| By Bob Weaver
Land and royalty owners around the USA are getting trampled in an old-fashioned land rush by natural gas companies and speculators, according to the Associated Press.
The corporations are quickly trying to lock-up long ignored drilling rights as quickly and cheaply as possibly.
The largest drilling boom in West Virginia's history has already commenced, with drilling permits being issued daily.
Fast-talking industry reps are frequently using scare tactics to strong-arm people into signing low-priced leases, targeting owners who don't have a clue about the value of their natural gas property.
The gas rights have sharply risen in value because of the nation's energy crisis.
Calhoun farmers who once owned the gas rights, have a history of literally giving away their resources.
A former long-time lease man in central West Virginia told the Herald, "People in the hills are push-overs. They're really ignorant about what resources are worth."
He said a cultural belief in "a man's word" has cost them millions, saying a lack of access to accurate information has caused them to sign on the dotted line.
"Media owners have often been in the oil and gas business," he said, highly unlikely to "rain on their own money parade."
West Virginia farmer and convenience store owner Brad Castle is still smarting from his experience, saying he was "taken to the cleaners," with his royalty worth dozens of times above the amount for which he signed a lease.
Retired dairy farmer Dewey Decker heard similar pitches, saying he was offered $25 and $50 an acre for royalty, with many of his neighbors going along.
Decker formed a pool with other landowners that has grown to more than 40,000 acres, agreeing to a five-year deal that pays $2,411 an acre and a 15 percent royalty.
Chesapeake Energy, a big player in WV and the USA, made no bones about their desire to lock up leasing rights, calling it a 'land grab' in their latest annual report to the SEC.
David McMahon said such aggressive tactics are showing up across West Virginia counties with substantial Marcellus shale, a 6,000-foot-deep rock formation believed to hold 50 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.
"Most everybody's getting a lowball dollar offer and lots of people are getting rushed," McMahon said.
McMahon recently started a campaign to educate landowners about mineral leasing through the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization.
See www.wvsoro.org
McMahon says landowners should take their time and refuse to be rushed into signing leases.
He also suggests rejecting standard leases in favor of documents containing protections against roads, potential pollutants such as saltwater injections, and use of depleted wells for gas storage.
Herschel McDivitt, director of Indiana's Division of Oil and Gas, said "There just aren't a lot of savvy land owners out there."
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