Forced Pooling

Carroll County | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

2nd Forced Pooling Order in OH Utica, Landowner Gets No Bonus
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

For the second time since the Utica Shale drilling boom began, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management (DOGRM) has issued a forced pooling order (in Carroll County). In Ohio it’s called a “unitization order.” No matter what you call it, it means that the driller—Chesapeake Energy—will be allowed to drill under someone’s property that doesn’t want it because a majority of the surrounding property (88% in this case) is leased and the property in question is needed to complete a drilling unit.

Not only is this news because it’s only the second unitization order issued for Utica Shale drilling, it’s news because in this case DOGRM is not forcing Chesapeake to pay a leasing bonus to the reluctant landowner—a change from the first unitization order:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Forced Pooling | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Bloomberg Tries to Stir-up NY over Compulsory Integration Issue
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

Mainstream media sources, like Bloomberg, often tip their hand as to which way they think the wind is blowing on an issue. You just have to take time to observe. For example, someone at Bloomberg believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to decide in favor of fracking. How do we know they think that? Because they run hit pieces that try to scare readers as a tactic to “stir-up the natives” so they’ll make noise.

The latest stir-up-the-natives-against-fracking hit piece from Bloomberg is on the topic of compulsory integration. If 60% of your neighbors sign a lease in New York, and fracking is allowed, and if your property is in a drilling unit (640 acres or one square mile), your land may be included in the fracking operation. Nothing would be built on top of your land, but drilling may be done under it—a mile or more down—even if you don’t want it. Bloomberg found an anti-driller—someone who has bought the lies from the anti-drilling left hook, line and sinker—and they’ve milked it (or should we say slaughtered it) for all it’s worth…

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Stark County

Chesapeake Forces Landowners in OH to Allow Fracking
July 30, 2012July 30, 2012

MDN has written a number of times on the issue of “forced pooling,” which is the concept that a property owner can be forced to allow fracking under their land if a majority of their neighbors have signed leases and a driller wants to drill in a “unit” (usually one square mile or 640 acres) where the reticent landowner owns property.

If there’s a single landowner, or a few landowners in the middle of the unit with a small number of acres who doesn’t want drilling, it can scuttle the deal for neighboring landowners. Most states, including Ohio, have a forced pooling provision. In Ohio it’s called “unitization.” No matter what you call it, MDN (in a departure with industry), believes it’s just plain wrong.

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Forced Pooling | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY and Compulsory Integration – MDN Agrees with Slottje (!)
July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

David Slottje and his wife Helen are both lawyers funded in part by the Park Foundation (in Ithaca, NY) to run around trying to convince local town boards in New York to ban hydraulic fracturing. They are, in a word, the enemies of landowner property rights. They seek to deny landowners who want to lease their land for gas drilling the right to do so.

So when MDN read an editorial (not surprisingly) in the Ithaca Journal written by David Slottje that makes reference to the rumored plan by Gov. Cuomo to allow limited drilling in five counties as being “devastating” to landowner property rights, it was a laugh-out-loud moment. The height of hypocrisy and arrogance to say landowner rights will be devastated by the very person doing the most to devastate them.

But what wasn’t so funny was that getting beyond the rank hypocrisy and looking at the substance of what Slottje wrote, MDN had to agree with his viewpoint—on this one particular issue.

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislator Offers Forced Pooling for Higher Severance Tax
January 6, 2012January 6, 2012

In December of 2011, West Virginia passed new Marcellus Shale drilling laws raising certain fees and putting new requirements in place (see this MDN story). The drilling industry, while saying it was not a perfect law, in the end supported it. But there was on thing the new law did not address that the industry wants to see: forced pooling. That issue is once again being discussed for possible action in the legislature this year.

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Make 96 Recommendations Including Impact Fee & Forced Pooling
July 18, 2011July 18, 2011

In March of this year, newly elected Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett appointed a 30-member Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission with the aim of producing “a comprehensive, strategic proposal for the responsible and environmentally sound development of Marcellus Shale.” The panel wrapped up their work last Friday by voting on a list of recommendations, ultimately approving 96 of them. The final list will be issued in a report which goes to Gov. Corbett on July 22 and is not available at this time.

However, two prominent items from the approved list are being reported by media sources present at the meeting: a new impact fee and forced pooling.

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues

Forced Pooling for Landowners in the Marcellus Shale Region
May 24, 2011May 24, 2011

Forced pooling is the concept that forces landowners to allow drilling under their property if enough of their neighbors have signed leases. Many people (PA Gov. Tom Corbett and MDN among them) think it’s not a good idea—calling it the equivalent of “private eminent domain.” But the reality is, it does widely exist. In fact, forced pooling exists (by various names) in all of the Marcellus Shale states except Maryland.

In New York and Pennsylvania its called compulsory integration. In West Virginia its called mandatory pooling, and in Virginia its called compulsory pooling. So when you hear those terms bandied about, it means “forced pooling.” A special note: Forced pooling provisions in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia do not (yet) apply to Marcellus Shale drilling, but proponents are trying to make it happen in those states.

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Says “No” to Concept of Forced Pooling of Marcellus Shale Leases
April 27, 2011April 27, 2011

Forced pooling happens when most landowners in an area have signed leases and want to allow drilling, but one or two have not. If a landowner has not signed a lease but owns land situated between other land already leased, that landowner could be “forced” to allow drilling. The unwilling landowner would not be forced to allow a drill pad, but a driller on a neighboring piece of property would be allowed to drill underneath the landowner with a “minority interest.” Forced pooling is not currently allowed in Pennsylvania, and according to new Gov. Tom Corbett, it won’t be as long as he’s governor.

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Forced Pooling in W.Va. Taken Out of New Legislation
February 22, 2011February 22, 2011

West Virginia gets closer with new rules and regulations for drilling in the Marcellus Shale. And it looks like the forced pooling provision has been dropped:

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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Forced Pooling for Marcellus Shale Drilling May be Coming to West Virginia Landowners
February 15, 2011February 15, 2011

The West Virginia legislature is actively debating new legislation that regulates drilling in the Marcellus Shale. One of the provisions in the proposed legislation being hotly debated is the issue of forced pooling:

Read More “Forced Pooling for Marcellus Shale Drilling May be Coming to West Virginia Landowners”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislators Consider Forced Pooling for Marcellus Shale Landowners
February 10, 2011February 10, 2011

The West Virginia legislature is considering a couple of bills that deal with rules for Marcellus shale gas development in the state. One of those bills contains a provision for forced pooling, a hot-button issue to be sure among landowners and mineral rights owners. The WV legislature may adopt a pooling provision that is used in the state currently for coalbed methane drilling.

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