2017 Colorado Legislative Conservation Scorecard

“Forced pooling” allows oil and gas companies to extract minerals without the mineral owner’s permission. Under current law, if one neighbor in a subdivision signs a lease for energy development, the entire neighborhood’s mineral rights could be developed by an oil and gas company. This bill sought to increase how much notice oil and gas companies have to give mineral rights owners before force pooling, as well as create better statewide tracking of the number of people and acres subjected to forced pooling.

Bill Sponsors: Representatives Mike Foote and Dave Young, Senators Matt Jones and Irene Aguilar