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 Barbara on October 28, 2011 at 11:22am

Bradford county has seen a large increase in UTI's, DUI's, arrests for public drunkenness and assault, vehicle accidents with the drivers unlicensed and with unregistered cars, sky high rents, big increase in the number of pregnancys, and so much traffic, with license plates from TX, OK, LA, AL, MT, Missouri...........even though these guys ARE eating and shopping here and this DOES benefit some...which is great...the workers I have met are from out of state.  Oh, this is over the last two years, especially, beginning four years or so ago. 

Many...I know, not all, but many....of the people hollering the loudest for drilling and royalties have small acreages............their 'take' will be a thousand a month maybe...nice, yes, $12,000 a year is certainly worth appreciating.  But is that all that our county is worth? Do they want to NEED to pack up and leave due to living conditions no longer suitable for that money? 

I know this whole process is here to stay; I know we will be extracting gas and oil here for the foreseeable future; I just want it to be done with knowledge about effects today AND ten, twenty years from now.  People like to yell about reducing the debt for their children...all well and good, but what about maintaining a place to live that is save and secure in which to enjoy the reduced debt? 

OK, off soap box.  But I must agree with Chris and Karen that I feel we would all benefit from knowing all we can, pro AND con, and also try to hear the facts being presented.  I did not 'make up' anything that I just wrote... this is NOT all a positive process here.  Too much is happening too fast..........even the sudden wealth of some.  I think most of us would want to move cautiously with this money to preserve it as well as possible....that takes time to learn; so let's also take time to know about the extraction process for today and later.  The gas isn't going anywhere. 

Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 28, 2011 at 12:00pm

Barbara,

This is one of the main reasons we are calling for a ban. It is moving way too quickly and the technology has far surpassed the ability to oversee the safety process. There are already problems in Ohio with fracking mud ruining wells and the promises made  by the gas companies are not not ringing true. I can not speak for all Ohioans, but in our town most things are done with a handshake and a promise and many feel they have been taken advantage of.  

 

That has been our experience so far. We are in the beginning stages and already there are many who are not buying into fracking as a safe means to extract the natural gas. Here is  a list of the towns in the US who have already taken action.  http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-cen...

Permalink Reply by Barbara on October 29, 2011 at 2:51am

i think most of what i have read is about PA, not ohio.  the elmira star gazette and the towand daily review both have many articles about PA happenings and, esp the elmira paper, about the activities to study these things going on in NY.  i'll see which i can pull up....some of the readings are from links here, too , from various contributors.  sorry...i am not good at technically linking...so i may be just telling sites.  oh....and the nyt has done an extensive review of many sources in all the affected states..again, sorry, i do not have the driect links, but certainly can be retrieved.  and the details of the social effects are in the local papers daily...being quantified more and more in percentages of increase.  again, this is bradford county , pa....not ohio.  what i know of ohio is largely from this site. 

 it is sad to see ohio being 'hit' rather as if by a bulldozer now as we were four/five years ago here....out of the blue, fast, and with surprise.  HOWEVER ohio has the benefit of at least some knowledge of the whole process going on 'next door', and by seeing ny taking steps to put the brakes on to take time to learn more.  'we' in pa were more broadsided, i believe, as this truly fell from the sky, so to speak.  we DID have the experience of the states such as colorado in the west.....IF  we had had enough 'sense' to look/learn; i don't believe most of 'us' had heard much about that;  much more attention to all of this now with the east being awakened. 

 i think really only the last year or so has been raising awareness here unless one lived in a directly affected area.  i have lived in bradford co just five yrs.    the first fall i lived here was my first connection/knowledge of ANY of this...i truly thought it was a JOKE when the first pick-up pulled into my driveway with a woman asking for permission for seizmic testing, and for natural gas????  hahaha....i called my friends from se pa, chester co, and we all laughed together. as the 'stories' i shared became more frequent and 'outrageous' ...i have a feeling they may have thought i was nuts up here.  well, now with publicity so prevalent, they appreciate the stories;  but even i, living right here in the very middle of it all, find it overwhelming to feel and witness the speed of the process and changes as they occur.  here , it seems, so much of what we know/do is merely playing catch-up; ohio and new york have the benefit of some foreknowledge.......i urge you all to learn all you can, and from more than only gas industry sources. 

so , sorry about my poor list of actual articles; you will find no difficulty in sourcing the publications, however, i think.

Permalink Reply by Barbara on October 29, 2011 at 3:05am
amen, amen.  AND finding a COMPETENT lawyer is so important......and difficult.  certainly the first i consulted here was touted as being THE expert.....on tv, papers, university relationships, etc......but he, too, was behind the eight ball........................................he knew next to nothing about how this industry operates.  the gas industry is light years ahead of most of us/lawyers in sophistication about all the legal ins/outs and subterfuges used, and the sheer enormity of the whole affair.  BEWARE the whole deal...............believe NOTHING one is told by the landmen/women verbally.  sorry to sound so paranoid......................................one must be, however.
Permalink Reply by Karen Bagdes-Canning on October 28, 2011 at 12:23pm
I could not agree more.  That gas has been here for a long time.  If we must get it do it right.
Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 28, 2011 at 12:03pm

Jill,

Most of your rant is not worth responding to, but I will tell you that China owns 1/3 of Chesapeake's interest in the Eagle Ford Shale Play. If you really want to quit contributing to China you may want to think twice about leasing your land to Chesapeake.....

http://laredotejas.blogspot.com/2011/08/chinese-owns-13-of-chesapea...

 

 

Permalink Reply by paleface on October 28, 2011 at 10:59am
Why would you want to ban fracking?There has not been one incident of fracking solution in anybodys water well,so please tell us all whats so wrong it, This should be good !
Permalink Reply by Barbara on October 28, 2011 at 11:41am

not sure to whom you are asking the question, but if it is me....i have never said to ban it...........i have said to learn and study and to make it safe.............if that is possible......before the bad effects occur and cannot be corrected; and not only the fracking concerns me, but emissions, transport, etc etc.  this is more than merely a fracking event.

btw, don't you get a kick out of spell check going berserk every time you write 'fracking'?  i think it's funny.....who ever wudda just a few years ago....................

Permalink Reply by Karen Bagdes-Canning on October 28, 2011 at 2:30pm

Take a look at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6RmFdx5YRU&NR=1

I do not want to fight with my neighbor.  That is something I think the companies are loving; then all the attention is being taken off of them.  These corporations are not your friend and they are certainly not family though they will try to sweet talk you into believing they are.

We have to protect each other.  You may not want to hear this but, "we are the 99%". 

After you watch this video I hope you look at these two ladies from Bradford County.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_2oU3wIyow

Permalink Reply by Chris Moore on October 31, 2011 at 10:16am
One of the best videos out there on fracking. These women give straight forward valuable information. And you are correct the gas companies could care less about the communities they take over. They will get what they want and leave us to clean up the mess. I just feel bad that our children and grandchildren will be left with the consequences of many deciding to make a buck. Sad indeed!
Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on October 28, 2011 at 5:04pm

Paleface - Although I may disagree on some points you bring to the table I do agree on this one. Almost all the incidents where there was water contamination due to reclaimed fracking water have been due to over-the-road or on-site spills and improper / illegal dumping of waste water.  

What I would like to see are core samples done before drilling begins so they can understand what they are drilling through.  You're fooling yourself if you think that drilling into the earth doesn't disturb sediment that can get into the water table.  This is where most of the contaminates are coming from - stuff that is already in the ground that under normal circumstances would never see the light of day.

Permalink Reply by Nancy on September 28, 2011 at 4:17am
This is my "short" story, I hope you will find something you can use.  We own only 2.7 acres.  All our neighbors were signing up and they were excited at the prospect of the income.  Since we only own small acreage compared to our neighbors we didn't think we had much leverage and after doing what we thought we had to do to protect our well water we signed.   What we didn't realize was... that they could and did construct a Marcellus Shale well 800 ft from our front door.  Hindsight is 20/20 (and I feel stupid for not looking into)  but  I never realized that I could have possibly signed that contract with stipulations that kept them from being so close to my home and where my children play.  We lived with the drilling: big very bright lights shining into our home all through the night for approx. 6 months and when they flared... my house looked like it was on fire during all through the night for 2 weeks and the noise!!!!  The noise was so loud that we could not have a conversation in our front yard without shouting.  I can't even let myself think about what we were breathing.  My advice to you would be to look into signing if... you can assure the drilling, fracking ponds, etc. are as far away from your  property as possible!  My understanding is that new regulations might be out or coming out that moves this farther away from homes, but I would definitely check into it and ask yourself how close is too close for comfort?  Good Luck!!!

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