Harvey v. Sines

ROBERT A. ZARNOCH, J. (Retired, Specially Assigned).

The opening of the Marcellus Shale in the late-2000s spawned a resurgence in natural resource extraction across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, including Western Maryland. In 2010, the General Assembly enacted the Maryland Dormant Mineral Interests Act, now codified at Section 15-1201, et seq. of the Environment Article (“Env.”), Maryland Code (1982, 2014 RepLVol.), to allow surface owners to terminate severed mineral interests that had gone unused for twenty years or more.

Toward the end of 2014, Joseph L. Sines and Sandra S. Sines…