Drill pads anywhere (and everywhere)?
Oil and gas industry aims to get its way
Guest Commentary by William R. Suan, Morgantown Dominion Post, March 1, 2015
The Marcellus shale once sounded like a financial opportunity that I wanted to be part of; however, it seems we now have an industry out of control using its money, lobbyists and political muscle to bully West Virginia property owners. The issue of forced pooling, fair pooling or lease integration, or whatever the industry wants to call it, is the taking of personal property rights to benefit profits of private corporations.
The industry argues that they cannot develop some mineral tracts because of lost and unaccounted for heirs. West Virginia has a statute addressing the issue, and it is a fair law. When there are missing and unknown heirs, the driller can lease that interest and put royalties in escrow for seven years. After the time is up, the property and royalties go to the surface owner.
The industry complains that the unwilling mineral owners who refuse to sign a lease are stopping them from developing mineral tracts to their full potential. Against unwilling owners who have a partial interest in a mineral tract and are unwilling to sign a lease, the industry can bring a partition action to settle the issue. Another issue is the industry saying we already have forced pooling in the Utica shale. This is a misleading statement. This law was passed before horizontal drilling and was passed for well-spacing purposes.
The gas industry has thousands of acres held by production (old leases) that they are not drilling. The industry says they can drill multiple wells on one Marcellus pad. Why are they not drilling more wells on existing pads? The gas industry has enough acres and leases to drill for many years.
The industry will use a forced pooling law to bully West Virginia property owners. Land men already use the tactic, “If you don’t sign this lease, we will just take it.” I have been threatened this way.
The oil and gas industry can come onto a person’s property, take acres of it because the minerals have been severed and owned by another party. Try to imagine owning property and being helpless when this industry shows up with its equipment and takes whatever it wants. They now want to lay pipelines by using eminent domain and can lay pipelines on property according to terms of an old lease. Now the industry is asking lawmakers to give them the right to come and take the mineral rights you own and tell you what you will be paid for them. This will be used to bring down the price of leases and eliminate negotiation. The mineral owner would have to make his or her case to not be “forced pooled” to the industry-friendly oil and gas commission.
The natural gas industry is a long way from running out of leased mineral tracts to drill. There is no need for a forced pooling law. The industry wants forced pooling to benefit its profits and investors, not West Virginia’s workers and mineral owners.
The industry has pushed this issue in past legislative sessions and it has failed. With the new “business friendly” leadership, I am sure the industry feels this is an opportunity to get its way.
If you want to protect private property rights, contact your legislator and tell them to vote “no” on the forced pooling law.
>>> William R. Suan is a mineral and farm owner near Lost Creek, in southern Harrison County, WV.
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This is a hot issue right now and our legislators are debating it without perhaps thinking about what this means for our future here. How much do they really know about fracking and forced pooling? About property rights? Are they really qualified to make such decisions?
I bet if we were to question them on what they know about these issues and the law around them, we would find that they are in need of some education. This is why we must not let up in our efforts to educate both them and the general public. It was intended that the people give power to the legislature and thus the people can take it away.
We need to take back our government from a group of self-interested persons who seem to care more for what they can do for industry than what their duties are to the people of WV. We need to hold them accountable.
April