Butler Co. Data Center Plans 300 MW Behind-the-Meter Gas Plant
Another big data center is heading to western Pennsylvania, and this one plans to make its own power with a natural gas-fired plant, right next door to a shale gas well pad. A Florida LLC and a Coraopolis microgrid company have filed preliminary plans for the Misty Hollow Energy & Data Campus: a 1-million-square-foot data center and a 300-megawatt power generation facility on a former dairy farm along Prospect Road (PA Route 528) in Forward Township, Butler County. The site sits next to a PennEnergy Resources well pad, and the township engineer wants a letter from PennEnergy signing off on the plan’s revised access to that pad. The developer now confirms the 300 MW plant will run on natural gas, and it will power the campus “behind the meter,” off the grid.
Correction, Sept. 24, 2026: An earlier version of this story said PennEnergy Resources would give the project access to its well pad. The township engineer’s review letter actually asks for an acknowledgment letter from PennEnergy about revised access to PennEnergy’s own well pad. We regret the error. The story has also been updated with a statement from the developer. Read More “Butler Co. Data Center Plans 300 MW Behind-the-Meter Gas Plant”
A federal appeals court has handed XTO Energy (ExxonMobil’s shale subsidiary) a win in a long-running Western Pennsylvania royalty lawsuit, ruling Monday that XTO did NOT give up its right to push some landowners into private arbitration — even though it spent 55 months litigating the case before it asked. The case is Salvatora v. XTO Energy Inc., a cousin of the Kriley case MDN has also followed. Same defendant, same Pittsburgh courthouse, same plaintiffs’ firm, same complaint: landowners say XTO shaved too much off their royalty checks for “post-production costs” — the gathering, compression, and processing charges that move gas from the wellhead to a buyer. 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 27 new drilling permits last week, August 10 – 16, up significantly from the 8 permits issued two weeks ago. In something of a reversal, Pennsylvania turned in the fewest new permits, just 4. Ohio issued the most permits, with 16, and West Virginia issued 7 permits. The drillers who received new permits were: Antero Resources (6), Ascent Resources (5), EOG Resources (8), Expand Energy (4), Jay-Bee Oil & Gas (1), LOLA Energy (1), Range Resources (1), and Seneca Resources (1). 
In March, MDN told you that Butler County landowners were appealing after a federal judge tossed their royalty class action against XTO Energy (see 
We just happened across another XTO Energy lawsuit in which leased landowners sued over post-production deductions being taken from their royalty checks. Salvatora v. XTO Energy Inc. is a pivotal Pennsylvania case tackling the messy business of natural gas royalties. Western Pennsylvania landowners from Mercer and Butler counties sued XTO, arguing the company unfairly deducted “post-production costs”—like compression and transport—from their checks. The core debate hinged on “at the wellhead” lease language.