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"  WELCH &ndash; McDowell Circuit Judge Rudolph Murensky has taken charge of litigation that will sort out rights to gas royalties all over West Virginia.<br /><br />  On Jan. 14, Murensky yanked a royalty lawsuit away from Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky and consolidated it with a similar suit in his own court.<br /><br />  Both suits oppose drilling permits that the West Virginia Oil and Gas Commission granted to Chesapeake Appalachia, Eastern American Energy and Petroedge Resources.<br /><br />  The commission approved deep well permits although the companies would drill them to a depth that would normally require shallow well permits.<br /><br />  The commission granted special treatment because the companies would drill down to the deep zone and then drill up to the shallow zone.<br /><br />  Great sums depend on the distinction, because royalties from deep wells go to gas owners while royalties from shallow wells go to property owners.<br /><br />  The structure of regulation hinges on the distinction too, for the commission doesn't regulate shallow wells. The Shallow Well Gas Review Board does that.<br /><br />  Depth also matters because it determines spacing.<br /><br />  Last year Blue Eagle Land, eight other companies and the West Virginia Coal Association opposed the permits at the Supreme Court of Appeals.<br /><br />  The Justices side stepped the issue, inviting opponents to appeal the commission's action to circuit court.<br /><br />  In their opinion the Justices gushed over a \"friend of the court\" brief from the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization.<br /><br />  They wrote that if opponents appealed the permits to circuit court, the organization \"should be given an opportunity to assert its interests and views.\"<br /><br />  In June, the Blue Eagle Land group sued the commission in McDowell County.<br /><br />  In July, the surface owners group sued the commission in Kanawha County.<br /><br />  The Blue Eagle Land group asked Murensky to transfer the Kanawha County suit to McDowell County, and the surface owners asked Stucky for the opposite.<br /><br />  Murensky held a hearing, Stucky didn't, and Murensky took charge.<br /><br />  \"There is no dispute that plaintiff's petition for appeal is properly before this Court by a proper party,\" he wrote. \"There is some dispute as to whether Organization's appeal in Kanawha County is proper.\"<br /><br />  Although the surface owners claimed the Supreme Court gave them standing to sue, he wrote, the Blue Eagle Land group disputed the interpretation.<br /><br />  He wrote that \"issues before the courts can be more expeditiously resolved without the hassle of having to litigate the issue of standing.\"<br /><br />  Charleston lawyers represent all parties. <br /><br />  Nicholas Preservati represents the Blue Eagle Land group and David McMahon represents the surface owners.<br /><br />  Kenneth Tawney represents Petroedge Resources, Timothy Miller represents Chesapeake Appalachia, and Susan Wittemeier represents Eastern American Energy.<br /><br />  Attorney General Darrell McGraw represents the oil and gas commission."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://wvrecord.com/stories/510595485-mcdowell-judge-takes-over-important-gas-royalties-case>