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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, John S. Davis, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of EnergySouth, Inc. (the
"Registrant");

2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

4. The Registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and have:

                  (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                  caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
                  under our supervision, to ensure that material information
                  relating to the Registrant, including its consolidated
                  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                  entities, particularly during the period in which this
                  quarterly report is being prepared;

                  (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this quarterly report
                  our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                  controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
                  by this quarterly report based on such evaluation; and

                  (c) Disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the
                  Registrant's internal control over financial reporting that
                  occurred during the Registrant's most recent fiscal quarter
                  (the Registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
                  annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                  likely to materially affect, the Registrant's internal control
                  over financial reporting;

5. The Registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our
most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
Registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the Registrant's board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

                  (a) All significant deficiencies in the design or operation of
                  internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably
                  likely to adversely affect the Registrant's ability to record,
                  process, summarize and report financial information; and

                  (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                  management or other employees who have a significant role in
                  the Registrant's internal control over financial reporting.



Date: August 6, 2003                        /s/ John S. Davis
                                            ------------------------------------
                                            John S. Davis
                                            President and
                                            Chief Executive Officer


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