US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Ohio Dormant Mineral Act Case
MDN has reported on the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act (DMA) for years. In a nutshell, there are two DMAs in Ohio–one passed in 1989 that went into effect in 1992, and another in 2006 which added certain additional procedural requirements to the 1989 version. The DMA in its various versions provides for mineral rights that had previously been separated from surface rights to transfer back to the surface owner under certain conditions. The problem, for drillers and for landowners in Ohio, is in knowing which set of DMA rules to use (1989 or 2006) in determining who owns the mineral rights. A number of DMA cases went before the Ohio Supreme Court. In September the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in three cases, saying all of the other cases come under those three (see Important: OH Supreme Court Finally Rules on Dormant Mineral Act). The three cases receiving full opinions were: Corban v. Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C.; Walker v. Shondrick-Nau; and Albanese v. Batman. The Walker in Walker v. Shondrick-Nau didn’t like the outcome and appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for a “writ of certiorari”–which is essentially a request to review the case. The U.S. Supremes rejected the request–which means the Ohio Supremes’ rulings last September stand and are Ohio law with respect to the DMA…
Read More “US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Ohio Dormant Mineral Act Case”
In December the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proceeded with an online auction for BLM-controlled land in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (see 
We have some progress and movement to report about PTT Global’s proposed $6 billion ethane cracker project coming to Belmont County, OH. The rumor is that PTT will announce a final investment decision (FID) in March–just two short months away. We wait with eager anticipation! However, in the meantime, the project appears to be proceeding full speed ahead. The latest evidence of that comes from a recent permit issued for the project by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The permit allows the cracker plant to discharge wastewater (which is far different from drilling wastewater) into the Ohio River. The EPA notes, in granting the permit, that although the discharge may “result in changes from current water quality conditions” the discharge “cannot violate Ohio’s water quality standards that protect human health and the environment.” Next up is an air permit from the Ohio EPA, which the agency is currently working on. Here’s the deets on the wastewater permit just issued…
As we have pointed out in past articles, the electricity industry is a complicated industry, with some some power producers operating as “regulated” and some operating as “unregulated.” Regulated power producers have their rates, and rate of profit, set by government regulators–which limits profits but also guarantees profits. Unregulated power producers, on the other hand, do not have the safety net of the government forcing ratepayers to pony up–they operate in the free market, taking all of the risks–and reaping the rewards if those risks prove worthwhile. Many (most?) of the new natural gas-fired electric plants getting built, like those we have focused on in Ohio over the past several days (see 
For the past couple of years Gulfport Energy has made major investments in the local communities where it operates in Appalachia (see 
Yesterday MDN ran an important story about 10 proposed (or already under construction) Utica Shale gas-powered electric plants planned for Ohio (see 
Enough is enough. As MDN reported last June, anti-drilling zealots in Youngstown, OH filed a petition to place a frack ban resolution on the November ballot–for the 6th time (see 
A couple of weeks ago four companies won bids on 17 parcels totaling 719 acres of federal land (for Utica Shale drilling) in the Ohio Wayne National Forest (see 
Over the past four years MDN has monitored and reported on conventional driller Beck Energy and their ongoing difficulties with attempting to drill in Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH. You can see our list of stories stretching back to February 2013 
Rex Energy announced yesterday the company has cut a deal with Antero Resources to sell all of Rex’s “Warrior South Area” assets to Antero. Which may should like a big deal, but really isn’t. The assets sold include 4,100 net acres in perhaps the hottest part of the Ohio Utica Shale: Guernsey, Noble and Belmont counties. It also includes 14 Utica Shale wells. However, the wells are only producing 9 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) collectively. The sale price is $30 million–or $7,317 per acre. Rex says the acreage and wells are in a “non-core” area for the company. Rex, a driller focused mainly on the Marcellus/Utica (headquartered in State College, PA), has had its share of financial challenges. In December the company was warned by the New York Stock Exchange that the per share price is too low and the stock is in danger of being delisted (see 
American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Two wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS, were “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake (see 
Two members of Eclipse Resources’ top management team are playing musical chairs as part of the company’s plan to “accelerate growth” in 2017. Tom Liberatore, currently executive VP and COO is dropping the COO title and becoming executive VP of corporate development and geosciences. Meanwhile, Oleg Tolmachev, currently senior VP of drilling and completions is becoming executive VP and COO. Tolmachev’s star is clearly rising and he is now the man running the Utica/Marcellus drilling program for the company. In the same press release, the company said it has now completed and brought online five Utica wells in Monroe County, OH. The wells are the first dry gas Utica wells to use Eclipse’s new “Gen-3” completion design. What is Gen-3? And what does the musical chairs at Eclipse have to do with Gen-3?…
On Dec. 31, 2011, the Youngstown, OH area experienced a 4.0 earthquake that was later determined to be caused by a wastewater injection well (see 
In April 2015 the Obama administration’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) did a disservice to not only the drilling industry, but the wind industry, farmers and the construction industry. USFWS listed the northern long-eared bat as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (see