Huntingdon Family Lawsuit Against ME2 Pipeline Fails, Game Over
You may recall our story about the daughter of a Huntingdon County, PA landowner, radicalized by Big Green groups (as evidenced by her association with well known protesters previously arrested), who took to a tree on her mom’s property in order to illegally stop crews working on tree clearing for the Mariner East 2 pipeline (see PA Anti Literally Goes Up a Tree to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline). It ultimately didn’t matter, because Sunoco came back and cut down the few trees they need to cut anyway (see Sunoco Tricks Radicalized Protester – Returns and Cuts More Trees). In December, the up-a-tree girl and her mom, with lawyers and backing by Big Green money, launched a final “hail Mary” pass by appealing a case to the PA Commonwealth Court, asking the court to stop the ME2 project by claiming it doesn’t have the right to use eminent domain (see Desperate Antis Try One Last Legal Maneuver to Stop Mariner East 2). Like so many other “hail Mary” desperation passes, this one never found the arms of a receiver. Yesterday the court turned down the appeal… Read More “Huntingdon Family Lawsuit Against ME2 Pipeline Fails, Game Over”
A group of landowners in Ohio calling themselves the Coalition to Reroute Nexus (CORN), whom we affectionately call CORNballs, have filed a lawsuit in court against the NEXUS pipeline project. Not to actually reroute NEXUS, but to kill it. To stop it. The landowners are asking a federal court to block the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from allowing the project to proceed–which of course is not going to happen–and to legally bar the NEXUS Gas Transmission project from building the pipeline. Which has been the aim of the CORNballs from the beginning–contrary to the party line that they just want it rerouted around them. The CORNballs seem to be in league with antis in the City of Green, OH, who recently voted to give $100,000 of taxpayer money to high-priced Cleveland lawyers to try and stop NEXUS (see 
As we reported last week, six anti-pipeline residents living near where the Mariner East 2 pipeline will pass asked the Middletown (Delaware County, PA) town council to reject the path of the pipeline near their property because it would, supposedly, pass closer than town code allows. At a meeting earlier in the week, town council told the residents they’re out of luck–the town will not pursue any action to block Mariner East 2. Period. The residents, amped up and agitated by Big Green groups, was rumored to be considering a lawsuit against the pipeline to force it to conform with Middletown’s ordinance. It’s no longer a rumor. The amped up antis, spurred on and using lawyers from said Big Green groups, filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Common Pleas on Friday… 
For years we’ve followed the story of Range Resources and their (former) wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Range a whopping $4.15 million for violations in September 2014 (see 
Yesterday the five justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court reheard a case involving post-production deductions from royalty payments. Last week we reported that the court *might* rehear the case this week–if they didn’t grant a late-breaking motion to dismiss the rehearing (see 
More twists and turns to report with respect to an issue we previously reported with the potential to impact every mineral rights owner and driller in West Virginia. In December MDN reported on the huge West Virginia Supreme Court decision against driller EQT that disallows EQT from deducting post-production expenses from royalty checks, even with signed contracts in place (see 
As previously reported, liberal Pennsylvania House of Representatives Democrat Pam Synder has now introduced a bill (HB 1283, copy below) to “clear up” what the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) is a loophole in the Act 13 law that may allow some drillers to avoid paying impact fees (i.e. drilling taxes) on some Marcellus Shale wells (see 
For the past couple of years MDN has covered the issue of low and no royalties for landowners in Pennsylvania and other states because of the low commodity price for natural gas–and because drillers are deducting post-production expenses. The problem, from the landowner’s perspective, is that gas is still getting pumped–and they aren’t getting anything in royalties. Who would sign up for that?! The problem, from the driller’s perspective, is that they’ve spent big bucks to drill the well and even if they have to sell the gas at a loss, at least they’re getting some revenue through the door–hoping to hang on until prices go higher again. It is a conundrum. Last month the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) held their annual meeting and convention in State College, PA. A number of interesting bits of information came out of that meeting. One interesting tidbit: A Houston lawyer told attendees that he is now using the strategy of telling drillers if they keep sending royalty statements with no checks (i.e. statements showing the driller is not making a profit)–they have 30 days to terminate their lease with those landowners. Some leases (not all) state that if a well quits producing profitable quantities of gas, the lease is officially ended. While in some respects the lawyer’s innovative interpretation of o&g contracts may be an empty threat, the strategy does appear to be getting results. Another tidbit: There is a concern that drillers may try to deduct losses today from profits in the future–from a landowner’s royalty check. What can landowners do to guard against it?…
In January 2016, Invenergy announced their intention to build a natgas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County (see 
Eighteen-year-old Sophie Kivlehan has been brainwashed by her parents and grandparents, big believers in the myth of man-made global warming, since she was a tot. Her grandpa, Jim Hansen (astro-physicist at Columbia University) is a smart guy–“perhaps one of the worlds’ most well-known climate scientists.” Grandpa Jim did a good job of making sure young Sophie learned her lessons well–about the evilness of fossil fuels and how Mom Earth is ready to toast–any minute now, thanks to burning fossil fuels. Of course such beliefs must, of necessity, disregard hard scientific facts/data that show temps around Mom Earth aren’t going up and haven’t been for the past 20 years. It’s all about what “might” happen and what’s coming “just around the corner.” All based on cockamamie computer models. The same models can’t predict temperatures and the weather accurately for next week–but boy can they predict that the earth is about to fry. Any year now. But back to you Sophie. She’s decided four months in office for President Trump is long enough. He’s not doing his job to combat mythical global warming, so she’s suing him–hoping the courts will make him do it. Ah, Sophie darlin’, when was the last time anyone made Donald Trump do anything? Of course, Sophie’s lawsuit (really backed by Big Green) is nothing more than a sick publicity stunt…
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” That sentiment was famously mouthed by Rahm Emaneul, first chief of staff during Barack Hussein Obama’s reign of terror, later (and still) the highly unpopular mayor of Chicago. That philosophy also applies to other leftists, like anti-driller Ray Kemble, who lives in Dimock Township, PA. Kemble has been trying to shake down Cabot Oil & Gas for big bucks for years. Kemble, whose property has multiple junk cars on it, claims after Cabot began drilling (in 2008) his water well began producing black water. He blamed Cabot–even though junkyards are notorious for leaking nasty chemicals. Years ago Kemble, who has been seen at just about every anti-fracking rally from here to Timbuktu carrying a little brown jug of supposedly tainted well water, settled with Cabot. But a couple of Kemble’s neighbors did not settle. They sued and, in a sham trial, won a jury award of $4.2 million (see 
It seems the controversy in Pennsylvania over the Snyder Brothers’ strippers isn’t going to end any time soon. No, not those kinds of strippers, silly! We’re talking about stripper wells, which are defined in PA as wells that produce less than 90 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for a one month period. Stripper wells are vertical wells that don’t produce nearly as much gas as horizontal shale wells. In 2012 PA passed the Act 13 law that includes a fee on wells targeting shale layers, including the Marcellus. And here’s where it gets a little complicated. Snyder Brothers drills mostly conventional (vertical only) wells. In 2011-2012 they drilled 45 vertical-only wells, but targeting the Marcellus (all of them fracked). Initially those wells produced more than 90 Mcf/month, but by December of the year they were drilled, they produced less than 90 Mcf. The way the 2012 Act 13 law is written, if a well produces less than 90 Mcf/month for “any” month it is considered a stripper well and exempt from paying the impact fee. The state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) assessed the fee anyway because for 11 months the wells produced more than 90 Mcf. The argument back and forth is whether the intent was “any single month” or not as the trigger to exempt a well from paying the fee. Snyder Brothers went to court and in March, they won, exempting those wells from impact fees (see