On May 26, 2017, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals filed an opinion in response to two certified questions by the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia relating to the calculation of royalty payments for oil and gas leases.  At issue are leases that pay royalties on natural gas at a … More Flat-Rate Lessors Hit a Pothole

The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing a new oil and gas “forced pooling” bill, SB 576.  It is the latest attempt by the oil and gas industry to compel mineral interest owners to consent to the pooling of oil or gas leases in order to permit extraction of resources via horizontal drilling. … More Forced Pooling in West Virginia – 2017 (or, Here We Go Again!)

Warm weather is upon us here in West Virginia. Time to undertake all those projects we’ve been thinking about all winter—perhaps with excitement, perhaps with dread. If your summer projects involve digging or moving earth, please think about potential problems that may be lurking just beneath the surface. I’ve provided two links to this post. … More Dig This!

What’s a lawyer worth? I may never have asked a more loaded question. The answer, as most lawyers would tell you, is, “It depends . . .” It depends, of course, on the standard of measurement you use. In its blog, DataGenetics suggests that the value of the chemical elements that make up the human … More What’s Your Lawyer Worth?

A recent article in Charleston’s Gazette-Mail newspaper summarizes natural gas and liquids production in West Virginia for 2014 (the most recent year of complete data).  The numbers are astounding.  Over one trillion cubic feet of gas were produced in the state, enough to supply electricity to over 24 million homes for a year, if I … More West Virginia 2014 Natural Gas Production

I’m a big fan of the normal distribution. You know, the bell curve that gave us all such fits in statistics class. Increasingly, as I grow older and observe, I see many things that seem to fall under its classic shape—the relative favorability of a political figure, the strength of opinions on controversial issues, math … More Gas, Bells, and Tails