Penna." No Surface activity lease"

Is there a non-profit group that will assist a landowner group in writing  a lease or a letter of demands that will protect our rights and the environment too?  Most of our group had leases that have lapsed and now a different company has approached us with a "no surface disturbance lease". They have leased large areas surrounding us and seem to think we have no other options other than to lease with them. Signing bonus is low ,we think. The lease they sent us seems hastily and haphazardly written. Also problems with royalty language and liability issues. Some of us are concerned, that once we sign and notarizre, there is no deadline or for them to sign or pay bonuses.  My feeling in that case is that they could sit on the lase and sign years later Signing deadlines for our signing were mentioned, then changed, but  both have passed.

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Permalink Reply by paleface on March 9, 2014 at 12:54pm

 See that law firm over on the right of this page you need to contact them and don't sign anything before talking to them.

Permalink Reply by Jon on March 9, 2014 at 3:42pm

it took like 4 months

Permalink Reply by N Bohl on March 9, 2014 at 5:46pm

Hi - What county are you in?

Permalink Reply by Larry S. Gohn on March 10, 2014 at 2:38am

Clinton county,

Permalink Reply by Jon on March 10, 2014 at 9:41am

Butler County.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on March 10, 2014 at 7:27am

There are a great many exceptions.  But speaking in general, non-surface (NSD) leases pay a lower bonus than FSD (full surface development) leases.  You should expect the going rate for your royalty fraction, though.

Non-surface leases are a good deal more straightforward than FSD leases.  However, all language related to royalty payment and protection still is needed.  And while the risk is much lower, you still need good liability language.

A key goal of NSD leases is protection of property value.  Thus, you want to include language which forbids use of your land for storage of (any nature of) waste.  There really is scant little risk when waste is stored a mile down.  But potential buyers of your property might not agree with me on that, and they might not pay top dollar for land being used for waste storage . . . even if the waste is a mile down and not a threat of any kind . . . at least in my opinion.

Another lease aspect with NSD leases is formal protection of the water table.  The lease should specify no drilling within 1500 feet of the surface.  Now the gasco is highly unlikely ever to want to drill that close to the surface anyway on NSD leased land.  The 1500 foot provision is there to impress and reassure prospective purchasers, who might be unfamiliar with gas drilling and skittish, not to provide actual protection of ground water.

Permalink Reply by Larry S. Gohn on March 10, 2014 at 9:52am

Thanks for the input.

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