Group: Wyoming split-estate law needs improvements

Wyoming ought to toughen up its law aimed at preventing conflicts when petroleum companies seek to drill for oil or gas on private property with or without the landowner's permission, a landowner group says. The split-estate law, enacted in 2005, requires oil and gas companies to at least attempt good-faith negotiations with landowners. Also the law allows landowners to sue in court to obtain compensation for damages. Wyoming should improve the law with a number of changes, the resource council said in a report released Tuesday. One suggested change is increasing the $2,000-per-well bond a company must post before drilling. That sum is "unrealistically low" to compensate landowners for damage, the group said in its "State of the Split Estate" report. The group also said the law could be improved by: -- Allowing landowners to recover litigation costs if they went to court and prevailed; -- Placing the burden of proof of good-faith negotiations with the petroleum company, not the landowner; -- Not allowing companies onto private land until the landowner has received notification by certified mail that the company has posted bond; -- Removing oversight of disputes from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission...more