February 14, 2008

Surface Owners Rally for 'Bill of Rights'

More than 40 people came from across the state to speak about their experiences with oil and gas operations.

Story by Walt Williams

CHARLESTON -- Landowners who claim they have had their property rights trampled by oil and gas drillers rallied at the Capitol Feb. 6 to push for two bills that would create a "bill of rights" for people who have had wells drilled on their properties.

More than 40 people came from across the state to speak about their experiences with oil and gas operations during a press conference.

Nancy Powers of Clarksburg said she and her husband found a surveyor trying to get onto their land where they were building a home without telling them he would be there. That property now has eight wells on it, and despite a written pledge by the driller to reclaim the land where the drilling is taking place, no work has been done, she said.

"If I had known at the time what the situation was, we would have never stayed in the state," she said. "I can't ask my children to stay in the state if they have no security in the property they buy."

The "Surface Owner's Bill of Rights" bills come at the request of the West Virginia Surface Owner's Rights Organization, headed by Charleston attorney David McMahon. The identical bills have been introduced into both the Senate and the House of Delegates.

Supporters say both are the result of an oil and gas drilling boom currently under way in the state, a result of an increase in demand brought about by high oil and gas prices. A few years ago the state issued about 900 drilling permits a year. Currently it is issuing more than 3,000 permits a year.

Ownership of the land above and the minerals below often is severed in a relationship known as "split estates." West Virginia, like most states, gives mineral owners the right to get to their property through private land.

McMahon said passage of either bill would do three things. First, it would require drillers give 60-day notice before going onto a person's land. Second, it would require companies to sell natural gas to landowners with wells on their land at retail prices. Finally, it would base compensation on damages on the market value of the land rather than its current use, as it is now.

Industry groups such as the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association and the West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association dispute that there is any great dispute between landowners and mineral owners, saying that surface owners already enjoy protections from unscrupulous drillers under current law.

The groups also point out that oil and gas drilling is a growing tax revenue source for the state and its counties, generating $130 million in county property taxes in 2007 and $69.7 million in state oil and gas severance taxes in 2006.

The same day surface owners held their press conference, Gov. Joe Manchin spoke to drillers gathered for IOGA's annual conference in Charleston. In an interview after his speech, the governor said he was aware there was some legislation dealing with surface rights but didn't know much about it.

"I must say that all in all, I've seen this industry been very sympathetic (with landowners)," he said, adding that his brother recently had drillers come onto his land. He said the drillers "went out of their way" to maintain roads and be the least intrusive as they could be.

"I'm sure there is going to be exceptions and there is going to be someone who believes very strongly that should change," he later added. "You have to look at that. And basically what we are saying is can you do better? Absolutely. Does it take complete revamping of legislation to do that? I can't speak to that because I really don't know."