Waterville, OH Passed NEXUS Pipeline Ban, Certain to Get Overturned
We’ve written plenty in the past about the PA-based radical anti-drilling group called CELDF–Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (see our CELDF stories here). CELDF seems to have a lot of success in tricking people in Ohio into believing they can pass a so-called Community Bill of Rights to ban fracking, injection wells, etc.–illegal under Ohio state law. When such legislation is passed and then gets challenged, it loses in court. Every time. And when private companies sue for damages, taxpayers end up footing the bill and the CELDF is nowhere to be found (see Anti Group CELDF Won’t Help Grant Twp Pay $1M Judgement). The CELDF went pedaling their pap in Meigs County, OH, to the City of Waterville, and they found fertile ground, getting a “Bill of Rights Charter Amendment” on the ballot yesterday, meant to stop the NEXUS Pipeline from going through town (see PA-Based CELDF Looks for New Dupes in Meigs County, OH). Unfortunately the citizens of Waterville fell for it and voted to approve the ballot initiative. Thing is, as soon as it’s challenged in court (and you can bet your last dollar it will be challenged), it will get overturned, just like every other time these CELDF measures have been challenged. The taxpayers will have to pay to defend their folly…
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While the worldwide Baker Hughes rig count slide back a bit in October, from 934 in September to 920 in October, the rig count in the U.S. once again, for the fourth month in a row, went up. The average U.S. rig count for October was 544, up 35 from the 509 counted in September. However, the rig count was down 247 from the 791 counted in October 2015–so we still have a long ways to go. The Marcellus/Utica rig count was up for the third month running. In October the M/U rig count went up by 4 with 3 additions in PA (now 25 rigs) and 1 in WV (now 10 rigs). OH stayed even running with an average of 14 rigs…
MDN has been reporting 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 May, Ohio attorney David Wigham (Roetzel & Andress law firm) said there are signs that the Supremes were about to release a massive, all-in-one-go ruling on the DMA (see 
Last year the Ohio Supreme Court accepted a case that will sound familiar to readers of MDN. The case, known as Lutz v. Chesapeake Appalachia, is about whether or not drillers (Chesapeake in this case) is allowed to deduct certain post-production costs from landowner royalty checks. That debate currently rages in Bradford County, PA–as well as other locations across the country. In the Ohio case, the high court was asked to decide whether Ohio follows the “at the well” rule, which permits the deduction of post-production costs, or if the state follows the “marketable product” rule, which limits the deduction of post-production costs under certain circumstances. Drillers and landowners have a lot riding on the decision. The Supremes came down off Mount Olympus yesterday to render their verdict (full copy of the decision below). The court said in so many words, “We’re not deciding.” In other words, each royalty case should be litigated individually, case-by-case, in a trial court. There is no one-size-fits-all with respect to deducting expenses from royalty checks. Each case will depend on how the contract is written, and the success of lawyers litigating it…
In April of this year, Mountaineer NGL Storage announced an open season for a new underground NGL storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River (see 
Yesterday Murray Energy, which operates coal mines in Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Utah, and West Virginia, announced it had sold the leases for 5,900 of the acres it owns in Belmont and Monroe counties (in eastern Ohio) to an unidentified shale driller for $63.6 million. That works out to be ~$10,800 per acre. According to Murray officials, the sale will allow the company to focus on its core activity–coal mining. The money will also help the company stay out of bankruptcy court. The sale, which is slated to close “in the coming weeks” doesn’t ID the buyer. But we have a guess as to who bought…
In June 2014 Dominion filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate new compression facilities at existing compressor stations in Marshall County, WV and Monroe County, OH, and certain other facilities, collectively called the Clarington Project (see 
Tim Greene is owner of Land & Mineral Management of Appalachia and a former West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection inspector. He knows a thing or two about leasing and drilling in the Mountain State. As part of a recent article, Greene was asked about the many leases signed five years ago that are coming up for renewal (or release). Greene said five years ago landowners in WV and OH were getting signing bonuses of $5,000 per acre and more, with royalties going as high as 20%. As those leases come up for renewal, Greene cautions landowners that they won’t see anywhere near those terms if they sign again. What will they see?…
The Ohio Oil & Gas Association’s (OOGA) director of public relations recently attended and spoke at a meeting of the Columbiana County Port Auhority. His words for Columbiana County? Drilling will (eventually) return to the county in bigger numbers. He said drilling has never really stopped in the county–it’s just slowed down, a lot. But that trend will reverse sooner or later. The county is blessed with wet gas, but wet gas (natural gas liquids, or NGLs) has currently fallen out of favor. That too shall pass. Here’s a bit of the pep talk OOGA gave at the meeting, with a good description of Utica drilling in Columbiana County and the many benefits of drilling in the county…
It’s been 10 looooooong years, but finally the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has just posted a lease sale auction for 33 parcels in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF). Although there are some 18,000 acres under consideration for leasing by the BLM in WNF, this first batch amounts to about 1,600 acres–most of it in Monroe County, OH. Monroe is a prime location for Utica Shale drilling. WNF is the only national forest in Ohio and portions of it are found in Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Lawrence, Perry, Scioto, Vinton, and Washington counties. WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. Those mineral rights owners have been denied the use of their property rights for a decade. The BLM controls drilling on federally-protected lands like WNF. Last November the BLM held a series of hearings about finally beginning to drill in WNF. With this auction, it appears that not only will public land get leased, but drilling on private land in WNF can go forward as well…
In December MDN wrote that Hilcorp Energy is making some magic happen in Lawrence County, PA–in the northern Utica Shale region (see 
In February MDN brought you exclusive news that Shell had begun approaching landowners in Beaver County to get them to sign easements for two ethane pipelines to feed the mighty cracker plant they plan to build in the county (see 
In May MDN brought you the story that Columbiana, OH was contemplating aiding and abetting a fracking company in its quest to expand (see