Ohio DMA Case Sheds Light on Surface vs Mineral Rights
How much of an effort is “enough” when a surface landowner in Ohio tries to locate the owner(s) of the belowground mineral rights under his or her land using the Dormant Mineral Act (DMA), with an eye toward reclaiming those rights? Is it enough to search the public record archive in only the county where the land is located? The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in two cases to say no, it’s not enough to run a quick search in one county when attempting to locate mineral rights owners.
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The editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal have taken notice of something MDN has been trumpeting for more than four years: The same three Democrat judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit keep killing U.S. energy projects. Specifically, they’re prejudiced against natural gas pipeline projects. We’re talking about Judge Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama; Judge James Wynn, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama; and Chief Judge Roger Gregory, appointed by William Jefferson Clinton. These three leftwing judges find the smallest, nitpicky things to use as an excuse to block the completion of the 94% completed, 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Enough!
An interesting case recently decided by Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has a significant impact for both surface landowners and drillers. The case is Zimmerview Dairy Farms, LLC v. Protégé Energy III LLC and establishes, under Ohio law, that a general release of damages contract (typically signed by landowners when they lease land for drilling or pipelines) does not release a driller or pipeline company from its ongoing obligation to remediate (fix) and restore damage to a landowner’s property.
In March the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a sub-agency of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), approved a final version of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale and conventional drilling operations (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has decided to roll the dice for a third time with the radical judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by applying for a new permit to cross 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest (see 
With all due respect, Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), is making a big mistake, in our humble opinion. Equitrans issued its first quarter 2022 update this morning. The big announcement from the update is that the company plans to file for new permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to allow MVP to build through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest. The radically left U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) has ruled against MVP and those same permits twice before. Equitrans CEO Thomas F. Karam says he thinks the third time will be the charm. We say, don’t hold your breath.
Three cheers for Big Coal! We’re not all that thrilled with using coal in power plants given there is a much more environmentally-friendly option–natural gas. But we’re certainly not against coal energy and we’re all for free enterprise and competition among fuel sources. The coal industry in Pennsylvania has our respect and admiration for standing up for itself and suing the state to block the insane Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax. PA Gov. Tom Wolf is forcing his state to join RGGI, which will assess huge new taxes on both coal and gas-fired power plants, threatening to drive both out of business.
Spire STL is a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to residents and businesses in the St. Louis, MO area. The pipeline began flowing gas in late 2019 (see 
Last Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled that Gov. Tom Wolf’s obscene carbon tax, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), will not go into effect until “pending further order of the court” (see 
The Barack Hussein Obama administration went crazy with over-regulation in many areas. One of them was to redefine “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) as everything down to, no exaggeration, mud puddles (see 
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court ruled that Gov. Tom Wolf’s obscene carbon tax, called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), will not go into effect until “pending further order of the court.” What further action from the court is necessary was not disclosed. What is obvious is that Wolf’s attempt to force the state to join RGGI is now on a very long pause, until more court cases are filed. The end game (for Republicans) is to run out the clock until a new governor is elected in November (hopefully a Republican). Either that, or convince the 5-2 liberal majority of the PA Supreme Court (which is likely where this will end up) to rule against Wolf’s unilateral attempt to force the state into the RGGI compact.