Texas Supreme Court Declines to Hear Lake Houston oil well drilling restrictions challenge

On October 18, 2013, the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for review filed by the plaintiffs in a $36 million challenge to oil well drilling restrictions the City of Houston adopted to protect its drinking water supply.  The plaintiffs alleged that the application of the drilling restrictions to mineral interests they owned in property on the north shore of Lake Houston constituted a regulatory taking of their property without compensation in violation of the Texas Constitution.  The Supreme Court’s action left standing an earlier decision of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals that rendered judgment for the City, finding that the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate a compensable regulatory taking.  Olson & Olson partner, John J. Hightower, represented the City of Houston.

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