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Permalink Reply by Steven A Joliat on May 18, 2016 at 6:10am

David,

I believe you are misinformed with respect to assuming limited leasing in the Wayne National Forest will cause economic injury to surrounding landowners.  I would strongly urge you to reconsider and I would ask other forum members to support the current environmental assessment that has a preliminary finding of no significant impact should leasing be allowed.

Approximately 18000 acres of forest land in SE Ohio in the Marietta unit of the forest in Washington, Noble and Monroe counties is under review for oil and gas leasing.  The national forest in this area is a patchwork of small parcels that individually are of  insufficient size to create drilling units.  The mixed mineral ownership had a negative impact for many private landowners as their properties were not considered for leasing or leased at a lower value due to fears that federal ownership could prevent efficient development.  In many cases these federal parcels are only surface owned by the government, the mineral rights are privately held.  This condition arose because the greatest part of the Wayne National Forest was private land purchased by the forest service or land which reverted to the federal government for other reasons.

A comment to the BLM in favor of permitting leasing certainly benefits some oil and gas companies, but it primarily benefits many of your fellow mineral rights owners.  The federal land does not provide tax revenue to the local governments as private land or mineral leases would.  Allowing leasing to go forward would provide additional revenue to local governments and potentially offset this loss in property taxes.  A comment opposing the environmental assessment is standing with the environmental groups that oppose any oil and gas development in SE Ohio.  The documents outlining the environmental assessment and subject to this public comment period are located at the following web address.  Page 18 of the EA clearly describes the resource ownership situation in the forest.  Please reconsider your opinion and support this action.

https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProject...

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Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on May 19, 2016 at 12:42am

You might want to compare royalty statements from Gulfport Energy to determine if they are paying a fair royalty.

Domestic O&G companies have been short changing landowners since the they were formed in the late 1800s. I'm betting landowners are being stolen from and don't know it.

So lets all speed up the process and let them make billions then pay you millions settling out of court, when you figure out you have been duped.

Take a look. You can't ignore the facts.

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Permalink Reply by Steven A Joliat on May 19, 2016 at 3:49am

If there is no drilling because the national forest remains under a leasing moratorium, there will be no royalty statements to compare.  Ron, you do have a very valid point regarding the potential for and actual fraud in the calculation and payment of royalties.  Misrepresentation of royalties in lease agreements and fraudulent processing charges should be exposed and fought vigorously.  Not all companies engage in these schemes, but more than enough do to keep mineral owners wary.  Getting as much information as possible from all available sources and using skilled lawyers before signing any agreement  is imperative.  It is much easier to have the legal protections in your lease language before signing, than to fight for your rights later.  I do know how to measure my production and how to accurately determine whether my gas has liquids present or not.  Few landowners have that skill set, but a properly written lease can ensure your right to that data. 

The topic of this discussion is whether the BLM should allow drilling on some of the land of the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest.  Most of the land around the requested forest parcels has already been leased.  Those mineral rights holders, by signing leases have expressed their desire to have drilling commence.  Presumably, they are presently satisfied with their lease agreements. Please consider supporting them by adding your comments to the BLM assessment.

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