Earth and Wind Industries Playing with Fire: The Concurrent Rights of Wind Farm Operators, Oil and Gas Developers, and Landowners in Kansas

Oil wells across the country have recently been confronted with a big, expensive neighbor that has sprung up almost overnight: wind farms. Wind power is currently the fastest growing alternative energy source in the world, but the “swiftness with which this renewable resource has been developed seems to have resulted in the law lagging behind the industry.” The surface owner of rural land generally uses the surface for agricultural purposes, such as growing crops or grazing animals. The surface owner may also lease that land to wind farm operators to erect turbines that generate electrical energy and lease the same acreage to oil and gas producers to extract oil and natural gas. Wind farm operators and oil and gas producers simultaneously use the surface of the land where both are producing their respective products. Wind farms have a relatively small footprint, but require a large amount of land and unobstructed airflow. This creates the potential for conflicts between wind farm developers, oil and gas producers, and surface owners, such as when multiple parties want to use a particular location on the surface or