Pore Space Supreme Court Appeal In the News

Derrick was at the North Dakota Supreme Court yesterday, delivering oral arguments in an appeal related to the 2019 Pore Space legislation which was overturned by Judge Benson in 2021.  In that ruling, Judge Benson declared the law unconstitutional and concluded that it acted “to give North Dakota landowners’ value from pore space to the oil and gas industry, for free.” The North Dakota Supreme Court provides docket information related to the case available here. 

At yesterday’s oral arguments, Derrick stated that the legislation is “about the industry being able to use the pore space for free, period.” He said, “The industry realized they were going to have to pay for pore space use, and they didn’t like that.” The justices will take the arguments under advisement and provide a ruling at a later date.

Read more about the appeal and yesterday’s Supreme Court oral argument here.