Hilcorp Forced Pooling Hearing Postponed, More Landowners Added
MDN previously told you about Hilcorp’s lawsuit to force some hold-out landowners in Lawrence County, PA to allow drilling under their land–a concept called forced pooling. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the PA courts treated it like a hot potato. The courts finally told the DEP that they (the DEP) would need to decide the matter. So the DEP had set aside two days this week to conduct public hearings in New Castle (see Forced Pooling Circus (ie Hearing) Coming to Lawrence County, PA).
However, the circus/hearing scheduled for this week has been postponed. No new date has been announced. The DEP and Hilcorp both wanted the delay offering the explanation that they need more time, “to provide more complete notice to potentially affected people.” Apparently some landowners haven’t yet been served notice that they will be affected–forced–to be part of a Hilcorp drilling unit, and both Hilcorp and the DEP want them to know it before the public hearing commences. Seems like the forced pooling in Lawrence issue keeps getting better and better (not)…
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This is not the kind of story we enjoy sharing with you. Hilcorp, a major driller in the Utica and Marcellus Shale, has decided to take what we consider “the low road” and is using a 1961 Pennsylvania law to sue a landowner to allow them to drill under their property. It’s called “forced pooling,” “compulsory integration,” and a variety of other terms. MDN does not support it. Our argument is simple: My neighbor should not have the right to tell me I can’t drill on and under my land, and I should not have the right to force it on my neighbor if they don’t want it. We believe it’s the only defensible position in the drilling debate.