Landowners are fighting for the right to appeal drilling permits, as described in the Charleston Gazette on September 22nd. The state Supreme Court will hear arguments in a significant case that could decide if surface landowners are able to appeal oil and gas drilling permits on their land. Industry lobbyists and the state Department of Environmental Protection all seem to agree that West Virginia’s oil and gas statute doesn’t specifically allow such appeals.
But though justices appear to have incorrectly cited that statute in a ruling 10 years ago, citizen groups argue now that the court reached the correct result. They say surface landowners should have a due process right to have their challenges to drilling permits heard.
“We are asking the courts to recognize the surface owners’ constitutional right to a hearing – a hearing after the driller files the permit application, and to appeal if the DEP errs in issuing the permit,” said Julie Archer of the West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization. Archer’s organization filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of Doddridge County resident Matthew Hamblet in his effort to challenge an EQT Production Co. gas well permit on his land.
Hamblet owns the surface of a 443-acre parcel, but does not own the rights to the oil and gas underneath the land. When EQT obtained a lease and applied for a permit to drill on the site, Hamblet objected to parts of the company’s permit application, noting damage from previous drilling and urging DEP to require changes in the company’s plans. DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas approved EQT’s plans anyway, and Hamblet filed a lawsuit in circuit court to challenge that approval.
In his case, lawyers Cynthia Loomis and Isak Howell cite a 2002 Supreme Court opinion that said surface landowners have the right to file court appeals of DEP permit actions on oil and gas wells. But the statute cited by the court in that case doesn’t actually grant that right to landowners — only to coal owners who are concerned about nearby gas drilling.
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More people need to look at this and understand both sides of the story. In an election year, the least we can do is get out and VOTE. Even when your favored candidate does not win, the vote count shows a really valid measure of what the people want and believe.