West Virginia University will be partnering with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Shell, and the University of Pittsburgh to develop marketable products from shale gas. This is an exciting opportunity for WVU and its students that hopefully will spur further cooperation; so long, that is, as the researchers for WVU and Pitt don’t talk sports. Continue reading
Tag: west virginia
When Insuring Your Hole-In-One Giveaway, Pay Attention to Minimum Yardage Requirements
I’ve not thought much about holes-in-one, mostly because my golf game is such that I’ve never been in any danger of making one. The charity responsible for the Greenbrier Classic golf tournament, however, must have given them some thought. Not only did it decide to award spectators a cash prize in the event of a hole-in-one on a certain hole, it purchased insurance to protect itself in the event of any pay-out. This turned out to be a smart move, because two golfers made holes-in-one resulting in nearly $200,000 in total payouts. Continue reading
Citizen Suits at Risk in West Virginia?
This fall, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that whether landowners are entitled to water replacement under the Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act, W. Va. Code § 22-3-1 et seq. (“SCMRA”), is a question to be resolved by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) rather than the State’s circuit courts. This ruling has potentially significant effects on the prosecution of citizen suits under SCMRA and similarly-written State environmental laws. Continue reading
Natural gas prices decline sharply in WV in last 10 years
The oil and gas industry’s West Virginia trade association, WVONGA, issued a press release yesterday attributing $1.5 billion in savings to residential ratepayers from lower gas prices. Those lower gas prices, of course, are due in no small part to the remarkable shale gas boom spurred by advancements in hydraulic fracturing. Continue reading
Fayette County, West Virginia, Wastewater Storage & Injection Ban Overturned
Earlier this summer, Fayette County, West Virginia, learned what many other local governments have already come to know: local bans on state and federally-regulated oil and gas activity are, in most cases and jurisdictions, unenforceable. Continue reading
EQT's West Virginia Presence Grows by 62,500 Acres
EQT announced earlier this week that it had reached a $407 million agreement with Statoil to buy the rights to develop 62,500 acres in West Virginia and to current production of 50 MMcfe per day. The transaction will be funded by a common stock offering of 9,500,000 shares and is expected to close in early July 2016. Continue reading
Joseph Schaeffer 