PA Class Action Royalty Lawsuit Against XTO Settles for $11M
A journey which began for Pennsylvania landowners in Butler County, PA in July 2015 is nearing an end. Two Butler County, PA landowners with a combined 245.7 acres of land leased to XTO Energy sued XTO in 2015 claiming that XTO is breaking the lease agreement by paying royalties below 1/8 of what XTO receives in revenue for the gas (see PA Landowners Sue XTO Energy for Shorting Them on Royalties). The case, known as Marburger et al V. XTO Energy Inc., asserted the lease signed with landowners did not include language that would allow XTO to deduct post-production charges (that they had been deducting). The two landowning families that launched the lawsuit, the Marburgers and the Thieles, sought to turn the lawsuit into a class action, involving potentially hundreds or thousands of others. It didn’t take long for XTO to oppose the lawsuit and its certification as a class action (see XTO Files Motion to Dismiss Royalty Lawsuit in Butler County, PA). Since that time we’ve not heard much of anything about the lawsuit. And then out the blue comes word that via arbitration, XTO has agreed to settle the lawsuit. The settlement includes turning it into a class action, and paying out a total of $11,010,000. As part of the settlement, XTO admits to nothing. That is, they do not concede the plantiffs have a valid case against them. It’s simply cheaper to settle it and move on rather than to keep fighting. Below we have the relevant court documents with the details of the settlement…
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In a disappointing development, the supervisors of Smith Township (Washington County), PA have voted to turn down MAX Environmental’s request to expand the Bulger landfill they operate in the town (see 
In January 2016 the Obama U.S. Forest Service (USFS) turned down a request from Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, to pass through two different national forests (see 
The golden parachute has popped open for Rice Energy’s former CEO, Dan Rice IV. And it’s worth $2.6 million. EQT filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week to say that Dan Rice IV has been terminated (as an employee) as of the day the two companies merged. In a deal worked out prior to the merger, Dan is getting a check for $2.6 million–$1.91 million as a severance payment and $704,000 in lieu of his annual bonus. Which frankly doesn’t sound like a whole lot, given Dan was one of the shareholding owners of Rice Energy. His salary in 2016 was $3.35 million. But don’t shed any tears for Dan. We suspect his stock in the newly-merged EQT is worth a fortune. And Dan gets a seat on the EQT board of directors, a gig that will pay him. What’s next for Dan and the other Rice boys? We don’t have the particulars for all of the Rice boys, but we do know (from the SEC filing) that Dan signed a 3-year non-compete agreement, so we won’t see Rice Energy II in the northeast for at least three years. Other than that, we suspect the boys already have something up their proverbial sleeve. The Rice boys don’t strike us as the lounge-around-the-pool types…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Thursday granted Rover Pipeline permission to resume horizontal directional drilling (HDD) at four more locations where it had been stopped. One of those locations is drilling under the Ohio River in the Majorsville area. Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that (will eventually) run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and on to Canada. A large portion of the pipeline began flowing natural gas on Sept. 1st (see 
Good news for Northumberland County: Atlantic Sunrise is rising in your neighborhood. Work on the $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project that will run through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County has begun in Northumberland County. Last week a Williams subcontractor working on that portion of the project gave a tour to a local newspaper. Atlantic Sunrise will pass through approximately 10 miles of Northumberland County, entering from Columbia County and exiting to Schuylkill County. So far, “Everything seems to be going really well” according to the contractor in charge of that portion of the project. They expect to begin welding pipes together by the end of this month…
Five more members of the nutty Lancaster Against Pipelines group have been arrested, including a minor. It’s bad enough putting your own life at risk. We consider it child abuse to put your child’s life in danger by sitting the kid down in front of heavy equipment–in a deluded attempt to stop construction. Just last week we told you about three old ladies who did the same thing (see 
Last week we told you about the hypocrisy of PJM Interconnection–the regional transmission organization (RTO) that operates the electric grid in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, including PA, OH and WV (see 
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: The Battle for Dawn, Part 2; interview with Tim Dugan, COO of CONSOL; Earthworks hires a new agitator for PA/OH; Statler College unveils natgas lab; ISO New England says Invenergy natgas plant needed; why have 2 new FERC commissioners not yet been seated?; rig count jumps–but only for gas rigs; natgas prices have finally started to rise; initiative under way to increase US LNG exports; China’s LNG imports soar; and more!