February 23, 2008

Proposed landowner ‘bill of rights’ stalled

By Mannix Porterfield
REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER

CHARLESTON — Consumer advocate David McMahon has never crossed home plate the first time he backed a proposal within a legislative session.

In swinging the bat for landowners this session for a proposed bill of rights to offer safeguards in oil and gas drilling, McMahon kept his record clean.

Only two weeks remain in this session, and the Charleston attorney has all but conceded defeat in pushing for a “bill of rights” for landowners.

But McMahon says he can take a measure of solace in knowing that his new group, organized only last August, has made some headway in making lawmakers aware that property owners statewide are up in arms about existing practices.

Obligated to give a mere 15 days’ notice before a permit is issued, drillers have taken many a landowner by surprise by showing up on their land to start digging.

McMahon says he at least has laid the groundwork for expanded rights so property owners can get a 60-day notice.

His group, the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, also wants lawmakers to provide that the holder of mineral rights be compelled to sell his product at the going retail price.

A third phase of the proposed “bill of rights” would stipulate that landowners must be compensated for land taken at the market value, not its current appraisal.

McMahon’s group held two county organizational meetings since announcing its formation, and is attempting to reach into all 55 counties. So far, the response has been statewide, telling the attorney that problems with drillers aren’t isolated incidents.

“We’ve added hundreds of members since August,” he said.

A common complaint has arisen — people aren’t learning about things occurring on their land until they have occurred. And unless some reforms are made, McMahon said, the horror stories likely will mount.

“There are a lot of stories about how oil and gas wells are growing and growing,” he said. “There are going to be thousands of wells.

“For most of these wells, that may be good for the economy, but there’s a surface owner out there that has a bulldozer coming across him and it may not be where he wants that bulldozer to be.”

McMahon says he is pleased he got the education process launched this year, providing a base on which to build for the 2009 session.

One reason for the difficulty in getting anything accomplished now could lie in history, he suggested.

“The Founding Fathers in order to make it difficult to pass bad legislation made it difficulty to pass any legislation,” the attorney mused.