Seismic Testing

I was told by a Geologist that it is illegal to do seismic testing without permission from the people who own the land that they are testing under.  Same as stealing.

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Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 28, 2012 at 6:47am

They cannot physically enter upon a person’s property without permission; that would be trespass.

"Seismic testing" consists of imparting energy into the earth; typically via vibrator trucks or small explosive charges placed in shallow (+/-30') holes.

Sound waves are generated that travel down through the earth, with a portion of that energy reflected back towards the surface when various subsurface rock interfaces are encountered.

The returned energy (vibrations) is detected by geophones (essentially very sensitive microphones) placed on the surface; these vibrations are recorded and subjected to computer analysis.

The goal is to obtain an image (in travel time) of the subsurface of the earth.

The travel times are then converted to distances and a depth map is produced.

 

The goal is to “image” the subsurface using sound waves in order to obtain a “picture” of the subsurface (an analog being using our eyes to image a room with light as the source and our eyes as the receivers).

 

Although they cannot physically enter upon a person’s property without permission, they can “undershoot” a person’s property. They would undershoot a property by having the sources (vibrator trucks or shots) on one side of a property and the receivers (geophones) on the opposite side of the property. They can thus use sound waves to image the subsurface of a property without physically entering the property – for this no permission is required, this does not legally constitute trespass.

 

JS

 

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 28, 2012 at 7:39am

To further clarify my earlier comments:

Seismic Contractors routinely “undershoot” properties for a number of reasons, such as: they cannot gain access for physical reasons (buildings, topography, water, environmental reasons, etc.).

And, Seismic Contractors frequently “undershoot” properties for which the Landowner’s will not grant access.

Unless a particular property is very large, there is little degradation of data due to the inability to gain access to that property.

 

JS

Permalink Reply by patricia on December 28, 2012 at 7:45am

This statement is not what I understand  to be correct: they can “undershoot” a person’s property.

They would undershoot a property by having the sources (vibrator trucks or shots) on one side of a property and the receivers (geophones) on the opposite side of the property. They can thus use sound waves to image the subsurface of a property without physically entering the property –

for this no permission is required, this does not legally constitute trespass.

They are receiving information on where and if it is profitable to drill.  This information belongs to the property owner unless he grants permission for this testing.

Coming onto your property is a different matter. 

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on December 28, 2012 at 8:16am

RE: "They are receiving information on where and if it is profitable to drill."

Correct.

 

RE: "This information belongs to the property owner unless he grants permission for this testing."

Wrong, very wrong. You either misunderstood what the Geologist told you, or the Geologist misunderstood the facts.

Perhaps you (validly) feel that this should be the case - but I assure you it is not.

The various wireless telephone companies can legally beam microwaves across your property.

Satellites can legally view and image your property from space (including ground penetrating radar). Satellites use various wavelenghts (other than visible) of the electro-magnetic spectrum to accomplish this. In doing so they gain information of commercial value.

And, (as long as there is no surface trespass) a Seismic Contractor can beam sound waves beneath your property, recording the reflected energy - all  without permission or compensation.

 

JS

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Jack Dumbauld on January 3, 2013 at 8:14am

What can someone do about the trespass?

I have property (Marion/Mon counties WV) that I do not live on year round and during the last hunting season, my property was littered with plastic surveying tape that I presume was done by the seismic testing contractor.

I have not leased the property and did not give anyone permission to trespass and they just did it anyway.

Should I just forget about it or is there something I should do?

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on January 3, 2013 at 9:41am

My suggestions would be to:

Talk to neighbors to determine "who, what, where and when".

If a neighbor will provide you with a copy of their agreement with the Seismic Contractor, you will be made aware of how they were compensated.

Once you have that sort of information, I would suggest that you contact the Seismic Data Contractor and request compensation - you might need to do a Google search to obtain a contact.

 

If the Seismic Data Contractor is cooperative, fine; if not, you might wish to contact the County Sherriff's Office and the County Attorney's Office to determine if your situation was an isolated one, or if others had complained.

If the Seismic Data Contractor is cooperative, fine; if not, you will have to decide whether it is worth the trouble/expense associated with consulting an Attorney.

 

Sorry to hear of your problem, it seems that many people do not respect the property of an absentee landowner.

Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

 

All IMHO,

                JS

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by DONALD MCNAUGHTON on January 3, 2013 at 2:32pm

JACK THEY CAME ON MY PROPERTY WITHOUT PERMISSON AND THEY SAID THEY DID NOT. SO I TOOK THEM TO COURT AND THEY MADE A SETTLEMENT. THEY CAME BACK THE NEXT YEAR UNDER THE COURT AGREEMENT TRASHED THE PROPERTY AND IT TOOK ME A YEAR TO GET THEM TO CLEAN SOME OF IT UP. FINALLY AFTER MONTHS OF FIGHTING THEM THEY PAYED ME MONEY FOR THE MESS. THEY ARE LIARS AND DO NOT DO ANYTHING THEY PROMISED. THEY HAVE NOT FULLY DONE WHAT WAS  IN THE COURT AGREEMENT AND THE LAWYER SPOKE ABOUT IT IN A BAR ASSOCIATION MEETING IN HARRISBURG PA. THE COMPANY WAS G------ GEOPHYSICAL. I KNOW SOMEONE WILL SAY I AM WRONG BUT THEY HAVE AN INTEREST IN THESE COMPANIES SO WHO WILL YOU BELIEVE.

Permalink Reply by Jack Straw on January 3, 2013 at 2:47pm

Tough to fight an out-of-State company than comes in, soils the roost and heads out of town.

Too bad that you had to fight such an exhausting fight, but respect the fact that you persevered and were finally compensated (though I am sure that you were not compensated in a manner that adequately repaid you for the amount of insult and aggravation).  

 

JS

 

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