Sep 12, 2013 1 min read

State Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, has introduced a bill that would restrict the use of “forced pooling” to obtain natural gas drilling mineral rights.

The bill, which was introduced Thursday to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, would not allow natural gas drilling companies to use the practice to automatically lease a property owner’s mineral rights if neighboring properties have agreed to deals.

White said House Bill 1700 would be an attempt to counteract Act 66 that allows a form of the force pooling by allowing drillers to obtain mineral rights from people who have signed old leases for shallow wells.

“The only winner from forced pooling is a drilling company that would no longer have to negotiate a lease,” White said in a press release. “Pennsylvania landowners are the losers from forced pooling, which shouldn’t be allowed to happen and something needs to be done to fix that.”

White hopes the bill would give property owners more bargaining power to negotiate better deals.