Drilling was expected to begin within days.
Mars had sought to block Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc. from drilling on a 10,300-acre mineral lease it holds beneath his sprawling Diamond Cross cattle ranch. But Montana law gives oil and gas companies the right to drill on private land as long as they hold valid mineral leases and meet basic notification requirements.
Forrest Mars, who is worth an estimated $14 billion, owns more than 82,000 acres along the Tongue River in Rosebud and Big Horn counties. That "surface ownership" does not include rights to much of the underground minerals, including a type of natural gas known as coal-bed methane.
"Who the surface owner is should not make any difference, and it didn't today," Pinnacle attorney Bryan Wilson said after Tuesday's ruling.
Pinnacle's lease is set to expire if the company does not begin drilling by Friday. State District Judge Blair Jones said blocking Pinnacle because it notified Mars' son-in-law of its drilling plans -- rather than Mars himself -- would have amounted to a "death sentence" for the company.
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