By Michelle Conlin
April 25 (Reuters) – D.R. Horton, the largest homebuilder in
the United States, said it is suspending its practice of keeping
the rights to drill for natural gas underneath the new homes it
sells in North Carolina.
Pressure had been mounting on the Fort Worth, Texas-based
company due to a public outcry, as well as inquiries launched by
the state’s Department of Justice and its Real Estate
Commission.
Both agencies were reviewing the way the homebuilder was
reserving the legal right to drill for natural gas, minerals,
and other resources underneath the homes it was selling across
its subdivisions in the state.
This spring, North Carolina’s legislators are set to debate
legalizing hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.
D.R. Horton, which declined to comment for this story, said
in a note to regulators that it “does not want to create or
contribute to any controversy” regarding legislative and
regulatory matters in the state.
The North Carolina Attorney General’s office said that D.R.
Horton would deed back mineral rights to any homeowner who
requested that the company do so.
Some home buyers had complained they did not know they were
giving up their rights, in perpetuity, to the natural gas,
groundwater and other minerals beneath their homes when they
signed their sales contracts.
In a written statement sent on Tuesday to the North Carolina
Real Estate Commission, D.R. Horton said it is the ordinary
practice for home buyers to buy homes without the mineral rights
in most of the states in which it does business.
The company said it may revisit the issue once state
officials resolve the laws and regulations for energy and
mineral extraction from North Carolina real estate.
Fracking is a controversial practice that involves blasting
a watery cocktail of sand and chemicals deep underground to
fracture rock and free otherwise unavailable gas and oil.
Critics of the technique warn that it can poison drinking
water, contaminate air and pollute soil. Some scientists have
even argued that fracking has contributed to earthquakes. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently studying the
public health and safety aspects of fracking.
Supporters of the process say that, if it is done properly,
it poses no environmental threat and delivers a much-needed
supply of alternative energy.
Janet B. Thoren, Legal Counsel for the North Carolina Real
Estate Commission, said her agency was pleased with the
company’s decision.
“I think D.R. Horton is a Texas based company and this is
something they are used to dealing with in other states, but not
here,” said Thoren. “I don’t think they were expecting the
reaction they got here.”
