Federal Court Upholds Ohio Forced Pooling Law in Chesapeake Case
In 2015, landowners in Harrison County, OH who own 127 acres (the Kerns) filed a lawsuit alleging their property rights were about to be violated because Chesapeake Energy had filed a pooling request with the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to pool (combine) the Kerns property with surrounding properties for shale drilling. The Kerns had not signed and do not want drilling under their land. Their neighbors do. Ohio has a law on the books that allows for “forced pooling” in cases when a majority of the surrounding land is leased but landowners with small positions refuse to sign. The Kerns resisted and fought the case all the way to Ohio Supreme Court, which rejected their claims. Chesapeake drilled and fracked three wells (on a neighboring property), which included drilling under the Kerns’ property. So the Kerns filed a new lawsuit in 2016, in federal court, claiming a “taking” of their property had occurred. The federal court has just ruled–against the Kerns. This was the first time a court case dealt directly with the constitutionality of Ohio’s unitization (forced pooling) law. The upshot: Ohio’s forced pooling law remains intact and in force…
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In February the City of Green, OH (Summit County), finally faced the reality that NEXUS Pipeline–a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada–will come through their paradise (see 
We told you last week that Columbia Gas Transmission’s Leach XPress Pipeline, which only came online in January, experienced an explosion and fire in Marshall County, WV (see 
PTT has awarded the contract to build the Belmont, OH ethane cracker to Bechtel. At least, that’s the rumor swirling around. We have to say right up front, this information has not yet been announced and therefore is not 100% verified–but we’ve talked to a highly placed industry source and we believe it to be accurate. Below we offer insight into why we believe this information is accurate, and why PTT has not yet made their official final investment decision (FID) announcement, and when they might do so…
In 2013, Buckeye Brine, a relatively young Ohio-based company, added a second shale wastewater injection well in Coshocton County (see 
In April 2016 MDN told you about the Guernsey Power Station–a new Utica/Marcellus natural gas-fired electric generating plant proposed for Guernsey County, OH (see 
It’s been a while–quite a while–since we’ve heard anything about Hess’ Utica drilling program. The last article we ran on Hess drilling in the Utica was in April 2016 when Hess management said that while they have “good rock” in the Utica, they would mothball their Utica operations until more pipelines are built. Looks like the pipelines are built. We spotted a story that gives new information about Hess’ plans in the Utica. They currently have 59 wells producing in the Ohio Utica. They’re working to complete another 5 previously drilled (in 2015?) wells, which will give them 64 producing wells “in the next month or so.” As for new drilling, the company will hopefully restart their program to drill new wells “hopefully in mid-2019.” Here’s what Hess’ “Utica operations area lead” guy had to say at a Kiwanis Club meeting last week in Steubenville about how much, and where, they’re drilling in the Utica…
On Tuesday the voters in Ohio once again roared their disapproval of anti-fracking candidates, and anti-fracking ballot measures. For the seventh time in a row, a radical anti-fossil fuel ballot measure was voted down in Youngstown, OH–by an overwhelming majority (56%). Even so, the hardened radicals behind the ballot measure promise to keep bringing it back until Hades freezes over. These radicals have already cost the taxpayers of Youngstown $188,000 to run the ballot measure. And yet they keep coming back. They fit Einstein’s definition of insanity. Statewide voters shot down the candidacy of anti-fossil fueler Dennis Kucinich, the man who pledged that if elected governor he would institute a total ban on fracking statewide (see 
From January 2012 to February 2015, researchers from the University of Cincinnati collected 180 groundwater samples in Eastern Ohio, from water wells located close to Utica Shale drilling activity. In early 2016, the lead researcher shared some high level results from the study. The preliminary results showed that fracking in areas where there are water wells doesn’t affect those wells (see 
In yet another very good sign that the proposed PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, OH is headed for a positive final investment decision (FID), PTT has just purchased another 300+ acres to go along with the previous acreage they purchased as the site for the future cracker/petrochemical project. Last July MDN reported PTT had spent $13.8 million to buy 168 acres at the proposed site for a second Appalachia ethane cracker, in Belmont County, OH (see 
An order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued yesterday allows Energy Transfer (ET) to begin full operations along the North Market Segment of the Rover Pipeline–a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that runs from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and on to Canada via the Vector Pipeline. On April 13 ET asked FERC for permission to start up service along another major chunk of it’s massive Rover Pipeline (see