What is Forced Pooling?
Forced pooling, known as “compulsory pooling” in North Carolina, gives states the right to compel a non-consenting landowner into a mineral rights lease. In most states, this requires that a certain percentage of surrounding land already be leased voluntarily. In North Carolina, current law does not specify the percentage of land that must be voluntarily leased in a given area.
RAFI participated in the Mining and Energy Commission’s Compulsory Pooling Study Group to examine “compulsory pooling” and recommend potential regulations to protect landowners from having their property taken for private gain.
- Recommendations on compulsory pooling were made at the Compulsory Pooling Study Group meeting on August 28, 2013. A 90% threshold was recommended. For more on what that could mean for area landowners, see the resources on forced pooling at the bottom of the page.
- The full MEC reviewed the recommendations on September 6, 2013.
The General Assembly has not yet acted on the recommendations made by the Compulsory Pooling Study Group, leaving landowners with no assurance that their private property rights will be protected.
- For more details on forced pooling see our Forced Pooling 101 video.
- Link to a PDF version of RAFI’s Forced Pooling Handout here.
