By Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyOn March 16, 2021, the Supreme Court of Ohio expanded upon its prior decision in Blackstone v. Moore, 2018-Ohio-4959, holding that a reference in a deed that described a previously severed mineral interest, but without identifying the name of the interest owner, was specific under R.C. 5301.49(A), and thus prevented the extinguishment of the interest… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn January 20, 2021, the Ohio EPA’s Division of Air Pollution Control (DAPC) hosted a “Program Advisory Group” (PAG) meeting via Microsoft Teams to inform interested stakeholders of recent and upcoming DAPC activities. The topics discussed during the PAG meeting included: anticipated regulatory changes to address non-attainment of the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn January 19, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit issued an Order vacating U.S. EPA’s 2019 Affordable Clean Energy Rule (ACE Rule). The 2019 ACE Rule replaced the 2015 Clean Power Plan as a means of regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants. The Court held that, while… Continue Reading
By Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyOn December 17, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio addressed the surface owner’s due diligence obligations under the 2006 version of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act. See Gerrity v. Chervenak, Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-6705. Read more about that decision in our Client Alert.… Continue Reading
By Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyOn December 2, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio held that the Ohio Marketable Title Act applies to severed mineral interests despite the enactment of the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act. See West v. Bode, 2020-Ohio-5473. Read more about that decision in our Client Alert.… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyIn a recent mandamus action, the Supreme Court of Ohio had the opportunity to construe Ohio’s saltwater injection well permitting scheme. See State ex rel. Omni Energy Group, L.L.C. v. Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Div. of Oil & Gas Resources Mgt., Slip Opinion No. 2020-Ohio-5581. In Omni, the Court discussed whether (1) the Division… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyThe Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing (the “Division”), recently informed Ohio’s “land professionals” (i.e., oil and gas landmen registered with the Division) that their current registrations remain valid until July 1, 2021 pursuant to House Bill 404. In order to maintain their registrations, land professionals must renew them no… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentThis post is an update to our October 2, 2020 blog post regarding U.S EPA’s final rule overturning U.S. EPA’s ‘Once In, Always In’ policy for major sources of hazardous air pollutants. Notably, the final rule was published in the November 19, 2020 Federal Register and, thus, the rule becomes effective on January 19, 2021.… Continue Reading
By Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyThe Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing, recently reached out to Ohio’s “land professionals” (i.e., oil and gas landmen registered with the Division) concerning the renewal of their registrations. Pursuant to House Bill 197, land professionals must file their renewal paperwork with the Division on or before December 1, 2020.… Continue Reading
By Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyOn September 29, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio accepted appeals from the Fifth District Court of Appeals’ decisions in Peppertree Farms, L.L.C. v. Thonen, Case No. 2020-Ohio-3042, and Peppertree Farms, L.L.C. v. Thonen, Case No. 2020-Ohio-3043, as well as the Seventh District Court of Appeals’ decision in Fonzi v. Miller, Case No. 2020-Ohio-3739. In… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentThis post provides an important update to our January 2018 Client Alert regarding U.S. EPA’s ‘Once In, Always In’ policy for major sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). On October 1, 2020, U.S. EPA issued a final rule amending the general provisions of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), at 40 CFR… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyOn September 23, 2020, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that fact issues prevented a lower court from granting summary judgment to the State of Ohio on a takings claim involving the indefinite suspension of a Trumbull County injection well. See State ex rel. AWMS Water Solutions, L.L.C. v. Mertz, 2020-Ohio-4509. Read more about this decision… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentThis post provides important updates to our August 17, 2020 post regarding U.S. EPA’s amendments to the 2012 and 2016 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry (40 CFR 60, Subpart OOOO and 40 CFR 60, Subpart OOOOa). First, U.S. EPA published the final amendments in the Final Register on… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyThe Supreme Court of Ohio accepted a case involving the Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (ODMA), Fonzi v. Brown, but held the case until the Court decides Gerrity v. Chervenak. In Fonzi, the Court will consider issues over the extent of a landowner’s duty to exercise reasonable diligence in notifying mineral owners of an abandonment under… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn August 13, 2020, U.S. EPA issued two final rules amending the 2012 and 2016 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry. The first rule makes policy amendments to the 2012 NSPS, 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart OOOO, and the 2016 NSPS, 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart OOOOa, (the “Policy… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr and Mark Hylton on Posted in EnergyOn June 1, 2020, the Seventh District Court of Appeals once again addressed the level of diligence required to identify holders of a severed mineral interest under the 2006 version of Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act (2006 DMA). In Fonzi v. Gary D. Brown & Eclipse Res., 2020-Ohio-3631, the appellee-surface owner filed his notice of abandonment… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an Order partially granting a motion to stay a Montana District Court’s injunction barring the use of the Army Corps’ streamlined Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) governing pipeline and other utility construction activities that impact a water of the United States regulated under the Clean Water… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn June 4, 2020, U.S. EPA proposed a rule to improve the consistency and transparency of benefit cost analyses (BCAs) for all “significant” proposed and final regulations under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The proposed rule, developed in response to comments on U.S. EPA’s June 12, 2018 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Administrator Wheeler’s… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn June 1, 2020, U.S. EPA finalized amendments to the rules governing the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) process, which had not been updated since 1971. The final amendments establish a more robust framework for the WQC process which is intended, in large part, to ensure that certifying agencies take… Continue Reading
By Ilya Batikov on Posted in EnergyOn May 21, 2020, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for a lessee in an oil and gas lease dispute, finding that the lessee properly considered post-production costs when calculating the landowners’ royalties. See Henceroth v. Chesapeake Exploration, LLC, 6th Cir. No. 19-3942. The lessee, Chesapeake Exploration (Chesapeake), produced oil and gas from the… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyRecently, in Peppertree Farms v. Thonen, 2020-Ohio-3043, Ohio’s Fifth Appellate District considered whether certain ancient royalty and fee oil and gas reservations terminated upon the grantor’s death. The Court held that they did because the grantors failed to include words of inheritance in their reservation clauses. As a result, each grantor’s reserved oil and gas… Continue Reading
By Jay Carr on Posted in EnergyThe Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing, recently reached out to Ohio’s “land professionals” (i.e., oil and gas landman registered with the Division) concerning renewing their registerations. Ohio law requires land professionals to renew their registrations annually on or before April 30. However, in light of House Bill 197, land… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn April 23, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, held that a permit is required for either “a direct discharge of pollutants from a point source into federally regulated navigable waters, or when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund et al.,… Continue Reading
By Ryan Elliott on Posted in Energy,EnvironmentOn April 21, 2020, U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers published the final Navigable Waters Protection Rule amending the definition of “Waters of the United States” (the “2020 WOTUS Rule”). Under the 2020 WOTUS Rule, four categories of jurisdictional WOTUS are subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA): 1. The territorial… Continue Reading
