We are an organization of mostly small surface land owners in West Virginia. The number of oil and gas well permits has increased from less than 900 a year in the late 1990's to more than 3000 a year in 2006. Our rights are limited. The result is the need for the organization of SORO and this web site to educate surface owners about the rights that they do have, to allow surface owners to share the information that they have, and to educate policy makers about the increased rights that surface owners need.

Join Us!
Click here to for a form to print out and mail in to WV SORO. 

      • 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.
      • So you will be able to use all the functions of the web site as we add them.
      More about us and joining

Educate Your Legislators
(To educate them about your problems and the increased rights surface owners need!)

Current Events

West Virginia’s oil & gas laws were last revised in 1981 when surface owners were given only 15 days’ notice before the drilling commences, but no options for input about what parts of their property will be taken by the operators, etc.  The damage compensation enacted that year also was limited.

The tripling of well permits issued in recent years has brought to a head the need to further update our laws to enforce surface owners’ common law “fairly necessary” rights and otherwise level the playing field between the drillers and surface owners.

Changes needed to ensure good stewardship of the land and more economic fairness in West Virginia's oil & gas fields include:

• Summary of new laws need to protect surface owners
• Proposed WV Surface Owners' Bill of Rights
• Detailed Summary of the proposed WV Surface Owners' Bill of Rights

Educate Your Legislators!

Myths and Facts About West Virginia Surface Owner's Bill of Rights

The latest “play” in the oil and gas fields is the “Marcellus” formation.  Thousands of wells are going to be drilled over large areas of West Virginia as illustrated by the map of the areas affected.

 We are getting many questions because landmen are blanketing West Virginia and approaching surface owners who are lucky enough to still own their minerals and not have leased them yet.  Most of this increased activity is about leasing and drilling to the Marcellus formation.  These landmen are trying to get surface owners to sign their "standard" lease that gives little surface use protections, gives less than $20 an acre up front money, and has clauses allowing things that are very bad for surface owners including storage, injection and secondary recovery.  The bad clauses can be negotiated out of the lease, surface owner protections can be negotiated in, and we have heard of offers of $125 an acre in Preston County to up to $1,500 an acre in parts of Pennsylvania were the Marcellus is thicker.  We have therefore started a whole new page for for surface owners who are being approached by landmen.

There is a dispute over whether these wells are statutory deep wells, and therefore subject to well spacing and some surface owner consent.  It is better for surface owners, royalty owners, investors in wells, the environment, and most operators if gas wells are subject to well spacing, as is explained elsewhere on our web site.  A State commission has ruled that Marcellus wells are statutory deep wells.

An effort was made to have the legislature define Marcellus wells as shallow wells, but WV SORO was able to persuade the Legislature to kill that.

The WV Coal Association and some drillers filed a case in the West Virginia Supreme Court against the State commission and other drillers to have the Marcellus wells declared statutory shallow wells.  WV SORO filed an amicus brief. 

Oral argument was March 12, 2007.  WV SORO’s amicus brief was referred to.  Justice Starcher seemed in our favor on the grounds that the petitioners were asking the Supreme Court to legislate.  Justice Albright at first was leaning towards believing that the case should have started in the Circuit Court or in an administrative agency appeal, but may have been backed off of that.  Justice Maynard seemed primarily concerned about how much coal would be sterilized, but allowed that getting gas out was important also.  So it is hard to tell what will happen with the suit.  It could be several months before a decision is made.

Click here for more information on all of this.

More Current Events

Links to News Stories Relevant to SORO
A Surface Owner Bill of Rights?
'Bill of Rights' gives surface owners more say about how work occurs on their land.
Press Release: New State-Wide Organization Formed to Protect Landowner’s Rights
WV Public Radio interview with David McMahon (mp3)
More