Corey A. Kerns, et al. v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C., et al.
AdministrativeLaw SocialSecurity DueProcess Takings FifthAmendment Privacy
Whether state regulatory police power statute allowing permanent physical invasion of private subsurface for oil/gas extraction violates due process and takings clause
QUESTIONS PRESENTED STATE REGULATORY POLICE POWER 1. Whether the Due Process and Takings Clauses are violated when a state official utilizes a state regulatory police power statute to grant a private entity the rights to permanently physically invade the subsurface of private land by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and to extract the oil, gas, and natural gas liquids from beneath the land; and STATE ACTION UNDER COLOR OF LAW-SECTION 1983 2. Whether a private entity who, pursuant to a state regulatory police power statute, applied for and received from a state official the rights to permanently physically invade the subsurface of private land by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and to extract the oil, gas, and natural gas liquids from beneath the land pursuant to a statutory scheme that is defective under the Due Process and Takings Clauses, acted as a state actor under color of law in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.