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Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on May 21, 2014 at 12:05am

Yes, that is correct jason, at least in Pennsylvania.  I do not know law in other states.  And there is no reason for confusion.  So-called "frac trespass" remains unadjudicated here.  It is an outgrowth of Pennsylvania's Rule of Capture.  Here is the background:

Many, many years ago Rule of Capture came into being for water wells, not gas wells.  You were entitled gratis to water which originated beneath a neighbor's property, but which found its way to a well on your own property.  This was (and remains today) legal.

Later, but not a lot later, "stimulation" of water wells became an accepted practice . . . . . . to obtain more water.  The "stimulation" in this instance was quite significant and potentially invasive.  They stimulated the water wells with dynamite!  And depending on the distance of a (water) well from the property line, it was pretty obvious that the setting off of dynamite down the well could easily disturb a neighbor's (subsurface) property.  Still, this was held as legal in Pennsylvania.

Fast forward to today, change the context to gas wells, consider the "explosive" nature of the fracking process, and you can envision the precedent (in Pennsylvania) which easily could provide our courts a basis to legalize "frac trespass".

Whether frac trespass ultimately passes court muster or not (it could take years before this is adjudicated), any landowner who leases land without considering its potential impact is making a mistake.  I can tell you frac trespass was hugely on my own mind several years ago when I leased my land. 

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Permalink Reply by John Harrison on May 21, 2014 at 4:04am

The problem with units in PA is the lack of a Conservation Law.  PA has one but it doesn't apply to the Marcellus.  This is a fluke based on the desire to exclude existing shallow gas wells when the Conservation Law was passed in the 1960s.  To think that one of the largest gas plays in the world has no Conservation Law is wrong particularly when you have well pads with both Marcellus and Utica wells where the Utica are Conservation wells.  

  The reason that PA does not have a Conservation Law for the Marcellus is because of the huge advantage to the gas companies in how they can have absolute control of the units.  The forced pooling language in the Conservation Law is always given as the reason that we don't want it.  As we have seen in Bradford County, your land is going to be developed for gas  even if you are not leased so the only difference is that with forced pooling you would get paid.

  It is too bad we landowners don't  push our legislators to enable the Conservation law which is already written and passed for everything but the Marcellus.  There is an application of forced pooling with Hilcorp Corporation which should be resolved by now except it is being dragged out like a court case. 

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