Correction: Injection Well in McKean County Did NOT Fail Tests
We have an important update to share. On Feb. 19, MDN published a post about a Catalyst Energy wastewater injection well in Keating Township, McKean County, PA (see Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County Fails 2 Integrity Tests). That post used news from a local newspaper that made what is now known as a false claim that the Catalyst well had “failed DEP mechanical integrity tests twice.” That statement was 100% untrue. MDN doesn’t get things wrong often, but this time, we did, and we are publishing this follow-up post to correct the record. Our sincere apologies to Catalyst. Read More “Correction: Injection Well in McKean County Did NOT Fail Tests”

An important decision was recently issued in a federal court case (in Ohio) that potentially affects landowners and drillers with shale leases throughout the Marcellus/Utica. At least, we believe it has broader implications. The case, The Grissoms, LLC v. Antero Resources Corporation, was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (6th Circuit) on April 2, 2025. The case involves a dispute between a certified class of 370 Ohio landowners and Antero. The landowners alleged that Antero underpaid them $10 million in natural gas royalties by improperly deducting certain processing and fractionation costs from their royalty payments, violating their lease agreements. In 2023, the landowners won against Antero in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division (see
In January 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in THE most consequential lawsuit for Marcellus Shale drilling we’ve seen, a case called Briggs v Southwestern Energy (see
A Washington County, PA, man and his anti-fossil fuel lawyer won a victory with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a special court in PA set up to hear appeals of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) decisions. The man, Bryan Latkanich, alleges Chevron used PFAS “forever chemicals” in fracking fluids in 2011-2012 when Chevron drilled two wells some 500 feet from his home. Latkanich claims his water well was damaged, as well as his health and the health of family members who drank the “contaminated” water. EQT now owns the wells.
MDN exclusively brought you the news, in June 2018, that Diversified Gas & Oil (now renamed to Diversified Energy) had purchased EQT’s Huron Shale assets in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia for $575 million (see
On March 24, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a group of kids pushing for federal action on climate change since filing their lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, in 2015. Represented by Our Children’s Trust, the 21 youths argued that the government’s energy policies violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and security by exacerbating climate change. The case faced repeated setbacks in federal courts, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, leading to a lower court’s dismissal of the case. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the appeal centered on this procedural issue of standing, effectively ending the long-running litigation. The nonprofit behind the suit had asked the Court to delay its decision pending another case on standing, but the justices proceeded, closing a significant chapter in youth-led climate activism.
On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke Division) ruled in two of five cases before it in which Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which is now majority-owned by EQT Corporation, sued radical protesters who blocked the construction of the pipeline in Roanoke County, Virginia. The court dismissed one count in the two cases (count #4) against the protesters, which the media focused on. The media doesn’t want to talk about the fact that there are five other counts, far more serious than the dismissed count, that the court is allowing to advance. These protesters are in a world of legal hurt over their illegal blocking of MVP construction.
In March 2024, we reported that two Democrats and one anti-drilling RINO who run Bucks County, PA government (a Philadelphia suburb) fell for the bait by Big Green and filed a lawsuit against Big Oil companies for supposedly, knowingly, causing the Earth to toast to a cinder (see
Here’s a lawsuit we were unaware of, even though it’s been playing out for years. It’s quite complicated. On the surface, at a very basic level, Cardinal Midstream II (we assume a subsidiary of the Dallas-based 
This is a sweet victory for our side. Last summer, MDN told you about a lawsuit being heard to hold Big Green groups (namely Greenpeace) responsible for their actions. Energy Transfer (ET), the owner and operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAP), sued Greenpeace and other alleged instigators for $300 million for the damages sustained by the company due to violent protests incited by the groups in North Dakota in 2016 (see
We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for nearly a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake nobody could feel (see 