that comfort.”
The company said the withdrawal could help its $4.2 million defamation lawsuit against Steve and Shyla Lipsky, residents of Parker County’s Lake Country Acres subdivision.
Keffer, King Demand More Information in EPA Rulemaking
EPA notifies Texas of plan to add Hood and Wise counties to nonattainment area
Click the Facebook logo to share this with your friends!
AUSTIN – State Representatives Jim Keffer (R-Eastland) and Phil King (R-Weatherford) today called for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide scientific evidence to show why it is necessary that the EPA add Hood and Wise counties to the DFW nonattainment area. Late last week the EPA notified Texas officials that they planned to add the two counties to the current 9-county nonattainment area of: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Tarrant counties based on the fact that Hood and Wise counties were part of the region being developed for natural gas in the Barnett Shale region. Continue reading →
EPA Wants to add 230,000 MORE Bureaucrats
From AmericansForProsperity.org - We’ve always said the EPA’s extra-legal attempt to rewrite the 1970 Clean Air Act to twist it into a greenhouse gas law — cap-and-trade by other means — would be a disaster. Up to now, EPA tried to claim it would only apply permitting requirements to large industrial facilities. Continue reading →
King: EPA Rule Killing Texas Jobs
AUSTIN - The following statement may be attributed to State Representative Phil King (R-Weatherford):
“Today, Luminant, the largest power generating company in Texas, announced they will be cutting approximately 500 Texas jobs due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that was recently implemented by the federal agency. The rule sets unrealistic goals for emissions reductions in just a matter of months thus forcing Luminant and many other power generating companies to shut down some of their power generating plants, resulting in a loss of jobs. Continue reading →
