O&G Industry Wants Water Ban Overturned

- O&G Industry Wants Water Ban Overturned

Friday, July 22, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Brian Bowling, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Pennsylvania oil and gas industry is asking a federal judge to overturn a federal ban on using surface and groundwater in the Allegheny National Forest to conduct hydraulic fracturing at Marcellus shale well sites there.

If the companies are forced to truck in municipal water, that will increase the lifetime operating cost of each well by about $1.5 million to $2 million, the industry motion says.

Erie attorney Matthew Wolford, one of the lawyers representing the industry, said the motion cites both Pennsylvania common law and the language of the deeds for some of the wells.

In the case of the two wells mentioned in the motion, the deeds for the mineral rights specifically mention that the mineral rights owners can use surrounding water for oil and gas drilling, he said. Even without that language, the state's common law gives mineral owners reasonable access to water, he said.

"In Pennsylvania, people don't own the water," he said. "Water is usable by a property owner for various things."

The motion filed in Erie federal court asks U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin to find the U.S. Forest Service in contempt of his Dec. 15, 2009, order requiring the agency to promptly process drilling proposals from companies.

A 1980 federal court decision requires companies to give the agency 60 days notice before they start drilling.

Under Pennsylvania law, the federal government -- as the surface property owner -- doesn't have the right to block the mineral owner's access to the minerals, but the 1980 decision and McLaughlin's 2009 decision give the agency some limited control on how the gas companies drill inside the national forest.

Instead of complying with the judge's order, the Forest Service has lengthened the amount of time it takes to process proposals and has "engaged in a pattern of interference with the lawful efforts of (gas industry) members," the lawsuit says.

A spokesman for the Forest Service couldn't be reached for comment. Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Justice Department, declined comment. The Justice Department is representing the federal agency in the lawsuit.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too
LINK