Small Landowners Fighting Big Oil in Alabama

Faculty Advisor: Rachel Patterson

Team Members: Margot Francini(Manager), Michael Tersigni(Deputy Manager), Laura Bookstaver, Francine
Gordon, Lo Hughes, Bhavya Katyal, Madison Kerbeck, Amelia Markes, Tilly Xu, and Beiyi Zhou

This project evaluates the structural equity of Alabama's oil and gas unitization system through the Johnson family case, assessing whether the current framework protects landowners as effectively as it does operators. It situates the case within the broader history of Black land loss and heirs' property in the South, reviews Alabama's statutory and administrative framework alongside selected states, reconstructs how the consent threshold is calculated, and reevaluates the tract apportionment formula. The central finding is that Alabama's framework depends heavily on operator-generated data, technical discretion, informational opacity, and administrative deference. The 50/50 weighting of hydrocarbon pore volume and productivity disadvantages tracts with strong geological contributions but insufficient historical production, producing tract-level loss ratios of 18% to 53%. For 2018 alone, the Johnson family's minimum estimated royalty entitlement was roughly $330,000, yet some family members had received no payment as of April 2026. The report calls for major reform emphasizing procedural clarity and substantive fairness, including written state findings, technical assistance for small and heirs' property owners, public disclosure of allocation inputs, and a low-cost pathway for documenting heirs' property ownership.

Learn more about the MPA-ESP Capstone projects.