Oil And Gas “Unitization” Paves Way For More Drilling
BY NICK ROGERS
CHARDON, OHIO - Ohio Citizens whose properties lie above rich oil and gas deposits are facing stringent legal pressure from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in the form of a long-existing-but-only-recently-common legal process called “unitization.” Contrary to wind and solar projects which are regularly stalling due to public opposition and greater powers given to county commissioners, property owners who oppose oil and gas drilling on their land are finding it extraordinarily difficult to stop these undertakings with what some say is an insurmountable legal precedent.
The main fundamental foundation of unitization – a legal process that has been around since 1965 but only consistently utilized over the past decade due to improvements in oil and gas technologies which have allowed companies to access previously inaccessible or unknown deposits – compels land owners to “pool” their oil and gas resources when a “drilling unit” falls on multiple properties and 65% of those property owners consent to the drilling.
Patrick Hunkler and his wife Jean Backs have opposed drilling on their Belmont County property. A 2018 unitization order was issued for their property but, fortunately for Hunkler and Backs, the developer canceled the project. The couple are an anomaly when it comes to projects being haulted.
“All the cards are stacked against us,” Hunkler said. Backs added, “Our experience at the unitization hearing was that oil and gas runs the show.”
These ODNR hearings, says Cleveland State legal professor Heidi Robertson, do not take into environmental impacts of the drilling – a common practice under the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which require environmental impact statements – but rather the considerations have focused on whether or not “…adding this land to the unit [will] make it easier for the developer to more efficiently and more profitably get the oil and gas out of the ground…”
112 unitization orders took place in 2022; 98 in 2023, according to Andy Chow of ODNR. Chow said that only one application has been denied since 2012. The process, says Ohio Oil and Gas association president Rob Brundrett, ensures that “…a small minority of owners … cannot stop everyone else from realizing the full potential of their property and minerals.”