WV’s “Forced Pooling Lite” Bill Passes Senate, Heads to House

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Earlier this week MDN reported that West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 576, which addresses the issues of co-tenancy and joint development, was a freight train on a fast track to approval (see Co-Tenancy/Joint Dev Bill Heads to WV Senate – On Fast Track?). We call SB 576 “forced pooling lite” because it targets two of many issues that previously were bundled under WV bills aimed at creating forced pooling in the Mountain State. The freight train continues on down the tracks, although it’s lost a little bit of its steam. Yesterday the full WV Senate voted on the bill and passed it, “narrowly,” voting 19-14 in favor of the bill. It was an interesting bipartisan mix both voting for and against. There were 15 Republicans and 4 Democrats voting for the bill, and 6 Republicans and 8 Democrats who voted against. The bill now heads to the WV House. If it passes there, Gov. Jim Justice has signaled he will sign it…

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