Managing for the Future!

NARO Ohio 2023 Convention September 19 - September 21

SPECIAL INVITATION: CONVENTION Sept. 19-21, CAMBRIDGE OH

IMPORTANT EVENT FOR

ALL MINERAL AND ROYALTY OWNERS Don’t Miss This Opportunity!

Hello fellow Mineral & Royalty Owners,

We wanted to reach out and personally invite you to this unique educational opportunity being held in Cambridge, Ohio. It’s an important time for mineral and royalty owners to be as educated as possible about relevant issues.

The NARO OHIO/APPALACHIA CONVENTION provides an opportunity to hear about mineral management, understand what is impacting royalty interests, estate planning, taxes, and other relevant topics. It also a great time to network with others! We are personally helping to organize this event, and feel your time would be well spent hearing knowledgeable speakers on impactful topics.

I’m attaching the agenda and a fly

er. Feel free to share this with anyone that would be interested. This event is sponsored by the non-profit Ohio Chapter & Appalachia Chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners. Check out https://naroohio.org/ This site also has links to the speaker bios, agenda, and more.

Don’t miss this quality convention and networking opportunity. It is conveniently being offered in-person or virtually. The early bird registration ends on August 15th, so register soon to take advantage the special discount!

Please feel free to reach out to either of us with any questions.

Best Regards,

Dan Devitt Sandi Thompson

President, Ohio Chapter, NARO Board Member, Ohio Chapter, NARO

Dan.Devitt@gmail.com thompsandi@gmail.com

To Register online go to: https://naro-us.org/event-5202420

To Register by Phone: 918-794-1660

The National Association of Royalty Owners, Ohio Chapter (NARO-OH) & Appalachia Chapter will be holding their annual Convention at the Pritchard Laughlin Civic Center in Cambridge, Ohio on September 19 - September 21, 2023.

This three-day event emphasizes cutting edge programs designed to share the importance of Managing Your Minerals. There is an outstanding line-up of local and national speakers on various topics dir

ectly impacting Ohio’s royalty owners, land owners, producers, and enterprises that directly or indirectly support the oil and gas industries.

Conference highlights include:

Tuesday Sept 19th:

 Be Our Guest: Industry Tour - a guided tour hosted by MPLX (Limited seats available)

 Educational opportunities (added fees):

· Mineral Management Review (RMM/CMM candidates)

· Introduction to Mineral Ownership (Introductory course)

· Land Management Ethics (5 participant minimum)

Wednesday Sept 20th:

 Leading off with the National perspective

 Keynote Speaker, Steve Gray, ODNR Deputy Director

 Tax Overview & Mineral Taxes

 Special Presentation – Should I Audit My Minerals?

 NARO Reception – Vendor Presentations

Thursday Sept 21th:

 Keynote Speaker, R

ay Walker, Chief Operating Officer, Encino Energy

 Special Presentation – Dale Arnold, OFBF, Solar Leasing –Energy Development Projects

 Innovation Roundtable: From the Oil/Gas Field to the Legal Field

 Other Presentations: Estate Planning, Carbon Sequestration, & MORE!

 Legislative and Legal Updates

 Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) updates

Please visit the website: https://NAROOHIO.ORG for additional details and registration.

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION PRICE BREAK ENDS AUGUST 15!

"The mission of NARO is to encourage and promote exploration and production of minerals in the United States while preserving, protecting, advancing and representing the interests and rights of mineral and royalty owners through education, advocacy and assistance to our members, to NARO chapter organizations, to government bodies and to the public.”

Supreme Court grants request to lift block on Mountain Valley Pipeline

BY ZACK BUDRYK - 07/27/23 10:52 AM ET

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted an emergency request from the company behind the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, overturning a lower court’s hold.

In an unsigned order with no public dissents, the court granted the request to vacate a stay on a segment of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“The application to vacate stays presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted,” the court wrote in its one-page order.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., issued the temporary stay earlier this month. The broader project runs from northwest West Virginia to southern Virginia.

In the June deal to lift the federal debt ceiling, Congress included approval of the pipeline, a longtime priority of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and transferred jurisdiction from the Fourth Circuit to the federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

However, in July, the Fourth Circuit granted a request for a stay from the Wilderness Society.

Mountain Valley filed an emergency request shortly thereafter, arguing the Richmond court no longer retained jurisdiction following the legislation.

In response, Mountain Valley filed an emergency request with Chief Justice John Roberts asking for the stay to be vacated. Manchin, a coalition of House Republicans and the U.S. Solicitor General’s office all signed amicus briefs in support of the pipeline operator. The brief was also joined by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) and Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican challenger for Manchin’s seat in 2024.

The stay applied to construction of a section of the natural gas pipeline that would run through parts of the Jefferson National Forest, the last remaining section of the 300-mile project.

Both of West Virginia’s senators praised the court’s decision in separate statements Thursday morning.

“I am relieved that the highest court in the land has upheld the law Congress passed and the President signed,” Manchin said.

“All necessary permits have been issued and approved, we passed bipartisan legislation in Congress, the president signed that legislation into law, and now the Supreme Court has spoken: construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline can finally resume, which is a major win for American energy and American jobs,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said in a statement.

The operator of the pipeline also praised the decision.

“We are grateful for the quick action of the United States Supreme Court in vacating the previously issued stay orders regarding the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project,” Natalie Cox, VP for corporate communications at pipeline operator Equitrans Midstream, said in a statement to The Hill. “We are also grateful for the excellent and persuasive advocacy of the administration through the Solicitor General; and for the many well-reasoned and supportive amicus briefs filed by MVP’s shippers, end-users, union workers, industry associations, and by elected officials who recognize the importance of the project.”

The pipeline has long been opposed by environmentalist groups who say it threatens ecosystems and the environment in Appalachia, while some members of Congress, including Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), have said they do not necessarily oppose the pipeline but are against using legislation as the mechanism for approval.

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“Allowing construction of this destructive and unnecessary fracked gas pipeline to proceed puts the profits of a few corporations ahead of the health and safety of Appalachian communities,” Jamie Williams, president of the Wilderness Society, said in a statement.

“The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a threat to our water, our air, and our climate. We will continue to argue that Congress’ greenlight of this dangerous pipeline was unconstitutional and will exhaust every effort to stop it.”

This story was updated at 12:58 p.m.

TAGS JIM JUSTICE JOE MANCHIN JOHN ROBERTS MOUNTAIN VALLEY PIPELINE PATRICK MORRISEY SUPREME COURT

SOURCE:

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4122781-supreme-court-grants-request-to-lift-block-on-mountain-valley-pipeline/

MORE INFO:

https://www.mountainvalleypipeline.info/

Smith, et al. v. Chestnut Ridge Storage, LLC

WEST VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS

UPHOLDS LANDOWNERS' RIGHT TO APPEAR AND ARGUE

IN SUPPORT OF THEIR PROPERTY RIGHTS BEFORE

COURTS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

By: Howard M. Persinger, III

Persinger & Persinger, L.C.

237 Capitol Street

Charleston, WV 25301

Email: hmp3@persingerlaw.com

I am very pleased to report that the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has fully adopted the positions set forth in the amicus, or "friend of the court," brief prepared and filed by WVROA and other organizations in the case of Smith, et al. v. Chestnut Ridge Storage, LLC. On January 27, 2021, Justice Armstead, writing for a unanimous Court delivered an opinion that can only be described from our point of view as a "slam dunk win" strongly upholding the rights of landowners to appear in Courts and Administrative Tribunals to defend their property rights.

You will recall that the Smith case arose out of a dispute between the owners of a 4,572 acre parcel of property located in Monongalia and Preston Counties, West Virginia, and Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In 1987, the Smith Family had executed an oil and gas lease, and later signed an addendum to this lease in 1993, allowing the lessee to use depleted strata in this tract to store natural gas. In December of 2007, the lessee, Chestnut Ridge Storage, LLC, applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or "FERC" for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct and operate a storage field in the Marcellus Shale Formation of a portion of this tract. The Smith Family intervened in that proceeding and objected to Chestnut Ridge's planned storage project arguing that the areas and strata proposed for storage on their property were not yet "depleted" as was required by the lease addendum. Chestnut Ridge did not object to petitioner's intervening in the FERC proceeding and the FERC eventually ruled that Chestnut Ridge was required to negotiate with them and compensate them for the gas and the nondepleted areas as a condition for issuing the certificate of convenience. However, Chestnut Ridge took no action, and, by its own terms, the certificate expired after two years. At this point, Chestnut Ridge went back to FERC and sought a three-year extension to complete the storage project. The Smith Family reappeared in the FERC proceeding and opposed this extension asserting that Chestnut Ridge had failed to take the required steps, including negotiating and paying them for the value of the gas in their nondepleted strata, and the project was therefore not viable. The FERC sided with the landowners and refused to issue the extension.

Thereafter, the landowners filed suit against Chestnut Ridge in the Circuit Court of Monongalia, West Virginia, alleging they had breached the lease and addendum by failing to negotiate and pay for the value of the gas in the nondepleted formations covered by the storage project, and asking the Court for a declaration that Chestnut Ridge was obligated to develop the Marcellus Shale formation within the area and strata designated for storage. Chestnut Ridge then countersued the landowners alleging that they had breached the gas storage addendum and had acted in bad faith and slandered Chestnut Ridge's title through their actions in appearing and making arguments before the FERC. Importantly, all the claims asserted against the Smith Family arose from their actions in simply hiring counsel, intervening in and filing briefs and arguing before the FERC solely in an effort to protect their legitimate property rights.

The Smith Family filed a motion for summary judgment on the counterclaims asserting both: 1) the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, which provides that a party cannot be sued based upon its mere attempt to petition and/or influence governmental action, and 2) the "litigation privilege," which protects parties in judicial or administrative proceedings such as the FERC proceeding, from being sued for their actions within the Court and administrative proceedings themselves. The purpose underlying this legal privilege is, of course, bolstering the public interest in encouraging access to the court system while facilitating the truth-seeking process that is supposed to occur in such proceedings. The Circuit Court denied this Motion and the Smith Family appealed. Had the court ruled in favor of Chestnut Ridge in this case, it could have had a tremendous chilling effect on the ability and willingness of all landowners in deciding to appear before courts and tribunals and protect their property rights and also the rights of others.

Luckily, however, the Supreme Court of Appeals court ruled in favor of the Smith Family on both the litigation privilege and Noerr-Pennington Doctrine defenses and ordered all the counterclaims against them dismissed. Moreover, very notably on page 13 of its opinion, the Court actually quoted from the amicus brief we submitted and thanked this organization and its co-amici for helping it in arriving at its decision. This is exceedingly rare in my experience for amicus briefs to be quoted and cited in the body of a Supreme Court opinions like this and it is a real testament to the power and credibility of WVROA and its co-amici. As such, I would like to humbly thank all of your for participating in this case with us and trusting me with the responsibility of drafting and filing the brief and making all of this possible. If any of you would like a copy of the opinion, please feel free to contact me at the email address above and I will be happy to send you one.

Thank you.

Mo Persinger