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 Karen Bagdes-Canning on September 26, 2011 at 9:04am
I was at the same meeting.  I hope you join her for the next one.  I don't understand what :p, means.  I know what I think it might mean.
Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on September 26, 2011 at 9:19am
Okay - You probably met my wife, Alexx (blonde woman, medium height).  The ":p" is me sticking my tongue out.  I will probably not join her because we have two kids who need tending do back at El Ranchero.  I'm away from home enough during the week that it's silly for us to find a sitter for them.  We are not fortunate enough to have family in the area.
Permalink Reply by Karen Bagdes-Canning on September 26, 2011 at 10:16am
I did meet your wife.  She is an impressive woman.  You are a lucky man.  I guess I don't have to tell you that. 
Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on September 26, 2011 at 9:07am

Gasland is such a joke that the New York Times has a page dedicated to correcting its distortions and misrepresentations.  The movie has been shown to be so bad that Fox has no credibility left.

 

http://www.energyindepth.org/2010/06/debunking-gasland/

 

I saw Ron Gulla speak a couple of weeks ago. He signed a lease before horizontal drilling was known and signed a standard lease. He should have done more research before signing. The lease was full of loopholes that no one should sign.

 

His farm was drilled in 2005, the second well ever did. Since then, the companies have done much to improve their practices and limit surface damage. And the State has done much to improve the regulations and the permitting process. Modern wells baer little resemblance to the first few drilled.

 

The people in NY are being frightened by the same people that are promoting the global warming mythology. A few days of research will show that the anti-drilling people that quote Gasland have no credibility. Gasland is about as accurate as The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Permalink Reply by Karen Bagdes-Canning on September 26, 2011 at 11:11am

I hit your link and it was done by an energy company.  Josh Fox set up his own response to it on another site http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/482083/oscar-nominated... when they tried to stop the Oscar nomination.  Here he stated the following: We stand behind the testimonials, facts, science and investigative journalism in the film 100 percent. We have issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the group's claims ("Affirming Gasland"), posted on our website: www.gaslandthemovie.com.

Here is the Affirming link: http://www.damascuscitizens.org/Affirming-GASLAND.pdf

Permalink Reply by cheliped on September 26, 2011 at 11:28am

You are doing the same thing as the gas company!- the gas company states that it is fine -then push their facts.  you and gasland say it is not - then push their facts.  How long did it take you to figure that out?  Do you think Fox is going to say that he may have stretched the truth or do you think the Gas co. will tell the whole truth?  Do you really believe everything from a documentary? 

Permalink Reply by Alexandra stehman on September 26, 2011 at 12:15pm

I think Gasland was relevant at the time - not now.  I'm not trying to marginalize the lives that were affected out west - their problems were real then and they continue to be real - but the industry and technology was a lot different then.  I would like to think that we have come further since then.  Companies however, are going to continue to do as little as possible unless there is more oversight (especially at the sub-contractor level).

I'm very thankful for sites like this because it gives us lowly landowners a place where we can ask questions and get information from others that is not tainted with with political rhetoric and dubious "science".  Thank you all for your posts!  

Keep them coming!

Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on September 28, 2011 at 3:32am
Sorry!  The above post is actually mine, not my wife's.  When I started up the browser I didn't realize that it was her account that was logged in.
Permalink Reply by Barbara on September 28, 2011 at 10:03pm
joe.....you obviously disagree with karen.  ok.  i get it, imagine others do, as well.  so now some respect for her part of the dialog, please.  these attack posts are making the attackers look rather foolish in a forum for open-mindedness.  IMHO, anyway.  thanks.
Permalink Reply by Jim Litwinowicz on September 26, 2011 at 1:58am

The article to which you linked did not point out one single problem that occurred but instead showed how people have been manipulated by the scare tactics of the left. Every reference was to people that fear what might happen, not to anything that did happen.  And the vast majority of people they talked about weren't angry about any environmental problems but were far more concerned about the financial shortcomings in the leases they signed a few years ago. Most are just looking for more money.

 

There are certainly issues that need to be dealt with. The gas companies made a lot of mistakes but have made great strides in improving their methods of operations.  They have taken most chemicals out of the fracking recipe. They have much better on-site containment systems. Most recycle the frack water or treat it, some on site.  Many now use holding tanks instead of open air ponds.

 

One thing they should all do is have a closed loop vent system for all tanks and equipment.  These systems vent a lot of gasses into the atmosphere and they have systems that minimize that problem. Range has such system that all off gassed materials are piped to a central stack where the gasses are burned off, destroying them before they are vented into the air.

Permalink Reply by craig on September 26, 2011 at 4:00am

Karen, Do you honestly expect folks to believe your post to be true?

Besides, the original poster wants to hear from folks that decided not to sign a gas lease, not from folks that are posting opinions with no facts to back them up.

I'd bet that you don't even own land in an area of drilling. 

I've signed after much due diligence. They have been drilling in our area for the past year with no real problems what so ever. 

Oh, I believe in the near future you will see that those communities that are 'banning' drilling will be spending lots of money trying to defend a defenseless position. Sure hope they are ready for higher local taxes.

Back on topic......

Jonathan, It is good to be concerned, I believe we all are. Do you homework and make the decision you are comfortable with. Remember that just because you don't sign, doesn't mean they won't be drilling nearby someday. With 3.2 acres the probability of them drilling on your property is nil. If you have lots of small parcels surrounding you then the rig will be setup farther away, they won't setup on a smaller parcel. Also, remember that they have going horizontal a mile and more to reach the most gas possible with the smallest footprint possible.

 

Permalink Reply by Jonathan A Jones on September 26, 2011 at 4:50am

Craig - Drilling is coming in my area.  They have already put pads down but don't expect the wells to be in until late next year.  If I can believe what the landmen tell us, the wells would be located anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 mile from us.  I'm not even sure we would be able to see them from our house.  From what I understand, they need a minimum of 4 acres to put a pad down and our proposed lease agreement calls for a setback from permanent structures of 500 feet.  This completely excludes any properties on our side of the road for at least 1/4 mile in any direction because our house sits at the top of a ridge.  

We have spoken with people who have had drilling in our area and have had problems so I know that all is not perfect.  I know that in any industry, accidents can and will happen.  What I don't like about this industry is that (I feel) there are not enough safeguards / checks-and-balances in place to protect the landowners.  Companies are not going to do $0.01 more than they have to and in some cases, will try and cut corners. 

If you don't mind me asking?  Who is drilling in your area?  Chesapeake and Rex seem to have poor reputations in our area.

 

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