Shale Worries: Loss of property rights could be the next threat
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
22 September 2010
As if the Marcellus Shale drilling needed one more controversy, a move
is afoot in Pennsylvania that could take away a landowner's property
rights for purposes of natural gas.
Depending on one's view of such gas exploration, it's called either
"forced pooling" or "fair pooling." But we see nothing fair about a
proposal that would allow companies to drill under a private owner's
property even when the owner doesn't want to lease his mineral rights.
The holdout's land could be "pooled" with adjacent properties that are
under lease and worked as one tract by a driller.
The industry says pooling, which would still compensate the reluctant
landowner, could be necessary for cost savings and to reduce drilling's
environmental footprint. That may be so, but it would be wrong to curb
fundamental property rights for the mere purpose of advancing a
commercial operation.
Some have compared forced pooling to eminent domain, the rarely invoked
process that allows government to take private property -- without the
owner's permission but after paying the owner compensation -- for a
perceived public good, like a bridge or a highway. But we fail to see
the compelling public interest to be gained from forced pooling.
Pennsylvanians are not without natural gas, and while many favor a
closely regulated and fairly taxed Marcellus Shale industry, there is
enough gas in enough places around the state that drillers do not need
a law that lets them force an unwilling owner to lease his or her
mineral rights to the company.
Unfortunately, such a provision may be attached to legislation that
imposes a long-awaited state tax on the industry. The vehicle could be
a proposal by state Reps. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, and Garth Everett,
R-Lycoming, that would create 640-acre pooling units throughout the
state in which the approval of drilling by 75 percent of landowners
could trigger the forced pooling of the remaining properties. The plan
is not in formal legislative form, but it reportedly has been
circulated for co-sponsorship.
Lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell have promised to approve some type of
Marcellus Shale tax by Oct. 1, but the bill should not be compromised
by a forced pooling giveaway to gas drillers. Pennsylvanians are being
forced to come to grips with a new industry that, while promising new
jobs and income, has also created health, safety and environmental
concerns.
We should not have to fear for our property rights at the same time.