Oil And Gas Attorney Gregory D. Jordan Comments on Hydraulic Fracturing Lawsuit
Sep 27, 2013
Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) September 27, 2013 – A federal judge said Texas law allows oil and gas drillers to “steal” from small landowners.
Austin Oil and Gas Attorney, Gregory D. Jordan
John Preston Bailey, a federal judge in Wheeling, West Virginia, had been asked to dismiss a case in which a West Virginia landowner sued a company that drilled a horizontal well for natural gas. The plaintiff alleged that hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, caused draining of the landowner’s natural gas to the company’s adjacent well. The company’s attorneys cited Coastal Oil & Gas v. Garza Energy Trust, a Texas Supreme Court case that held that the Texas “rule of capture” protects drillers from such claims. Judge Bailey said that gives drillers “a blank check” to “steal” from small landowners.
“There is an argument that hydraulic fracturing leads to more drainage, and that drilling regulations in Texas should be changed to address that,” said Gregory D. Jordan, an oil and gas attorney. “Under Garza, however, the rule of capture protects drillers against a trespass claim, so long as they follow Texas law and do not, for instance, drill a slant well underneath a neighbor’s property.”
The Garza case, decided in 2008, overturned a verdict awarding millions of dollars to Hidalgo County landowners who had sued a natural gas company, claiming that hydraulic fracturing led to drainage of the natural gas on their property to the driller’s well on adjacent property. The Texas Supreme Court said that some drainage is inevitable with hydraulic fracturing, which uses a mixture of water, chemicals and sand to force open rock formations underground to open the flow of oil and gas. The procedure can in some circumstances cause oil and gas to drain from a neighbor’s property. The Court said that neighboring landowners can offset drainage by drilling their own well.
“For landowners worried about drainage, the Texas Supreme Court has said that the remedy is for them to dig their own well,” said Jordan. “Unfortunately this is not always the most practical solution for the landowners involved.”
Landowners who are not in a position to have a well drilled on their property face the potential loss of valuable underground minerals when there is an offset horizontal well. A landowner or driller may apply to the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates drilling, for what is called a Rule 37 exception in order to drill close to a boundary line. That, too, may not always be the most equitable answer as a critical analysis by the Texas Tech Law Review has found that such Rule 37 exceptions sometimes allow hydrocarbons to be captured from adjacent property with landowners receiving no compensation.
To learn more, visit http://www.theaustintriallawyer.com/
Law Offices of Gregory D. Jordan
5608 Parkcrest Drive, Suite 310
Austin, Texas 78731
Call: 512-419-0684
- Should the Rule of Capture Apply in Texas Hydraulic Fracturing Cases?
A federal judge in West Virginia recently opined on the Texas Supreme Court case Coastal Oil & Gas v. Garza Energy Trust, saying that it allowed oil and gas drillers to “steal” from small landowners. In the 2008 Garza case, the Texas Supreme Court overturned a verdict awarding millions of dollars to Hidalgo County landowners […] - Employment Lawsuit Filed Against Texas-based Servisair
An employment lawsuit has been filed against Houston-based Servisair, which provides services such as cleaning and fueling planes and pushing wheelchairs in airports across the country. More than 170 employees claim that they have been cheated out of pay amounting to millions of dollars. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, alleges that […] - Fired Costco Worker Claims Age Discrimination
A former manager of a Costco meat department has filed a lawsuit claiming that the company fired him because of his age. Lawrence G. Wojcik filed the lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corp. June 18 in United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, alleging violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), […]
