Private landowners in Colorado lost a controversial legal battle to the oil and gas industry last week. At issue was a bill that would have given private landowners more say in dealing with oil and gas companies drilling on their land.
The bill aimed to ensure fair negotiations between landowners and oil companies in order to address conflicts between landowners and oil and gas companies over "split-estates:" when one person owns the surface land, but another owns the resources beneath it. Currently, federal rules are in industry's favor as they grant priority to mineral or resource owners.
Adding an increased sense of urgency to the matter, loosened regulations and weakened public health laws have enabled a dramatic boost in oil and gas drilling throughout the Rocky Mountain States over the past four years.
Earlier this year Wyoming passed a law similar to the Colorado bill that died in the Colorado Legislature. The law requires oil and gas companies to notify landowners prior to drilling, and calls for mineral property owners to enter into good-faith negotiations to reach agreement on reclamation of disturbed areas and payment for damages.
Although nine other states have established surface owner protection laws, Colorado allows oil and gas companies to enter private property without permission from the landowner, where they can set up industrial equipment, emit air pollution, and occupy acres of private land without negotiating with the landowner. [2]
Environmental damage incurred by this process has infuriated landowners all over the state and brought together an unusual coalition of homeowners, environmentalists and farmers.
Jared Fiel of the Colorado Corn Growers Association, a group that strongly supported the bill, described how such damage has harmed corn farms: "Waste water from oil wells seeps into an area where we grow our crops, which can interrupt the entire process," Fiel said. "Sometimes an oil company will show up during harvest time and place a pump right in the middle of your field with no warning."
Such instances are increasingly leading to disputes between farmers and oil companies. They eventually reach the Oil and Gas Commission, which according to Fiel, "generally favors industry."
To back up his claim, Fiel described one case where an oil company built a pump on the land of two corn farmers in Eaton, Colorado. "A realtor said that the pump decreased their property value by $20,000, but the oil company only paid them $2,000 for the use of their land," said Fiel. "When the case went to the oil and gas commission, they said, well, that sounds fair to us."
The Oil and Gas Commission isn't the only place industry has been able to flex its power. Rep. Kathleen Curry, who drafted the Colorado bill, told BushGreenwatch that oil and gas interest groups intensely lobbied state legislators. "The industry lobby launched a massive e-mail and telephone campaign throughout the state," said Curry. "The industry also called hundreds of constituents in all 11 Committee members' districts, telling them that if 1219 passed, their gas bill would immediately sky-rocket."
###
CORRECTION
An article in BushGreenwatch on March 31 misstated the date of the reintroduction of Senator Jon Corzine's Chemical Security Act. The bill is schedule to be reintroduced as soon as a week. Take action on this issue through OMBwatch.
###
SOURCES:
[1] BushGreenwatch, Oct. 27, 2004.
[2] Colorado Landowners press release, Mar. 30, 2005.
