NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP (“Scott+Scott”), an international securities and consumer rights litigation firm, is investigating whether certain directors and officers of Range Resources Corporation (“Range Resources”) (NYSE: RRC) breached their fiduciary duties to Range Resources and its shareholders. If you are a Range Resources shareholder, you may contact attorney Joe Pettigrew for additional information toll-free at 844-818-6982 or jpettigrew@scott-scott.com.
Scott+Scott is investigating whether members of the Range Resources Board of Directors (the “Board”) made, or caused Range Resources to make, false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts, about Range Resources’s business, operations, prospects, and financial health. Specifically, Scott+Scott is investigating whether the Board failed to disclose material information, including whether: (i) Range Resources had improperly designated the status of its wells in Pennsylvania since at least 2013; (ii) the foregoing conduct subjected Range Resources to a heightened risk of regulatory investigation and enforcement, as well as artificially decreased Range Resources’s periodically reported cost estimates to plug and abandon its wells; (iii) Range Resources was the subject of a Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) investigation from sometime between September 2017 to January 2021 for improperly designating the status of its wells; (iv) the DEP investigation foreseeably would and ultimately did lead to Range Resources incurring regulatory fines; and (v) as a result, statements about Range Resources’s business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis.
On February 10, 2021, shortly before the close of the trading session, the DEP issued a press release announcing that Range Resources had paid a $294,000 civil penalty to the agency on January 8, 2021, for violating the 2012 Oil and Gas Act. The DEP had begun investigating the Company after the agency found conflicting and inaccurate information on the status of a Company well in Fayette County, Pennsylvania—specifically concerning whether the well in question was correctly designated as inactive for the purposes of DEP regulation. After subpoenaing Range Resources for information on other wells the Company had requested to designate as inactive, the DEP found that “between Tuesday, July 16, 2013, and Monday, October 11, 2017, 42 of Range Resources’ conventional wells were placed on inactive status but were never used again” and that several of the Company’s “wells had not been in use for 12 months at the time Range Resources submitted its applications for inactive status,” even though “after 12 consecutive months of no production, the well would be classified as abandoned and must be plugged.” In addition to paying the DEP’s civil penalty, Range Resources was ultimately required to plug the wells the agency identified as having no viable future use to remediate the issue.
The following day, as the market fully digested the significance of the DEP’s announcement, Range Resources’s stock price fell $0.62 per share, or 6.08%, from its closing price on February 10, 2021, to close at $9.57 per share on February 11, 2021.
What You Can Do
If you are a Range Resources shareholder, you may have legal claims against Range Resources’s directors and officers. If you wish to discuss this investigation, or have questions about this notice or your legal rights, please contact attorney Joe Pettigrew toll-free at 844-818-6982 or jpettigrew@scott-scott.com.
About Scott+Scott
Scott+Scott has significant experience in prosecuting major securities, antitrust, and consumer rights actions throughout the United States. The firm represents pension funds, foundations, individuals, and other entities worldwide with offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Connecticut, California, and Ohio.
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