No charge for initial phone call! Or send me an email by clicking on wvdavid@mountain.net and I'll call you.
Concentrating in oil and gas law. Representing small and medium land and mineral owners.
CONCENTRATING IN:
• Lease negotiation.
• Lease Amendment review and negotiation.
• Lease review and addendum writing.
• Royalty calculation and payment issues.
• Flat rate royalty cases.
• Analyzing old leases for termination issues.
• Pooling and unitization issues.
• Preparation & filing of comments on oil and gas
permit applications.
• Appeals to Circuit and Supreme Court.
• Administrative proceedings before
AUTHOR OF:
“West Virginia Surface Owner’s Guide to Oil and Gas"
More information...
A FOUNDER:
Of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization (WV SORO)
http://www.wvsoro.org/
Contact
➤ address
1624 Kenwood Rd, Charleston WV 25314
☎ CONTACT
wvdavid@mountain.net
(304) 415-4288
No charge for initial phone call!
Or send me an email by clicking on
wvdavid@mountain.net and I'll call you.
In Public
GAS WELL TOUR
December 2024 - Video tour of gas wells and their problems in Kanawha State Forest in West Virginia.
CBSN & ProPublica DOCUMENTARY
July 14, 2019 - A videographer followed the Crowder Supreme Court case and it became the subject of documentary by ProPublica on its web site and CBSN, the CBS streaming news web site. Read more at CBSN…
AMICUS BRIEF CITED IN ProPublica/GAZETTE ARTICLE
November 15, 2018 - An article cited an amicus brief written for WVSORO in a court case about drillers only wanting to pay $300 a year under old flat rate leases for new wells. Read more . . .
Op-Ed in Charleston Daily Mail Editorial Page
July 8, 2016 – West Virginia must get it right with gas and not let small civic contributions from natural gas companies replace just compensation for surface owners and environmental responsibility.
Quoted in the New York Times
December 1, 2011 - “With a gas lease, you’re permitting industrial activity in your backyard, and you’re starting a relationship that will affect the quality of living for you and your grandchildren for decades,” he said. Read article...
Difference between shallow, deep wells at issue
June, 2, 2008 - Originally appeared in The WV Times-Record
"...[A] brilliant and entertaining [WVa Supreme Court] brief."
May 23, 2022 - Statewide business newspaper ran Mr. McMahon's op-ed taking issue with the maxim that governments should be run like businesses.
QUOTES AND CLIENT’S CASE IN ProPublica/GAZETTE ARTICLE
December 21, 2018 – An article/video focusing on the abuses of surface owners by drillers written by Ken Ward at the Charleston Gazette-Mail partly funded by ProPublica.
ARTICLE IN WEST VIRGINIA RECORD
JUNE 19, 2018 - The recent shale boom could benefit West Virginia's economy in different ways, but could also harm surface owners' rights.
Article in the State Journal
April 12, 2014 - Our position has always been if it's a fair bill [a forced pooling bill] would be a good thing even though some people might find it philosophically objectionable. The problem is the industry has never offered a fair bill. Read more...
Article in West Virginia State Journal
September 2011 - Authorities Discuss Surface owner Rights
"Lawsuits surround the issue of surface versus mineral rights and one Charleston attorney says oil and gas companies have gone too far..."
OP-ED AGAINST SENDING HUMANS TO MARS
September 3, 2016 - Op-ed printed in Charleston Gazette-Mail about how wildly impractical and expensive and inefficient it is to send a human to Mars.
West Virginia State Bar Magazine Article
April/June, 2010 - "The Marcellus Shale, The need to change real estate transaction documents."
Land Owners Pressured on Gas Leases
May 26, 2008 - Associated Press - Charleston Gazette - "McMahon recently started a campaign . . . through the W. Va. Surface Owners' Rights Organization."
June 6, 2019 – West Virginia Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision favoring surface owners which it is predicted will be a leading case in the country. Mr. McMahon represented landowners and principally authored an amicus brief by West Virginia Surface Owner’s Rights Organization.
PRESS CONFERENCE REGARDING ORPHANED WELLS
November 20, 2018 – Press conference on behalf of West Virginia Surface Owner’s Rights Organization asking Department of Environmental Protection for hearing on transfer of conventional wells from drillers who can afford to plug wells to a company that will not be able to plug them when the time comes. Read more . . .
Op-Ed in State Journal
March 12, 2017 - Regarding “public use” for pipelines and what landowners should be paid.
Voted a business leader
January 4, 2012 - Voted 13th out of 30 business leaders by an informal poll conducted by the statewide business newspaper, the West Virginia State Journal. Read article...
Article in the West Virginia State Journal
November 22, 2011 - For some mineral owners, an abandoned gas well may complicate the possibility of negotiating a more profitable lease in the Marcellus shale. Read more...