Hegarty v. BD. OF OIL, GAS & MINING, DNR

HOWE, Justice:

INTRODUCTION

¶ 1 Petitioner Patrick Hegarty seeks review of a Board of Oil, Gas, and Mining order imposing a 225% nonconsent penalty and denying retroactive pooling under the Utah Oil and Gas Conservation Act, codified at Utah Code Ann. §§ 40-6-1 to -19 (1998), relative to two wells draining petitioner’s leased lands.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 The Drunkards Wash Field is part of the coalbed methane gas-producing Ferron Formation that underlies large portions of Carbon and Emery Counties in this state. In coalbed fields such as Drunkards Wash, methane gas forms a molecular attachment to the…