March 13, 2008

Surface owners’ resolution dies

By DAVID HEDGES
Publisher

After a proposed surface owners’ bill of rights stalled in the legislature, proponents settled for the next best thing.

Resolutions introduced in both the House of Delegates and Senate would have authorized a study of laws regulating oil and gas wells and the rights of surface owners.

But those resolutions died Friday, one day before the end of the legislative session, when legislative leaders pulled them off the calendar.

David McMahon, a public interest lawyer involved with the newly formed W.Va. Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, said the proposals simply ran out of time.

Although the resolutions had been passed out of both the Senate Energy Industry and Mining Committee and the House Industry and Labor Committee, McMahon said leaders felt there was not enough time to get the bills through the full House and Senate with only two days left in the session.

Rules committees in both houses that set the calendars pulled the proposals on Friday.

“A few of the delegates didn’t even want the issued to be studied,” McMahon said. “The leaders didn’t want to pass the resolutions on to the floor because they did not have time for a debate.”

But McMahon said leaders assured those interested in surface owners’ rights that their concerns would be examined.

“We have commitments from the Speaker of the House Rick Thompson and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff Kessler that there will be a study,” McMahon said.

McMahon said he was not surprised the surface owners’ rights bill did not become law this session.

“It’s hard to get any controversial bill passed the first year,” he said. “We had hopes it would pass, but we’re not surprised it will take another year.”

He said the oil and gas industry hired two additional lobbyists, in addition to their normal contingent of lobbyists, to work against the bill.

He said the study seemed like the right thing to do.

“We’re pleased they’re going to study it. Not many legislators, even if they hear from their constituents, are all that familiar with the issues,” McMahon said. “So we need to get more constituents calling and do more education of the legislators.

“We were pleased that most legislators understood there was some kind of problem out there,” he said. “We just need more education on the details and responses to what the industry is saying. For instance, the industry is saying there would be fewer wells drilled, and that’s just not true.”

The proposed surface owners’ bill of rights would require drillers to have face-to-face meetings with surface owners about the location of wells and access roads before they apply for a permit.

It would also allow surface owners to be compensated for fair market value of their land used for well sites or roads, and give the landowners the right to purchase gas from wells on their property.

McMahon said the surface owners organization would resume holding meetings around the state. Prior to the start of the legislative session, meetings took place in Weston and Spencer. Each was well attended, he said.

The group’s next meeting is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at the Doddridge County Park in Smithburg.