 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The forced pooling meeting will be at 6 P. M. on Wednesday July 8 at the Doddridge County Park on Snowbird Road off US 50 (the four lane) near Smithburg. This bill impacts everyone who owns just a smidgen [to quote a fellow] of oil and gas and how the big boys want to take it away from you on the very cheap.
Jim Wigal brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church. He was well received.
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Ferrell & family planned to go camping at Cedar Creek but the park was full so they camped in Braxton County. Not so long back some folks went to Holly River which they described as being let "go to seed" as the big wind damage has yet to be cleaned up. Apparently Earl Ray & Broadway Joe do not rate state parks very high and the remaining employees must drive their own vehicles and pay for their gasolene while looking after the park, campers, etc.
There were approx. 28 family members visiting Steve Loudin at his place on the lower Richardsonville Road. Because of the rain the West Fork was up so the younger set found a nice swimming hole on Little Creek which was backed up and clear.
Travis Burdette reported that Chancy Shaw had returned from a fishing trip to Canada. Travis & Sonny were looking forward to the big ATV poker run on August 1.
The Sunday school lesson was from Micah and noted the angst by the false prophets when Micah laid out the facts. Brings to mind the uproar when a national figure noted that rapists, murderers and other unsavory types were crossing the wide open southern border. It was "mean" to say such things. Then an illegal alien with seven (7) felony convictions and five (5) prior deportations shot and killed a young woman he did not know in San Francisco. For her family that is the equivalent of being taken captive to Babylon for 70 years.
Charles Russell was calling on Mr. & Mrs. Paris Parsons, Ray Gumm & brother Euell at the Miletree facility.
Danny Carpenter has been hauling lots of big logs for Greg Arthur from his timber job on Goose Nest. Freddie Bush hauled out some humongous logs as well from the Ball Knob section.
Local residents attended various patriotic celebrations over the weekend celebrating our nation's birthday. Many are appalled at the attack on history, historical items and American culture. Many are astounded that NASCAR, which sometimes is described as a 'redneck thing', would cave to the PC crowd. NASCAR fans have a way of speaking, that is to say they can skip a few events to see if the "pointy headed elites" show up to fill the venues. There are lots of fish to catch, local events to attend, backroads to explore, campgrounds to try, etc. The Arab terrorists (ISIS) destroys any historical items they find and the PC crowd in our nation is right in there with them. The other day a news reporter was showing pictures of George Washington and folks on the street had no idea who the man was. To add insult to injury, many thought that dinosaurs became extinct perhaps 20 years ago and that they routinely ate people.
It was reported that Cabot is looking to pick up some acreage locally on the cheap. They were looking to pick up $10,000 acreage at $900/acre with a net lease. When Cabot leases their property they get a 25% gross lease and have now in W. Va. for decades.
A number of "small" oil & gas producers are contemplating a class action suit against the Rockefeller Companies (Mother Hope, etc.) over the firm transport that they charge small producers. At the time it was noted that the end users likewise pay the same firm transport since when did bouble dipping become problematic for the big boys? Firm transport and the 'management fee' amount to about 70 cents when the gas is selling for under $1/MMBTU (dekatherm). Steve Rubin from Blue Creek Gas noted that he hoped that new well drilling would decrease so that the price would stabilize.
Antero & JB (Randy Broida) continue to bring lawsuits against those that "can't be found" or won't sign the outrageous leases that the company men offer. Antero's latest lease allows the cost of the construction of the fractionation plants to be deducted from royalties. These fellows have no shame and the gullible & greased in the legislature want to pander to them. A while back a Texas judge noted that Chesapeake's "gas sales" were a sham and, it was reported that even Judge Joe Bob was forced to admit that EQT's method of "gas sales" for the benefit of royalty and tax determinations was likewise a sham.
The Calhoun state road crew has been grubbing trees on the Creston Flats along W. Va. 5. No doubt one can rest assured that the plugged culverts on Mt. Beulah (CR 12/3) are now open and the pipes that fell over the hill at the head of Little Rowell have been pulled back up the bank and reinstalled in the roadway. The Wirt road crew has some paving equipment parked down below Creston but weather has not been good for paving. The Roane crew put down some blacktop over the new culvert at the super's house and one slide but they didn't fill any of the potholes in the Barr Cut road.
Juanita Starcher's potato patch is in bloom and is a beautiful sight to behold.
According to press reports the "new & improved" tank bill is in force although local folks have not received any official notification. The fee or tax is said to be $40/year for each tank which is nothing for the Marcellus & Utica wells but is significant for stripper wells that might do well to make $1,000/year gross. It was said that some major players are not going to participate in the program which hurt small producers the most. Of course the big boys were more concerned about their forced pooling [and taking] bill.
The eunuchs in Congress gave the Big Eared One his trade bill which apparently takes away American soverignty and now, we are told a deal is in the making to help Iran get the bomb. Valerie Jarrett, the head advisor, was born in Iran and has been a tireless worker. One can almost guarantee that they the congress critters, once again, will talk but do nothing leaving tiny Israel with the job of cleaning up the mess or being wiped off the planet but there is some language in a Book that is maligned by the elites that addresses such matters. Along those lines, now it has been found writings in Egypt that reflect the Exodus which the PC crowd considers to be a "fable" thought up by clever Jews.
The ethane cracker plant proposed for Washington Bottom below Parkersburg has been an item of major significance for some time now and Earl Ray and the little jeweler have been making all sorts of pronouncements but then "matters were put on hold" while plans were made to export ethane to foreign nations. The head group in the proposed cracker was a Brasilian firm Odebrecht but the head honcho, Marcelo Odebrecht, a close confidant of President Lula of the Worker's Party, ended up in the hotel crossbar as part of a multibillion dollar bribery scheme concerning Petrobas, Brazil's government owned oil company which also has participation from George Soros. Some years back the Big Eared One gave/loaned Petrobas about $6 billion for oil exploration in the deep Atlantic ocean while putting the whammy on American producers.
The Greeks voted themselves generous welfare and pension benefits and now there is no money to pay anything. Several have pointed out that America is heading down the exact same path and that corrections need to be made now, not at some future time.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil dropped to $55.93/bbl with condensate fetching just $31/93, Marcellus & Utica light $49.93 and medium $55.93/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
