海角破解版

Julie Grant, The Allegheny Front

Deciding what happens on private property might seem like a basic right. But when it comes to energy development, Ohio and other oil and gas-producing states have laws that can force landowners to lease their underground mineral rights to energy companies.

That鈥檚 what happened to Patrick Hunkler and his wife, Jean Backs. It began in 2010, when a landman for an energy company knocked on their door.

Hunkler didn鈥檛 know much about fracking then. The landman offered them $137 an acre for the mineral rights under their 21 acres in Belmont County, in eastern Ohio. 

鈥�$137 dollars, that鈥檚 probably the closest I ever came to signing a lease,鈥� he said. 

But they held out. By 2014, they were offered $8,500 an acre.

Concerns for Water

Jean Backs was getting ready to retire. After 30 years working for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), the money might have been nice. But, she worried about the millions of gallons of water used to frack each well, and the waste it creates.

Patrick Hunkler and Jean Backs get drinking water for their house from spring water collected in this cistern. They are concerned that fracking could impact their water. [Julie Grant / The Allegheny Front]

鈥淢y big concern about signing a lease would be where鈥檚 that water going to come from and then what will happen to it when they鈥檙e finished,鈥� she explained. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 know that at the time that you signed a lease.鈥�

Still, her husband, who had worked for the Ohio EPA, and built a passive-solar house with recycled materials, was open to the idea. But he wanted a way to assure a lease would take into consideration his environmental concerns, including the bright lights used at well pads.

鈥淭his is a beautiful dark sky out here,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f there is a well pad down the road, it鈥檚 just like Hollywood.鈥�

And landmen pursued Hunkler and Backs like celebrities, making hundreds of calls to the family.

鈥淲e would express our environmental concern, the only thing that they could offer us was money 鈥� a price per acre, and royalties,鈥� he said. 

But making money wasn鈥檛 as important to the family as protecting their environment. They say landmen called them foolish. They went as far as following them on vacation, even threatening to bring the sheriff over to force them to sign. Backs said she felt harassed. 

Then in 2017, they got a notice from ODNR that Chesapeake Energy was seeking to unitize their property. That meant the state could force the family to sign a lease under a state law. 

Chesapeake declined an interview.

An Old Ohio Law Meets Fracking

Heidi Robertson, is the Steven W. Percy distinguished professor of law at Cleveland Marshall College of Law and a professor of environmental studies at Cleveland State University. [Patricia Donovan]

鈥淲e normally think of the rights of the landowner as being things like the right to decide what鈥檚 done with your land. Or what鈥檚 not done with your land,鈥� explained Heidi Robertson, a professor of law and environmental studies at Cleveland State University.  She in 2018 about Ohio鈥檚 unitization law.

The law, passed in 1965, was to ensure the efficient extraction of oil and gas. Before, landowners used to setup wells all over their land, without regard to their neighbors. But, too many wells so close together, adversely affected the underground pressure that allowed the oil and gas to be extracted. 

So the law requires the land for a well to be a certain size and shape.  For shallow wells, that was an acre. 

The law didn鈥檛 get much use until the fracking boom. Nowadays, wells snake horizontally for miles, deep beneath the ground. According to , most land units in Ohio today range from 300 to 1,100 acres. 

Robertson says one unit of land can have hundreds of different landowners.

鈥淭hen you have to have the agreement of all of the landowners in order to cobble together the rights to drill,鈥� she said. 

The problem for energy companies and for people who want to lease their land comes when other landowners in the unit, like Patrick Hunkler and Jean Backs, say no to drilling.

鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like a veto, a single landowner being able to veto the ability of all the surrounding landowners to drill,鈥� Robertson said. 

Under the law, if a company gets 65-percent of landowners in a unit to agree to lease their mineral rights, it can apply to the state to unitize the rest, forcing dissenting landowners into leases. 

Since 2011, the chief of has approved 144 forced

Voluntary Leases?

Energy companies offer upfront bonus payments and royalties as a carrot to get landowners to sign leases. Robertson says the unitization law also gives landmen a stick.

鈥淭hey come in and say things like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e offering you X amount of money.鈥� They鈥檒l in fact say if you refuse to quote 鈥榲olunteer,鈥� you鈥檒l be forced through this administrative process through the state, and it will cost you more.鈥�

Still, energy companies try to avoid unitization, because the state fees, $10,000 to unitize a landowner, plus attorney fees can add up. ODNR also requires continued efforts to negotiate with holdout landowners. 

One of Hunkler鈥檚 neighbors who leased his land to Chesapeake was pleased with it. The signing bonus meant he could take time off work for his back surgery.

Jos Miller, a neighbor of Patrick Hunkler, signed a lease with Chesapeake Energy, but felt the company took advantage of him. [Julie Grant / The Allegheny Front]

But down the road, Jos Miller said he would have been better off without leasing to Chesapeake. He鈥檚 an Amish farmer with horses and sheep, and seven children. He teared up when describing what happened. He said he shouldn鈥檛 have admitted to the landman that he couldn鈥檛 read or write. 

鈥淚 was desperate,鈥� he said.  

Miller leased his 170 acres for $50 an acre. But he later found some of his neighbors were getting as much as $6,000 per acre. 

鈥淚 like to be fair so but I guess the world don鈥檛 work that way anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 whoever got the most, who鈥檚 the smartest to wiggle it around.鈥�

A Columbus Hearing

Unitization hearings at Division of Oil and Gas Resources take place in Columbus. The state has never ruled against a request to unitize. [Julie Grant / The Allegheny Front]

When companies can鈥檛 get landowners to sign leases, they can ask the state to step in. 

, the Division holds multiple unitization hearings like one in Columbus on May 15. Ascent Resources applied to unitize landowners who have refused to sign a lease. The company brought a geologist, an engineer, and a landman to testify, along with a slew of attorneys. 

At the hearing, in front of ODNR staff, the landman details efforts to locate unleased landowners, and get them to sign. The company engineer testified that Ascent鈥檚 project is a $20 million investment.  Without those last, unleased tracts of land, the company would lose the ability to collect enough gas for the project to be financially viable.

鈥淭hat would likely be the difference between what we would pursue vs what we would not pursue,鈥� testified Ascent Reservoir Engineer Taylor Henderson. 

The profitability of the project is the only factor the state can consider in unitization hearings. 

Acsent鈥檚 lawyers declined to comment.

Profits Over Landowner Rights?

Megan Hunter, of in Akron, who represented the Hunklers in their case, calls the law unjust.

鈥淚 think you have constitutional problems where the reason you鈥檙e taking it is because it鈥檚 more profitable than not for a private company to develop those resources,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o at that point you鈥檙e not doing an evaluation of whether there is a public benefit.鈥� 

At Chesapeake鈥檚 unitization hearings against his family, Patrick Hunkler asked the state to also consider his environmental concerns. But transcripts from the hearing confirm that ODNR told him they had no authority to do that.

鈥淗ey ODNR, we have concerns about our natural resources. Who can we talk to?,鈥� he wonders. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 listen to us in the hearing,鈥� he said.

Mark Bruce, administrative officer with ODNR, counters that the unitization process does allow for citizens to comment.

鈥淢ineral owners have an opportunity to be heard verbally or in writing during the process and their comments are always considered,鈥� said Bruce. 

The state has never ruled against an energy company in a unitization hearing. According to Bruce, that鈥檚 because companies only apply once they鈥檝e met the state鈥檚 requirements.

鈥淭he law specifically states that the division must issue an order if the applicant meets the criteria defined by the Ohio General Assembly,鈥� he said. 

Hunter says the has been updated numerous times since the fracking boom to favor energy companies over landowners.

鈥淚t is just so clear that [the company] is really well represented and the government is often aligned with them in these administrative forums and the citizen is left to fend for themselves,鈥� she said.

Chesapeake Energy built a well pad, but never drilled a well. The landowners are now waiting to see what happens next. [Julie Grant / The Allegheny Front]

ODNR did issue orders for Chesapeake to unitize Hunkler鈥檚 property. But after constructing the well pad nearby, the company abruptly and the unitizations were dissolved. 

Now, Hunkler and Backs, along with their neighbors, are left wondering what will happen with the next company.