The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-18

The decision Of Judge Mcclure, of Madi-
son county, that the waste of natural gas
cannot be stopped by injunction has more
than local interest. Not to speak of large
manufacturing interests. natural gas is the
fuel of large proportion of the inhabi-
tants of this city, whose comfort and we'll
being are, therefore, concerned in making it
last as long as possible 1t is notorious that
since the discovery of the gas an immense
quantity has been wasted, and that, in spite
of legislation, the waste continues. The
question is whether the interest of the pub
lie, or at least of large part of the public,
in the preservation of the gas should not
outweigh any private interest in the waste.
At present the greatest source of waste is
in wells which are sunk for oil and whose
owners permit the gas to blow off at full
force in order to get at the oil which lies
lower. The suit in Madison county was
brought by the gas belt Manufacturers AS
ISOLATION against the Ohio Oil Company,
which has nearly thirty oil wells in the vi
cinity of Alexandria, which are blowing
into the air and wasting millions of cubic
feet of gas every day. 1t is said that an
average gas well is worth about $500 a day
in coal or wood. At that rate, the thirty
wells which are blowing off gas in the vicin-
ity of Alexandria are wasting about $1,000
worth of fuel per day. The only defense
that can be made of this wanton waste is
that the gas belongs to the owners or les
sees of the land and they have a right to do
what they please with it. Aside from the in
herent barbarity of that claim it is of ques-
tionable validity in law. 1t is true that the
owner of land owns whatever is beneath it,
but he does not own anything beyond his
line, and he has no more right to draw gas
from beneath his neighbours land than he
would have to mine coal under it.
Nor is it true that one has right to do as
he pleases with his own. One has no right
to use his own to the detriment or loss of
another, and certainly the waste of gas
does injure others.
The refusal of Judge Mcclure to grant an
injunction against the waste of gas may be
good law. The law of injunction is largely a
law unto itself. The writ has issued in some
recent cases in which it had to travel long
way to its destination, and when it got
there it found only an abstraction to oper-
ate on In this case there was reality-a well
wasting $3.50 to $500 worth of fuel which
ought to be saved pro bono publico If an
injunction will lie to protect private rights
it ought to lie to protect public rights
against private waste. The theory of the
law of injunction seems to be that it will lie
against hunter to prevent him from kill
ing a rabbit on somebody's farm but it will
not lie against the owner or lessee of the
land to prevent them from wasting mil
lions of cubic feet of natural gas a day.
However, if an injunction will not lie
against the public enemies who insist on
their right to waste gas, they can at least
be sued under that provision of the law
which imposes penalty of $40 day for
every day that a gas well is allowed to
stand open. Under the terms of the law a
separate suit might be brought for each
days violation, and separate judgment re-
covered with costs and attorneys fees. The
law should be enforced to it's full extent.