 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Last Sunday evening while the Creston news was being written there was light rain (nothing newsworthy over the past several weeks) and then there was a flash of lightening, a boom and a pop. Electric service was terminated and the battery backups were beeping. Power was restored a few hours later but there was no internet, telephones worked sometimes and the modem and the copier/fax machine was toasted. After visits by verizon and other technicians things seem to be back functioning.
Linda Strong brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church on July 12 and Rick Williams was the speaker on the 19th.
Former local resident Janet Jett was among those who were flooded in the apartment complex at Mineral Wells. She lost all her household goods as well as her chariot. One local resident had occasion to visit in Lincoln County on Tuesday and saw the devastation from the flooding in the Yawkey & Griffithsville area. Blacktop was peeled from the highway and folks were still driving through water on the main road which had been, in many places, covered with five feet or more of water.
Mike McFee and some others were able to get a little hay put up during a short break in the rain but, for the most part, hay harvest is still on hold as many fields are so wet machinery would sink. All this brings up the absurdity of the Big Eared One's ruling that anywhere water stands is under federal control. During one recent toad strangler rain water stood on one fellow's entire lawn and garden.
The flooding of Webster General Hospital in Webster Springs shows how absurd the new EPA and Junior Dam Builder (Army Corps) rules are. Water came down Route 20 on the side of Miller Mountain, ripped out the road to the hospital and then flooded the facility which, for those who are unfamiliar with the area, is situate on the mountainside a long way from the river far below. Under the new rules the roadway, the ditches and the hospital are now classified as WOTUS [waters of the United States] and permits must be obtained for any activities in such areas.
The big Creston ATV poker run is scheduled for Saturday August 1 at the Creston Community Building. The day will start out with breakfast with biscuits & gravy and hopefully Jerry Campbell will bring his special pineapple upside down cake as one of the desserts. The ride is good family fun for all ages but parents are reminded that those under 16 on regular four wheelers need to wear a helmet.
The regional W. Va. Farm Bureau picnic will be Saturday August 1 at Camp Sheppard along US 119 at Gandeeville south of Spencer [north of Walton] starting at 5 P. M. Bring a covered dish. This will be an excellent time to talk with elected officials and those seeking office and ask about their stands on common core, the big boys' forced pooling bill, the new EPA rules and other items.
Jean Stutler, Bessie & Suellen Arthur were all attending to business in Elizabeth.
James Paul Siegrist, age 90, passed away. A former educator, he had worked and funded many worthwhile activities in the Creston area but made it clear that he didn't want public recognition. He was also a veteran of World War II.
Bobby Jack Starcher, age 77, of Cremo passed away. It was only two months back that his wife had passed away.
Niece Sandra Watson and some of Edith's high school classmates were calling on Edith Kittle at the van Clief residence near Burning Springs.
Charles Russell was calling on Ray Gumm and brother Euell at the Miletree Center. It was learned that Orva Parsons, wife of Paris Parsons passed away. Just a week prior she seemed to be fine.
Mr. & Mrs. Dean Miller were attending to business in Spencer.
Nancy Engelke consulted with her orthopaedic surgeon for a regular annual checkup.
One of the Hall family mowed off part of the old Sylvester Kirby place and left a chariot parked there.
A woman who said she was training for the Parkersburg half marathon ran up the Richardsonville Road Sunday morning.
There has been a lot of talk lately about Spring Valley with meetings, proposed investigations and upgrades by church groups, etc. For those who would like to purchase a lot in the valley, there will be about fifty (50) lots sold at the court house in Elizabeth at 9 A. M. on Friday, July 24. Buy a lot and help upgrade the area. There is an active group of residents there that intend to clean up the trash, address and fix the long term problems and make the neighborhood a nice place.
The WVU Extension held two informational meetings for folks to learn about the forced pooling bill. One meeting was in Triadelphia and the other was at the Doddridge County Park. At the first meeting there was lots of frustration by those who had leased and then found out that they had "net" leases with all sorts of deductions taken from their royalty with the opinion that the companies were "less than honest". Also was the problem of county taxes being levied on gross royalties that were far, far greater than the amounts the taxpayers received. It seems that the big boys do not want the legislature to address that problem.
The meeting in Doddridge County got "hot" as one legislator tried to defend the bill crafted by and for the big out of state companies , much to the detriment of the state and its citizens. One fellow said he appreciated the input but then it was learned that he had held a "stakeholder meeting" prior to the public meetings. Those who have been dealing with the companies that want forced pooling and threaten lawsuits obviously were not welcomed at the "table".
At a prior meeting the lead sponsor said he had no idea what the fuss over "non-bonded" operators was about but, apparently, someone set him straight. Antero despised dealing with those folks as they were knowledgeable and wouldn't roll over. Years ago wells and leases were stocked out and many folks own shares in old producing wells. The bill would have given the out of state boys their way and thrown the owners "under the bus". Since there is no transparency in the company written bill, royalties and tax payments, both to counties and the state would be whatever someone decided to report.
Years ago Pennzoil bragged about selling gas to themselves for 25 cents [for royalty and taxes] and then reselling it for $2.50 to another of the Standard Oil family of companies. There was a feeling at the second meeting that legislators should sign a pledge to repeal the deep well pooling bill and agree to never pass another forced pooling bill. Two local lawyers from Harrisville pointed out that there is existing law that allows a company to obtain a lease from folks that cannot be found and there are various instances of wells in nearby counties drilled using the existing law which the forced pooling proponents choose to ignore.
The lost owners issue has been one of the talking points for 'needing' a forced pooling bill. Of course, the real reason is to have a club to force owners to agree to bad terms, low royalties and no or minimal up front bonuses. At present the main desire for the bill is to force those with old leases to "modify" without compensation or the correction of long standing problems such as flat rate gas wells, $1/acre storage payments, etc.
The WVU law professor who gave an excellent explanation of how forced pooling was supposed to work [if there was a good bill] said he doubted the validity of the actions Antero, Noble, Statoil and JayBee were bringing to take mineral rights away from citizens who wouldn't accept the bad terms the companies offered. One new lease allowed the expense of building the fractionation facility to be deducted from royalty.
At the panhandle meeting one legislator couldn't help making snarky comments against the local Farm Bureau president and a conservative legislator that was opposed to the private taking of the property of another. Also snide comments were made against those "who said they were for individual rights but then voted to require the repair or demolition of hazardous structures." It was explained that having serious health hazards, etc repaired really wasn't an attack on private property rights.
Mark West the firm that operates a number of facilities to separate the various components from natural gas has been sold to MPLX for $20 billion. Mark West operates a fractionation facility at Cobb Station near Clendenin and elsewhere on the Columbia Gas system. Gas from legacy wells in southern Roane and northern Kanawha County has a very high BTU, sometime exceeding 2000/mcf.
A new study that came out has determined that there is 782 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in the Utica shale as well as 2 billion bbl. of oil. The Utica covers almost all of West Virginia and much of Ohio, Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern Kentucky and western Virginia.
It has now been learned that the Big Eared One has a secret racially motivated plan to relocate folks so that all zip codes have equal racial and ethnic percentages. Also folks learned that Planned Parenthood, the big abortion company that has federal funding & is linked to the Girl Scouts, has been selling body parts. While life has been made cheap, no doubt body parts could be expensive, morals aside.
EQT has upped the amounts of deductions from their royalty checks with some instances the deductions being almost 50% & it is understood that there is no payment for the liquids that are removed from the gas stream. Gas recently produced near Nobe fetched just 60 cents/mcf.
The Big Eared One's deal to give Iran the bomb and $150 billion to buy arms to destroy Israel also has other ramifications as the Persians can now flood the world market with cheap oil [and compete with the Russians, ISIS terrorists, etc.] It is reported that there have been more layoffs in the shale industry and the price of local Pennsylvania grade crude fell again below $50. Tier one oil fetches $49.89 with condensate only bringing $25.89, Marcellus & Utica light $43.89 and medium $49.89/bbl. Propane fetched 41.82 cents/gallon with n-butane bringing 55.7 cents/gallon. Henry hub natural gas was $2.80 but because of the local glut natural gas remains in the $1 range. For comparison 12,500 BTU steam coal brought $53.75/ton if there was anyplace that the Big Eared One would allow it to be burned. For the first time more electricity is produced from natural gas than it is from coal.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
