AUSTIN, Texas (January 29, 2025) – Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association submitted its second amicus brief supporting landowner ownership of groundwater in the Texas Supreme Court case Cactus Water Services LLC v. COG Operating LLC.
In the dispute, landowners contracted to sell produced water to a third party, but the oil and gas company argued they retained ownership under existing leases.
“For Texas landowners, ownership of groundwater is among the most essential private property rights,” said Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President, Carl Ray Polk Jr. “Water makes ranching, agriculture and mineral production possible.”
The amicus brief urges the Court to uphold the longstanding principle in Texas that the landowner owns all the groundwater under their land, including groundwater brought to the surface through the oil and gas process.
“Texas courts have consistently agreed that groundwater ownership is tied to the landowner. Any effort to erode this fundamental principle endangers private property rights and Texas agriculture,” Polk said. “Our members — Texas landowners and agricultural operators — rely on the certainty of the law to protect and uphold their private property rights.”
Background:
Beginning in 2005, Collier and Balmorhea Ranches, Inc. entered certain oil and gas leases with COG Operating LLC. The oil and gas leases did not convey any rights of ownership to the groundwater underlying the property, allowing only the extraction of oil, gas, and hydrocarbons and limited rights to use groundwater from a newly drilled well to aid in the extraction and production process.
In 2019, Collier and Balmorhea Ranches leased the ownership rights to all water on and underlying the property to Cactus Water Services LLC. COG Operating LLC filed suit against Cactus Water, and both parties sought competing declaratory judgments regarding the ownership of the produced water.
In 2023, the El Paso Court of Appeals ruled that oil and gas producers have an ownership interest in produced water. As a result, Cactus Water Services LLC petitioned the Texas Supreme Court for review of the prior ruling, which is the current standing of the legal battle.
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