Shapiro, PGC Conspire to Steal a Million Acres of Landowners Mineral Rights and Money

August 27, 2026

HARRISBURG - As I warned in my July 21 column, the state Senate and Democrat-controlled House at the last minute of passing the 2026-27 budget inserted a provision that would allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to keep drilling wells and collecting money on oil, gas, and mineral rights that belong to other people.

As I explained the importance to landowners of the state Supreme Court's unanimous decision against the PGC for attempting to steal the mineral rights established by the Proctor family in 1893, I stated "what we must watch for now are the governor, the state Senate and House joining forces with the PFBC and PGC to somehow water down this landmark ruling to allow their continued unconstitutional behavior."

It didn't take long for my words to bear out the facts. Buried text in the morass of a backroom budget, which I named Gov. Shapiro's Jesse James Budget, were indeed measures to completely negate the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the PGC. The goal? The PGC is conducting energy exploration on that land and wants to keep the money.

It was the PGC that initiated the lawsuit against the Proctors because it doesn't just want to steal the gas and minerals from the Proctor's 400 acres in Bradford County, Shapiro, the PGC and DEP want the gas and mineral rights underneath a million acres of other people's land as well.

Almost half of the PGC's annual funding in the 2024-25 fiscal year, about $100 million, came mostly from gas leases but also includes timber harvests and other projects as well. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources gets nearly the same from gas drilling alone.

Were this stream of money to be severely diminished by the Supreme Court's ruling, the PGC and DEP would no longer be swimming in other people's cash.

For example, the lawsuit the PGC initiated against the Proctors resulted in $4.1 million of gas production money being held in escrow for the entirety of the case. More lawsuits could result in more escrows of millions of more dollars. Shapiro and the PGC don't want that. They want the money now even if it is stealing.

And what does Shapiro care about stealing land? He's trying to steal his neighbor's land in Montgomery County.

However. This latest grab by Shapiro and the PGC has not impressed the judiciary.

There are still ongoing cases involving the PGC and the Proctors. When the Proctors complained that the General Assembly has no right to legislate away a civil win on the eve of its decision the PGC responded saying they had nothing to do with drafting or lobbying the measure and "legislation happens."

Commonwealth Court Judge Stacy Wallace, during arguments in another ongoing PGC case against the Proctors case, was less than enthused with the PGC's and General Assembly's conduct: