PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: Gov. Tom Corbett on Wednesday defended legislation he signed into law this week that critics say will undercut some landowners in lease negotiations with Marcellus shale gas drillers.
The new law, which was tacked onto legislation to clarify information on gas royalty payments, empowers oil and gas drillers to combine land into larger drilling units as long as a property owner’s lease doesn’t prohibit it.
It effectively forces people with existing contracts to allow their land to be pooled into larger drilling units without having full power to negotiate better deals in return, legal scholars and landowners advocates have said… (more)
