ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20027
No(s). 63 MAP 2018 (Pa. Jan 22, 2020)

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling that found an energy developer trespassed on neighboring landowners' property by extracting natural gas from their property by way of hydraulic fracturing without permission. The developer argued that the extraction did not amount to trespass because of the rule of capture, which maintains that there is no liability for drainage of oil and gas from under another property so long as there has been no trespass. The appellate court concluded that hydraulic fracturing was distinguishable from conventional drilling because it extracted gas trapped in a shale formation by using artificial means to stimulate the flow of the resource rather than tapping into reservoirs within which gas flows freely, and thus that the rule of capture did not apply to such unconventional drilling. The high court, however, rejected the notion that the rule of capture was inapplicable. It thus ruled that the appellate court erred by assuming that either the use of hydraulic fracturing altered the rule of capture or that where hydraulic fracturing is used, physical intrusion is a necessary precondition for drainage to occur from underneath another property. It therefore vacated and remanded to the appellate court for further proceedings.