Pennsylvania’s Attorney General says he’s going after natural gas companies for failing to pay royalties to landowners.
“We have won a number of ruling from judges at the preliminary level,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “I am very confident in our ability to collect for those landowners who have been harmed.”
Shapiro was testifying in front of the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee saying his office is taking energy companies to court over royalty agreements, which he says have often been misleading.
“These are deals where a drilling company would come to a landowner and say ‘We’d like to drill on your land, and as a result of drilling on your land we’re going to give you x-percent each month,’” Shapiro said. “[The drilling companies] never told [landowners]…that they were then going to subtract a whole bunch of fees.”
Shapiro says he’s been winning preliminary cases on behalf of landowners.
