shallow gas wells but no fracking opinion

what is your opinion of people leasing their land for a shallow natural gas well? some say its harmless while others say its bad. i oppose that type of stuff on land since there are clean and exotic forms of green energy.

I am all for you USING your own well. Not so much for someone else driving all over your land whenever they want. It can be a way to get the well financed, they will usually let you use as much of the gas as you want, and they usually will build a good driveway to get to it.

It is kind of like USDA programs--it sounds like FREE MONEY, but it isn't. There are definitely strings attached.

Wesley johnson;: Here is one vote NO!

Get your Water Tested now! While proof that your water used to be good will not compensate you for loss of use of your land,
and its value, and for sickness and injury, proof from an independent 3rd party is the only thing that will get you a settlement if something goes wrong !

You also need to know that your neighbors are being approached too! Often bait and switch contracts are offered, promising more revenue for enhanced drilling rights !

Many times the Ownership of the lease rights that you surrender will change hands while that site is waiting for a crew to show up to Drill the actual well !

Two years from now you can be unable to talk to someone who will admit that they are lease holders, or that the old contract is enforceable !

Immagine having free heat for say 5 years - and then being told that due to your 'field' becoming Commercially unproductive they must shut the field down - or come
back in and frack everything, Now think about what your neighbor might do to continue getting Gas and a revenue check !

Get Your Water Tested Now ! Hope this helps and is timely ! Big AL !

allen lumley wrote:Wesley johnson;:

Get your Water Tested now! While proof that your water used to be good will not compensate you for loss of use of your land,
and its value, and for sickness and injury, proof from an independent 3rd party is the only thing that will get you a settlement if something goes wrong !

i 2nd this recommendation. i would be doing it yearly if i lived in an area where oil and gas development was taking place.

ok thanks for the info. if i start a conservation business i will stay away from gas leasing as a money generator. is it possible when wanting to preserve a property that the mineral rights were severed to hire a lawyer to get the mineral rights back with fair market value? this way the mineral rights can be given to the land trust for a complete conservation easement.

W.J. : Every hing I said about Gas leases applies double For finding out who has the mineral rights under land that you have surface rights to !

The county Real property office may have a name, but the name may be the name of an Individual who died 100 years ago ! - Or if a corporation
the business listed may be for a company that went bankrupt in the 1930s during the Depression !

As long as someone is paying the assessed taxes on the mineral rights, The Real property office doesn't even try to record the current return
address of the tax bill payer, While this is supposed to be public information, it is often a semi profitable source of revenue for a County Clerk !

Every lawyer that handles property Transfers and filings has at least a dozen good stories designed to make you mistrust your fellow Man ! A.L.

i would be wary of a property that i didnt own the mineral rights to, ESPECIALLY if oil and gas development is in the area.

we actually pulled out of a ~960ac ranch property for that exact reason.

As for buying the rights back, i would think its possible. if you can get a hold of the person who owns the rights, they may be willing to sell them.
if not, realize you do not own the minerals under your property. i am not sure on specifics, but i know in my case, the mineral rights owner would have been able to drill if they could procure the water, regardless of what i wanted/thought.

good luck