PA EHB Allows Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County to Open
In January 2024, 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 PA DEP Approves Shale Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County). The DEP approved the plan on Jan. 11, 2024. More than 40 unhappy residents of Cyclone appealed the approval a few months later (see Sanctioned Lawyer Meets Cyclone Residents Against Injection Well). Even as the appeal played out, construction to convert the well continued—that is, until November, when a special state court stopped construction (see PA EHB Blocks Work on Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County). That same court issued an opinion on Dec. 27 that allows work to finish the well to continue and allows the well to open. Read More “PA EHB Allows Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County to Open”
A lawsuit that slipped by us (and is still playing out) that began in Carroll County, OH, has major ramifications for landowners and drillers across the state. The case is EAP Ohio LLC v. Sunnydale Farms LLC, et al. in which 13 oil and gas leases were executed in 2008 and 2009 in Carroll County, Ohio. The 2008 Leases contained an identical royalty clause that limited post-production deductions to three categories: transportation, compression, and/or dehydration to deliver the gas for sale. After drilling wells on those properties, EAP (Encino Energy) deducted several other items from royalties, including costs incurred for processing, treating, fuel, gathering, and trucking. The lawsuit tussles with the issue of how terms are defined and whether these “extra” categories are allowed under the lease’s language. 
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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