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Details on Diversified Deal to Plug More Wells in WV, OH, PA
One month ago, we brought you the news that Diversified Energy and EQT Corporation had settled a class action lawsuit originally brought by several West Virginia landowners (see EQT, Diversified Settle WV Class Action Lawsuit re Old Wells). There is the money aspect of the lawsuit, a payout of up to $6.5 million (subject to attorneys grabbing one-third of that). But then there is (in our opinion) the more important aspect of the settlement that requires Diversified to dramatically increase the number of wells it plugs over the next 10 years. Read More “Details on Diversified Deal to Plug More Wells in WV, OH, PA”
Two pipeline industry titans are going after each other again. Energy Transfer and Williams previously tangled over an aborted proposed merger, a saga that stretched from 2015 until it was finally settled in 2023 (see 
The U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to hear arguments for and against a proposed railway that would connect Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin to Colorado. Other than this is a railroad story (and you know we’re suckers for a good railroad story), how does it connect to the Marcellus/Utica? The case could fundamentally change how the federal government conducts environmental reviews. This case revolves around what should and should not be part of a so-called environmental review. A Circuit Court of Appeals wanted more nonsense included in such a review. The conservative Supreme Court is now going to review their work with a potential eye on overruling them. 
There is an important development for landowners AND drillers in a class action case that began some seven years ago. A civil suit was brought by Harrison County oil and gas owners against Antero Resources Corp., claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. In 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. The District Court sent two certified questions to the state Supreme Court. The Supremes ruled on both issues in November. The court ruled that energy companies cannot deduct post-production costs without explicit lease language, favoring royalty owners over drillers. 
In July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see 
In October 2023, the Biden Department of Energy (DOE) published a new rule that cracks down on gas furnaces in homes, essentially phasing out many existing models and requiring new ones to meet onerous new standards (see 
We’ve been tracking the up down up down up down situation at Freeport LNG (where some Marcellus/Utica molecules flow) since it came online in 2019. Freeport was mostly offline for the first half of this year following an episode of cold temps in January (see 
In 2021, as he was running for Governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin pledged that if he won, he would remove the state from the onerous carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Youngkin kept his promise, although it took longer than he had hoped. Unfortunately, the left-leaning (very partisan) Association of Energy Conservation Professionals sued. The judge in the case just ruled the way Youngkin removed the state from RGGI was unlawful and that the state must (for now) remain in the high-tax, onerous organization. 
MDN first reported on a lawsuit by a group of Wyoming County, PA, landowners back in January 2019 (see 
In January, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
In August, MDN brought you up to speed on a lawsuit filed by several West Virginia landowners (turned into a class action) against Diversified Energy and EQT over EQT’s sale of 11,350 conventional wells and 2.5 million acres of leases spread across several states, including West Virginia (see 
The election of Donald Trump as President for a second term is about the best thing that has happened for Big Green groups in years. Why? They all (and we mean ALL) are fundraising using Trump’s name, hoping to shake some more coins out of the faithful lemmings that contribute to their twisted causes. We’re talking about groups like Earthworks, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, and more. In our review of these groups’ websites and press announcements following Trump’s crushing victory, we noticed two things they all are doing: (1) fundraising to “fight Trump” and (2) pledging massive new rounds of lawfare against anything and everything the Trump administration does. Our message to these sickos: BRING IT ON! We’re ready for you this time. 
CNX Resources filed a request with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April 2023 to build two pipelines—two for natural gas—along a 13.9-mile route in Bell, Loyalhanna, and Salem Townships in Westmoreland County. An additional 4-mile pipeline would be built for water. Called the Slickville Trunkline Project, the DEP originally told CNX its application was “incomplete.” The DEP later told CNX (in March of this year) the agency considered the application “withdrawn” because it hadn’t received any more information (see