Surface Owner Cannot Preclude Drilling By Undertaking Environmental Analysis

In Minard Run Oil Co. v. U.S. Forest Service, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania confirmed that the Forest Service did not have authority to preclude drilling by the owner of subsurface oil and gas rights while the Forest Service completed an environmental analysis of the impact on the Allegheny National Forest.
Read about this development and more in the Babst Calland Report.  You may view an executive summary here, or request a full copy of the report here.