Did you know that West Virginia is second only to Texas in the number of active oil and gas wells in the country? Did you know that new drilling permits have more than tripled in the past several years? Did you know that surface owners have very few rights unless they also own the minerals? If you live in one of the state’s oil & gas counties you’ve probably seen or heard of the polluted streams, needless destruction of timber, lost home sites, mindless road building and ruined pastures caused by drillers.

WV SORO is a growing grassroots membership organization focused on educating landowners about their rights and fighting to expand and strengthen drilling laws and regulations to protect landowners from abuses. The group was formed in 2007 and we can now count among our ranks members from 51 of West Virginia’s counties and 24 other states who are still caring for their home places.

We are looking for like-minded people, devoted to protecting and enhancing surface owners’ rights, to join us by becoming members of WV SORO.

With your input and support we want to pass a “Surface Owners’ Bill of Rights” to  give landowners more say in the location of wells and access roads and ensure that we receive fair compensation for our losses and inconveniences.

You can help us by joining WV SORO.

Your membership will provide us with the funds to elevate our common issues in the press and take them to the legislature.

Join Us!
Click here to print a membership form or e-mail info@wvsoro.org to have a membership packet mailed to you. 

      • So you can help support the work.
      • So we can learn about you.
      • So that we can contact you in the future to help us get you more rights.

More about us and joining

Take Action! Educate Your State Legislators
(About the problems you have enforcing your rights as a surface owner, and the provisions in the West Virginia Surface Owners' Bill of Rights that will address these issues)

Download and sign our petition
to Governor Joe Manchin and members of the WV Legislature urging them to support a 'Surface Owners' Bill of Rights.' Encourage others to sign the petition. Return completed petitions to WV SORO and we’ll get them to legislators and the governor. 

Current Events

• Free Gas,and IRS Form 1099 and IRS Form W-9
• West Virginia Surface Owner’s Bill of Rights
• Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling and its Impact on the Monongahela River
• Proposed Changes to Oil & Gas Rules, Marcellus Guidance Document
• Well spacing for Marcellus formation wells
• Information on Columbia/Chesapeake and Dominion Class Action Settlements
• Oil and Gas Drilling on Public Lands

Links to News Stories Relevant to SORO

• FREE GAS RIGHTS COULD BE TAXED - Historic Hands-Off Deal Threatened (2-5)
• DEP to Rewrite Brine Water Land Application Permits (2-4)
• Natural gas royalties to improve Hare Krishna community (with audio) (2-2)
  (WV-SORO founder Dave McMahon is interviewed about our efforts to pass a Surface Owners' Bill of Rights)
• Natural gas drilling poses threat to region's groundwater  (2-2)
• Manchin says state is 'partner  (1-28)
• 'Green' investors target Marcellus Shale drillers (1-26)
• EPA Press Release: EPA Announces "Eye on Drilling" Tipline (1-26)
  Click here for Tipline Instructions
• Landman Report Card Website Launched: A Resource to Support Citizens Negotiating with Big Energy (1-25)
  Click here to view or write a report card 
• Underground Injection of Gas Industry Brine Taking Off (1-24)
• Oil and gas operators skirt federal law, report says (1-19)
  (Click here to read the report)
• Keyser to Seek DEP Permission to Treat Gas Industry Wastewater (1-16)
• Health Care and Marcellus Wells (1/13)
• WVDEP drilling rules advance, setting up legislative fight (1-13)
• Marcellus Shale Guidance Available from W.Va. Department of Environmental Protection (1-13)
• More

Well site during active drilling to the Marcelllus Shale formation in Upshur County, West Virginia, in 2008.  (An additional water storage pit is not in the photo.)  Copyright WVSORO, June 2008.  Permission to use may be obtained from WVSORO.   Click on image to view high resolution photo.