February 20, 2008

A Surface Owner Bill of Rights?

MetroNews Talkline
Charleston, Kanawha County

  The Debate on the Surface Owner Bill of Rights (mp3)

A compromise looks unlikely when it comes to the proposed Oil and Gas Surface Owners Bill of Rights being considered at the State Capitol.

"If you own the surface of land and I own the minerals, in order for my minerals to be worth anything, I have to be able to get on your surface and do something. The question is, what can I do?" That's how Dave McMahon with the group Low Income Surface Owners describes the proposal.

He says it would require earlier notification of drilling from mineral rights owners to property rights owners.

'"It would require them to notify the surface owner before they come onto the land and start putting down surveying sticks. A lot of people call me, the first time they know here comes the driller, is there's a surveying stick on the land. It requires them to give us their proposal 60 days in advance so we can try to work something out," McMahon says.

But Phil Reel with the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association says there are already adequate notification requirements in existence.

"You do have to provide the surface owner with a notice of your application for a permit, the fact that you've applied for a permit," says Reel. "At the same time that you make application for the permit, you give that notice and that also advises the surface owner of their opportunity to offer comments to the Office of Oil and Gas."

Both debated the issue on Wednesday's MetroNews Talkline.