Port Authority retains mineral rights on airport property, Trumbull judge rules

WARREN

A Trumbull County judge has ruled in favor of the Western Reserve Port Authority in its January 2013 lawsuit seeking to clarify its ownership of the mineral rights in the Utica Shale formation below the 1,500 acres the authority owns at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

The decision could make it possible for the port authority to strike a deal to lease the land for gas and oil exploration and provide the authority with an economic windfall.

But first the authority needs a determination of whether the ruling is intended as final and appealable and whether the defendants in the case will appeal, said Dan Keating, the authority's legal adviser.

Atty. Michael Snyder, who represents Range Resources Appalachia LLC, the primary defendant in the case, said by phone Thursday his client is still “considering options at this time, and no decision has been made” regarding an appeal.

At the time the suit was filed, BP America and other companies were just starting to drill into the Utica Shale and had not yet learned whether the drilling would be lucrative. BP had paid thousands of Trumbull County property owners a $3,900-per-acre signing bonus and offered royalties of 17.5 percent on minerals mined from their property.

The results turned out to be less than hoped, and BP later discontinued drilling operations in Trumbull County.

Keating acknowledged that the events of the last two years, including the drop in the oil price, have hurt the price the authority could expect to receive for its mineral rights, but “there is still value out there.”

Read more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.