Attorneys Cite Steps Companies Can Take As Risk Grows for Litigation Over Fracking

The growing potential for lawsuits over hydraulic fracturing creates a tremendous incentive for companies to perform baseline measurements that identify existing pollutants before the oil and gas drilling begins, attorneys with the law firm Dechert LLP said Sept. 12.

The litigation potential stems not only from the increasing volume and geographic spread of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but because federal and state regulations keep changing, the attorneys said during a Bloomberg BNA webinar.

Dechert attorney Hope S. Freiwald said litigants’ claims of harm may come from water pollution, air pollution, and general drilling activity.

If litigants claim their water has ...