Erosion patches are appearing on site
which is yet to be seeded and mulched
"Do they call this reclamation?" asks Mike Johnson
Johnson says tops were shoved into a creek
By Bob Weaver
Muddy water poured from a stream that runs next to Mike and Lou Johnson's house this week, located just off State Route 5 near Grantsville.
The source of the muddy water is easy to spot on the hillside above his house, several acres of bare land, cleared and scraped by Linn Operating, a Gilmer County oil and gas firm located at Stouts Mill.
The company has drilled two wells on the Johnson property, with at least one more to come.
Johnson (pictured left) said he tried hard to work with Linn
Operating to protect his rights as a landowner. He says the results of a written agreement are disappointing.
"We thought it was worked out," said Johnson, who followed procedures in the "Surface Owner's Guide to Oil and Gas," a manual written to help property owners maintain their rights.
"Some outfits do what they are supposed to, but many of them have been coming in and running over landowners for years," Johnson said.
Ed Gainer, an inspector for the EPA, Division of Oil and Gas, said
"Unfortunately, under the law, surface owners have limited rights in West Virginia and many other states."
Gainer said beyond the legal requirements, the producer and the landowner work out their deal. "Compensation is a civil matter," he said.
Johnson said he carefully made a list of his expectations when the drilling operator came on his land to do extensive road building and well locations.
The company signed off on the list and a copy was sent to state officials, including the Bureau of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil and Gas.
His agreement called for restricting the width of the access roads, but instead he says there is extensive clearing and grading on either side of the highway, acres more than he wanted.
The 40-45 foot right-of-way grew to 80-100 feet.
"I wanted a roadbed 40-45 feet wide, but they cleared
a lot more and cut my good trees," said Mike Johnson
Some of the reclamation work is faulty, claims Johnson
Fledging trees on the Johnson property that he would have eventually sold as timber, were cut and piled, with some the debris shoved into a creek bed.
State law does little to protect future timber when producers are making well locations.
Johnson says the biggest insult to the property, after Linn Operating worked on the site - they loaded up their equipment and left about six or so weeks ago.
No re-seeding and no mulching has been done of the eight or nine acres of clearing.
The earth has since hardened with the rains, with some erosion tracks beginning to appear.
Inspector Gainer says the operator has up to six months to reclaim the site, indicating the outfit left early because of rainy weather.
"They have told me they will return and do the seeding and mulching," he said.
Johnson said the company did not test his water well he uses for drinking, and it was just declared "not satisfactory" by the health department.
Calhoun County and the region is blessed with some of the greatest natural gas reserves in the world, more recently validated by investment and drilling companies staking out their intentions for deep well drilling, yet to come.
Drilling is still a big business in the county, with profitable wells still being drilled.
Many landowners do not have the legal or technical background to know what rights they have, what levels of compensation they can demand, and what kind of impact oil and gas development might have on their land, lives and livelihoods.
"Even though I became educated on the subject and tried to protect my interests with an agreement, the results seem disappointing," said Johnson. "I feel like I have been run over, but maybe they will eventually honor my requests." | 
