RACHEL L. ALLEN, ESQ. AND SCOTLAND M. DUNCAN, ESQ. Over the years, many forms of oil and gas leases have developed. Use of a “standard” form—a generic term descriptive of a general class of instruments rather than any one form2—simplifies negotiations with smaller landowners. Owners of large tracts, including major […]
Volume 13-2
WATER SOURCING AND WASTEWATER DISPOSAL: TWO OF THE LEAST WORRISOME ASPECTS OF MARCELLUS SHALE DEVELOPMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA
KEVIN J. GARBER, ESQ., STEVEN BAICKER-MCKEE, ESQ. AND JEAN M. MOSITES, ESQ. As this country searches for reliable energy sources in the face of political, technological, and environmental challenges, development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania has expanded rapidly in recent years. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“PaDEP” or […]
ROYALTY ON SWEET GAS OR SOUR GAS? THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA’S INTERPRETATION OF THE GUARANTEED MINIMUM ROYALTY ACT TO PERMIT GAS COMPANIES TO DEDUCT POST-PRODUCTION COSTS FROM ROYALTY PAYMENTS MADE TO LANDOWNERS: KILMER V. ELEXCO LAND SERVICES, INC.
BENJAMIN F. HANTZ The exponential growth in interest in Pennsylvania‘s Marcellus Shale deposits caused many landowners to challenge the validity of their leases under Pennsylvania‘s Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act. The central issue in deciding whether the leases were valid was whether gas companies were permitted to deduct certain post-production costs […]
FOREWORD
NANCY D. PERKINS, ESQ. For the past year or more, it has been virtually impossible for those of us who live in southwestern Pennsylvania to escape news stories about the Marcellus Shale, a vast formation that sprawls beneath parts of West Virginia, Ohio, New York, Maryland, and more than thirty […]
THE KNOWN “UNKNOWNS” OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING: A CASE FOR A TRADITIONAL SUBSURFACE TRESPASS REGIME IN PENNSYLVANIA
AARON STEMPLEWICZ In April 2008, Southwestern Energy, a Houston based drilling company, began natural gas drilling operations with a well in rural Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. This well was drilled using a tech-nique called hydraulic fracturing, which is a method of drilling that increases production by fracturing, or cracking, rock formations […]
TWO YEARS AFTER THE PENNSYLVANIA SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN BELDEN & BLAKE CORP. V. COMMONWEALTH DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION & NATURAL RESOURCES: THE COMMONWEALTH’S STRUGGLE TO PROTECT STATE LANDS
GINA S. WARREN, ESQ. AND KRISTA M. BARON The Marcellus Shale is by far the largest natural gas shale play in the United States and the largest known shale deposit in the world. Located beneath a large part of the Appalachian basin, it extends north into upstate New York, south […]
