WV Court Vacates Shale Forced Pooling Order for Arsenal Resources
The Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia vacated an order combining 58 oil and gas tracts into a Harrison County drilling unit, ruling that the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission failed to provide sufficient findings of fact. The case involves the “JOsborn 213 Unit” operated by Arsenal Resources, which mineral rights owners claim failed to negotiate in good faith as required by law. The court found the Commission ignored conflicting testimony and provided only summary conclusions rather than a detailed analysis. Consequently, the case was remanded for further proceedings, requiring the Commission to properly evaluate all evidence and issue a new order. Read More “WV Court Vacates Shale Forced Pooling Order for Arsenal Resources”
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass (CP) LNG export facility in Louisiana began operations in March 2022 (see 
We recently became aware of an Ohio Supreme Court decision that affects producers (i.e., drillers) and, by extension, potentially affects royalties for landowners and rights owners. In E. Ohio Gas Co. v. Croce, the Supreme Court affirmed that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has exclusive jurisdiction over claims brought by natural gas producers against Dominion Energy. The producers alleged conversion and unjust enrichment, claiming Dominion sold their excess gas without compensation. The producers tried to litigate the matter in the courts. But the Supreme Court ruled that, in these types of cases, PUCO has primary jurisdiction—not the courts. 
One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry, Ohio, that processes and transports fracking waste for disposal. AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility in Belmont County, where waste is temporarily stored, had vastly exceeded its permitted limit of 600 tons (storing over 10,000 tons), resulting in a permit violation. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 to compel compliance and require the company to clean up the facility. After the company didn’t perform, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stepped in to handle the cleanup (see 
In August, the parents of four children under the age of 18 (from three families) filed a lawsuit on their kids’ behalf against EQT subsidiaries EQT Production Company and EQT XL Midstream Operating, claiming that emissions from a nearby compressor station and nearby shale wells operated by EQT have led to severe health-related problems for the kids (see 
In 2015, a group of landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania who had leased their land for fracking filed a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko, Statoil (now Equinor), Mitsui E&P, and Access Midstream (later bought by Williams), alleging the companies had improperly deducted post-production costs (e.g., gas gathering and transportation expenses) from royalties owed to the landowners in breach of their respective leases. The lawsuit also alleged collusion and conspiracy to defraud the landowners (antitrust violations). The lawsuit was on hold for many years while other lawsuits played out. In 2024, a federal court in Scranton unpaused the lawsuit, and the judge ruled, tossing out the landowners’ royalty claims (see 
Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Enhancement by Compression (ExC) project would increase horsepower at three compressor stations — two in New York and one in Connecticut — by an extra 125 MMcf/d, to flow more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England. The two NY compressors are in Dover and Athens. The CT compressor is located in Brookfield. In September, we told you that the Sierra Club paid for a fake study bashing the Connecticut portion of the project (see 
An interesting case in Ohio deals with whether or not natural gas can be taxed, depending on how it’s used. The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals ruled on Tuesday, January 6, that MGQ Terminal, Inc. is exempt from use tax on natural gas purchases used to process asphalt to customer specifications. Although Tax Commissioner Patricia Harris had assessed use tax for the period between 2013 and 2016 based on the determination that the company was engaged in a storage business, the board reversed this decision, finding that the company’s activities qualify as tax-exempt “manufacturing operations.” The board held that MGQ’s use of natural gas to heat, agitate, and blend refinery waste into homogeneous, specification-compliant products constitutes a transformative manufacturing process rather than mere storage. 
Big Green grifters from the environmental left have struck out in their attempts to shut down fossil energy and replace it with their own preferred energy sources by appealing to legislators and the general public. So they’re doing the only thing they have left: Launch a blizzard of lawsuits against oil and gas companies, hoping to tie them up for decades (using Democrat judges), or possibly even winning a few cases to further fund their nefarious activities. Bloomberg reports that Big Green is increasing its litigation pace in 2026. Time to shut them down in their efforts. 
In November, Pennsylvania finally passed a budget—four months late. As part of the deal struck between Democrats and Republicans, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme was permanently ash-canned (see 
The Ohio Tax Commissioner is facing a lawsuit from Rover Pipeline over an aggressive property tax assessment that inflates the project’s market value. The dispute centers on the state treating $2.2 billion in weather-related construction overruns and an unrealistic “infinite lifespan” assumption as value-adding assets. Critics argue that this approach violates constitutional principles of fair market valuation, under which taxes should reflect what a willing buyer would pay rather than total development costs. 
In April, Knighthead Capital Management, Homer City Redevelopment (HCR), and Kiewit Power Constructors Co. announced a plan to convert the former Homer City Generating Station, previously the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania (Indiana County, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh) into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, designed to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (see 
In April, Knighthead Capital Management, Homer City Redevelopment (HCR), and Kiewit Power Constructors Co. announced a plan to convert the former Homer City Generating Station, previously the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania (Indiana County, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh) into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, designed to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (see 
Pipelines in West Virginia (like most other states) pay property taxes. It’s a significant revenue generator for counties. There are many pipelines in Wetzel County, including three NGL pipelines owned and operated by MarkWest (aka MPLX) that connect to the Mobley Gas Plant. In 2022, MarkWest filed a tax return for the pipelines showing a 35% reduction in value due to less-than-forecasted pipeline usage, a concept called “economic obsolescence based on inutility.” The County Assessor for Wetzel County challenged MarkWest’s claim. 
Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) have introduced a bill that is critical to correcting a long-standing abuse of our justice system. The Curtailing Litigation Excess and Abuse Reform (CLEAR) Act of 2025 will streamline American energy infrastructure projects. The legislation targets “serial litigation” by activist groups, ensuring that once a court rules on a project, opponents cannot repeatedly delay it through additional legal battles. By limiting these indefinite delays while still preserving environmental protections, the bill aims to restore investor certainty, lower energy costs, and support national goals regarding AI competitiveness and grid reliability. The bill balances accelerated construction with legitimate oversight. 
A couple of weeks ago, we told you that a pending lawsuit had stalled the implementation of the All-Electric Buildings Act (passed in 2023), which was supposed to require that any new home or business being built in New York could not (by law) connect to natural gas (see