To Lease or Not to Lease: Has Anyone NOT signed a lease? I'd like to hear why you didn't

My wife and I are part of a landowners group that is in the process of having their Range Resources contract reviewed by attorneys.  We only have 3.2 acres and have not decided whether we are actually going to sign a lease.  I am curious to hear from people who started to go through the process and then at some point decided against it.  I'd like to hear your reasons.  FYI - I'm not posting this so I can attack people's decisions.  I am genuinely interested in hearing from people who decided not to sign a lease.  

 

Thanks in advance!

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on October 27, 2011 at 5:16am
I actually spoke with our lender this morning (a broker) and he said that the underwriters are in the process of reviewing the documentation package that borrowers need to fill out and are moving towards changes that would require an applicant to disclose information regarding mineral and O&G rights and existing leases.
Permalink Reply by paleface on October 27, 2011 at 7:31am
Jonathan I didn't think you signed a lease ?
Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on October 27, 2011 at 7:38am
That is correct - We have not signed a lease.
Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 28, 2011 at 9:45am

Jonathan,

We have been struggling with many of the same issues that you have  and were seriously considering leaving , but our children want to stay. We've taken a different approach and are trying to get fracking banned in our community as well as the surrounding communities. It is an uphill battle, but after months of town meetings, door to door canvassing etc.  we are finally seeing the light.

Wishing you the best of luck!

Christine

 

Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on October 28, 2011 at 5:12pm

Chris,

I applaud your perseverance and commitment to the cause!  My wife has been active with Marcellus Outreach Butler but you are right - It is such an uphill battle.  Our area is so rural that there is really nothing the township could do at this point to stop it.  There are just so many people here that stand to make a boatload of money it's really hard to cut through that with anything that makes sense to them.  Thankfully, the township we would be moving into is taking steps to keep it away from the more residential areas and keeping it to commercial and light industrial.  

 

Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 29, 2011 at 2:18am

Jonathan,

We are quite rural too and many farmers have signed on. We are hoping to get the ban in the township first and move out to other townships. It is difficult, but well worth the effort!

I am so glad you found a place that is taking action. It is in the numbers and voices where you will see your greatest protection. It is difficult to get people to stand up for themselves and speak out here. 

Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 31, 2011 at 10:11am

Interesting enough that is what is happening in Ohio. People moved, kept the mineral rights and now the new owners, as well as their neighbors, are finding themselves in a sorry situation. I am in a different situation. I have unleased land, but am surrounded by many with old and new leases. According to the state of Ohio whether I agree or not I will be forced into mandatory pooling. Funny thing is, I thought since I lived in America, worked hard and paid my bills I should be able to say what happens on  my land......

Permalink Reply by Dan on November 2, 2011 at 5:37am
You should have a say in what happens on your land.  I would fight to preserve your's, mine and everybodies right to this, but the funny thing is, you have said, you want to have a say in what happens on your neighbors land and neighboing township's land and the State's land.  I hope you are not a close neighbor to me but if you are, what gives you any right to try and ban something on my land?
Permalink Reply by Jake Jackson on November 1, 2011 at 3:55pm
For anyone who thinks this natural gas extraction is a good thing, please even if you speed forward to the end to see what the council members say after they toured the drilling site it is worth your time.  I am convinced, I will not jeopardize my children's future for the $$ and destroy what ever we have left of clean air and water.  This is another sign that Democracy is gone in PA and will be in Ohio too if people don't ban together and stop what is happening to all the states where this toxic industry is operating.  Yes some will get rich, and some will get toxic good paying jobs, but in the long term, is the money worth losing our health and environment for. For me the answer is an honest no.  While on the you tube site on the right you will find other short videos of fracking in PA.  It is bad no matter how good we wish it could be. They could probably do it safer and less destructive but then it would cut into their profits.  So who wins? The big corporations as usual, off the backs of us again. When will we ever learn?  Please take a minute to watch this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5QqidiEEHw
Permalink Reply by George Brown on November 1, 2011 at 4:02pm
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"
Permalink Reply by Karen Bagdes-Canning on November 1, 2011 at 4:36pm
When you realize how short sighted you are being, will you be able to man up?  What makes you so certain that our country will not be hurt  (badly) by this rush to drill?  Can you even imagine that you may be wrong?  I said it before that I hoped folks like you are right but I have seen way to much evidence of harm to both our environment, animals and people.  Sure we need the energy but we need to get it without making a mess of things.
Permalink Reply by George Brown on November 2, 2011 at 3:51am

No, I'm a systems engineer for a company that sells barcode scanners. I'd love to sell some to the O&G industry but they are not my accounts. :-(

I've said before that this drilling is certainly a potentially dangerous activity.  However, I believe we (i.e. mankind) can manage it to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.  There will be blowouts, there will be spills, there will be explosions and some people will probably die.  There will probably be some bad operators that don't drill and frack in the correct ways and they will likely cause issues with some water wells, etc. My point is simply that I am confident these problems will be minimized, thus making the risk acceptable.

I don't have a problem with people keeping a skeptical eye on all this.  I support using the full force of the law to punish those who operate in a manner outside the law.  I support fining companies that cause damage.  If they break it, they should have to fix it for sure.

However, I don't have any tolerance for the "end of the world as we know it" types.  Those who would imply that fracking causes earthquakes or is "raping" the land, for example. Also, you can't simply look at a few youtube videos and base your decision from that.  What if we all went out and looked at youtube videos of automobile crash scenes showing human bodies torn to pieces and then insisted we should ban the automobile to save humanity? It's just the knee-jerk reaction types that don't think things through.  Those are the ones with whom I have issues.

And to both Karen and Katherine, I'd be more than happy to buy you a beer/wine/pop and have a long discussion sometime. I'll bet you wouldn't consider me such an ogre after a thoughtful, intelligent conversation.

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