Hydraulic fracturing—“fracking”—involves pumping water mixed with sand and chemicals deep underground to create cracks in a shale formation to allow oil or natural gas to be recovered. Concern has been raised that these cracks will allow the fracking chemicals and/or methane gas to contaminate the groundwater near the fracking operation. Two recent studies dispel this […]
Monthly Archives: September 2014
The “That’s For Me To Know and You to Find Out” Approach to Reservation of Rights Letters Rejected in Missouri
September 17, 2014
He drove a blue Volkswagen Rabbit to the United States Supreme Court for many years. He wrote so many lone dissents in his first years on the court that he was dubbed the “Lone Ranger”. Years after he became Chief Justice, William Rehnquist added four gold stripes to the sleeves of his judicial robes, in […]
It’s About Fracking Time …. Illinois Department of Natural Resources Releases Revised Proposed Fracking Rules
September 11, 2014
It has been over a year since Illinois took the first step towards regulated high-volume hydraulic fracking by passing the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act225 ILCS 732/1-1 et seq. Under the Act, high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations require a permit. But a permit could not be obtained until the Illinois Department of Natural Resources published […]
On June 27, 2014, the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, held that a plaintiff’s common-law negligence action against her decedent’s employer was not barred by the exclusive remedy provision of Illinois’ workers’ compensation statutes[1] because her work comp claim would have been non-compensable as untimely under the law’s repose provisions. The Decedent was allegedly […]