Exhibit
20(a)





             ALLEGHENY & WESTERN ENERGY CORPORATION
                AND ENERGY CORPORATION OF AMERICA
                ANNOUNCE ORDER OF PUBLIC SERVICE
             COMMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA, CHARLESTON


     CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA, May 25, 1995/PRNewswire/--
Allegheny & Western Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: ALGH) (A&W) and
Energy Corporation of America (ECA) announced that at a session
of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSCWV) in the
City of Charleston on May 23, 1995, the PSCWV issued an order
approving the undertaking of the planned merger of A&W with a
subsidiary of ECA, on the condition that Mountaineer Gas
Company, a West Virginia corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary
of A&W (Mountaineer), be prohibited from being a party to any
debt obligation of ECA or any other affiliated company. 

     The order of the PSCWV should become final within thirty
days barring an appeal by a party to the proceeding.
     
     The order of the PSCWV was the result of a petition filed
by Eastern Systems Corporation, a West Virginia corporation and
wholly-owned subsidiary of ECA, on November 17, 1994 requesting
approval of the acquisition.  A public hearing regarding the
planned merger had been held on April 25, 1995.

     Allegheny & Western Energy Corporation, based in
Charleston, West Virginia, is a diversified natural gas company,
and owns Mountaineer Gas Company, a gas distribution utility in
West Virginia.

     Energy Corporation of America is a privately held
diversified oil and gas company which, together with its
subsidiaries, owns oil and gas properties located primarily in
the Appalachian area.

     CONTACT:  W. Merwyn Pittman of Allegheny & Western Energy
Corporation, 304-343-4567.  Joseph E. Casabona of Energy
Corporation of America, 303-694-2667.