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Show LOUISIANA 361 such modifications as may result from the laws and regulations concerning mines and the laws and regulations of the police. Louisiana courts have consistently held that oil and gas are fugi- tive minerals, and the owners of lands which contain such deposits do not own them until they are reduced to actual possession;65 and that the landowners alone have the right to sever and extract such minerals beneath their lands, and they may convey these rights to others.66 Consequently, one landowner may prevent fugitive oil from being drawn from under the surface of his own land to that of another, but only if he can do so by some mechanical means which do not interfere with the rights of the adjoining owner to extract the oil under his own land; and there can Ibe no objection simply because oil beneath the land of one owner is drained and drawn off by a well on adjoining land.67 Subterranean water, by analogy to oil and gas, has been held to be a fugitive substance subject to the same rules. A number of cases have so held,68 but the leading case is Adams v. Grigsby, de- cided in 1963.69 In that case the plaintiff-landowners obtained water for their domestic needs by drilling into the fresh water sands of the Wilcox formation in Caddo Parish to a depth of 150 to 250 feet. The defendant, an oil operator, was engaged nearby in the secondary recovery of oil and casinghead gas by injecting water into the reser- voir. Water for this operator was obtained from the Wilcox for- mation. Defendant mined approximately 2,000 to 2,800 barrels of water per day. The result was that the aquifer was being depleted, damage was caused to the plaintiff's wells, and the properties de- creased in value. The court held that unmined ground water (like oil and gas or animals ferae naturae) was subject only to a qualified ownership by a landowner located above the aquifer. Once, however, the water was reduced to possession by pumping, it belonged to the driller of the well. The court was reluctant to place any limitation on the amount of ground water which might be taken from a common reser- voir. It was suggested that the matter would be more appropriately handled by legislation. There is very little State regulation of ground water in Louisiana, although the Commissioner of Conservation is charged by statute with the duty of preventing pollution of underground fresh water supplies by oil, gas, or salt water; and, before an underground reservoir may be used to store natural gas, he must find and deter- mine that the gas will not contaminate formations containing fresh water.70 The Adams decision may perhaps have been the reason71 for the ««See Dixon v. American Liberty Oil Co., 226 La. 911. 77 So. 2d 533 (1955) ; South port Petroleum Co. of Delaware v. Fithian, 203 La. 49, 13 So. 2d 382 (1943) ; and Continental Securities v. Wetheroee, 187 La. 773, 175 So. 751 (1937). M Federal Land Bank of New Orleans v. Mulhern, 180 La. 627, 157 So. 370 (1934) ; Allies Oil Co. V. Avers, 152 La. 19, 92 So. 720 (1922) ; and DeMoss v. Ample, 143 La. 243, 78 So. 482 (1918). ™ Biggins Oil & Fuel Co. v. Guaranty Oil Co., 145 La. 233, 82 So. 206 (1919). 68 Id. See also Rives v. Gulf Refining Co. of Louisiana, 133 La. 178, 62 So. 623 (1913). «® 152 So. 2d 619 (La. App. 2d Cir. 1963), writs den., 244 La. 662, 153 So. 2d 880 (1963). The case Is discussed in 24 La. L. Rev. 428 (1964). *> Sees. 30.4 and 30.22. 71 See G. Hardy III, Louisiana Legislation of 196%: Natural Resources, 25 La. L. Rev. 60, 61-2 (1964). |
