* Rejects Energy Companies’ argument that the State’s 2008 Moratorium extended termination date *
An effort by oil and gas companies to keep gas leases with various New York landowners from expiring was rejected by New York State’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
In a March 31, 2015 decision in Beardsley v. Inflection Energy, LLC, written by Associate Judge Eugene F. Pigott, Jr., New York’s top court concludes that the expiration date expressed in the contracts was not extended by the moratorium set in place in July 2008 by then-Governor Paterson when he requested additional study of the adverse impacts of the combined use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling [“fracking”].
An uncorrected copy of the Court of Appeals’ opinion is available here.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
With All Due Respect 