Pa. high court takes up shale gas leases dispute

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s high court will take a case that’s raising questions about whether leases to countless properties signed by the booming natural-gas industry should be interpreted to include the methane locked in the vast Marcellus Shale formation.

The state Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will hear a Susquehanna County dispute over the definition of “mineral rights.”

A decision that says mineral rights don’t include the shale gas could upend many the leases between property owners and the Marcellus Shale industry.

The case stems from a dispute between John and Mary Josephine Butler and a man named Charles Powers and his heirs.

The Butlers’ appeal asks the Supreme Court to rule that 130-year-old case law applies to the Marcellus Shale. A lower-court panel last year said it couldn’t be certain.