Services for New York Landowners
Advice on the following
issues:
- Interpretation of gas, pipeline and storage lease terms.
Click here for my short analysis of the standard Chesapeake lease wording
for Friends of Barrington,
- Enforcing a lease,
- Terminating a lease,
- Alternatives to leasing—the pros and cons of compulsory
integration,
- Eminent domain rights for pipelines and underground storage, and
- Conflicts of interest on the part of local officials.
Presentations on Gas Rights Issues
Overview
of gas leasing issues for
Western Steuben-Allegany Association of Realtors, Hornell,
NY, May 10,
2012.
Overview
of gas leasing issues for York Concerned
Citizens, York, NY, February
26, 2013.
Gas Rights Litigation
Ontario County Gas Well Case
Represented the defendants in Rogers v. Rogers, Ontario
County Supreme Court, Index No. 110986, against a claim by their
neighbor that she has rights in their gas well. Successfully defended
against a
motion for a preliminary injunction. Case withdrawn.
Seneca Lake Gas Storage Case
Representing Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association in an administrative
proceeding before the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation regarding the application
of Finger Lakes LPG Storage, LLC for an
underground gas storage permit. For more information about this
proceeding, click
here.
Gas Leasing News
COME
AND TAKE IT – Why Forcing a Condemnation Is The Best Option, Chip Northrup, No
Fracking Way, July 8, 2013.
Pipeline
ruling strengthens private property rights, Austin American-Statesman, May 23,
2013.
New
York Landowners Sue Norse Energy USA Over Leases, Katy Stech, Dow Jones Newswires,
May 20, 2013. Eighty-nine New York landowners challenge Norse Energy's attempt to use
force majeure to extend their leases in Norse bankruptcy proceeding.
Gun
club sues gas driller over land use, Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Scranton Times
Leader, Mar. 22, 2013.
Video of Chenango
Forum on Lease Termination, sponsored by fleased.org,
Mar. 14, 2013.
BP
and Chase at odds over drilling lease in Ohio, Jamison Cocklin, Vindy.com,
Mar. 10, 2013.
Contractors’ liens filed for Chesapeake’s non payment show up as claims
against land owners, Mineral Rights Forum, March 3, 2013.
Instructions
for Landowners Who Received a Letter from Chesapeake regarding AG Settlement, fleased.org,
Mar. 2, 2013.
W.Va.
case accuses gas company land men of fraud, Charleston Daily Mail, Mar.
2, 2013.
Oil and Gas Leases - Force Majeure Extensions, Bulletin to New York Agents,
Stewart Title Insurance Company, Feb. 21, 2013.
Federal
Court Rules Marcellus Leases not Extended by New York’s Delay in Issuing GEIS
for Fracking, Ed Roggenkamp, SPR Blog, Dec. 2012.
Norse
Energy files for bankruptcy while hydrofracking still on hold, Glenn Coin, Syracuse
Post-Standard, Dec. 7, 2012.
Study:
Fracking can hurt property values of homes with wells, Sean Cockerham, Utica
Observer-Dispatch, Nov. 7, 2012.
The
Effects of Fracking on Easements, Clifford Lipscomb and Sarah Kilpatrick, Greenfield
Advisors, Oct. 15, 2012.
Fracking
and Insurance, Sarah J. Kilpatrick and Clifford A. Lipscomb, Greenfield Advisors,
Oct. 1, 2012 .
Gas
Drilling Jitters Unsettle Catskill Sales, Mireya Navarro, New York Times,
Sept. 27, 2012.
Oil
and Gas Leases Create Conflicts for FEMA, Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, Sept.
25, 2012.
Chesapeake
Squeezes Landowners on Costs Amid Cash Crunch, Bradley Olson and Margaret Cronin
Fisk, Bloomberg, Aug. 31, 2012.
Chesapeake
Irks Landowners As It Renegotiates Leases, Gilbert Daniel, Wall St. Journal, July
15, 2012.
Responsible Associated Landowners
of New York State (formation of new landowners coalition for landowners against
fracking), July
2012.
A.G.
Schneiderman Announces Landmark Agreement With Chesapeake Appalachia To Allow Landowners
To Renegotiate Natural Gas Leases, June 14, 2012.
Chesapeake
Foists Bad Leases (again) on NY Landowners, Sue Heavenrich, The Marcellus Effect,
Apr. 3, 2012.
Mortgages
for Drilling Properties May Face Hurdles, Ian Urbina, New York Times, March
18, 2012.
Ohio
landowner misses out on Utica shale bonanza, Chris Cotelesse, NewsOutlet, Akron
Beakon Journal Online, March 17, 2012.
Learning
Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases, Ian Urbina and Jo Craven McGinty, New
York Times, Dec. 1, 2011.
Gas
Leasing in Western Maryland Spurs Calls for Reform Landowners, Realtors Seek More Disclosure,
Protections, Timothy B. Wheeler, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 31, 2011.
Oil
Giant's Shell Game Nets Elderly Farmers, (about Chesapeake's leasing practices
in Michigan), Joshua Schneyer and Brian Grow, Reuters/MSNBC, Dec. 28, 2011.
Homeowners and Gas
Drilling Leases: Boon or Bust? Elisabeth N. Radow, New York State Bar Journal,
Nov. 2011.
Lowball
gas leases haunt Pennsylvania landowners, Associated Press, Corning Leader,
July 24, 2011.
Recommended Reading on Gas Leasing
Drilling a gas well, building a pipeline or building a gas storage field are multi-million
dollar enterprises, and hosting such an enterprise on one's property is likely to have
major financial consequences for a landowner and for his or her neighbors. It behooves
any landowner who has a lease for any of these purposes, or who is considering signing
such a lease, to study and learn about oil and gas production and distribution and the
legalities involved. Some introductory sources I recommend are:
A
Gas Lease Can Prevent You from Selling Your Property, Catskill Mountainkeeper
Loss
of Property Values, Difficulty Getting Mortgages and Home Insurance, Save Colorado
from Fracking
Gas
and Oil Leases Impact on Residential Lending, Greg May, VP – Residential
Mortgage Lending, Tompkins Trust Company, March 24, 2011.
Tompkins
County Council of Governments – Task Force on Gas Drilling – for Assessment
and Land Valuation Subcommittee
Oil
and Gas at Your Door? A Landowner's Guide to Oil and Gas Development, 2nd Edition,
2005, by Lisa Sumi, Oil and Gas Accountability Project
Minerals, Surface Rights
and Royalty Payments, Nov. 2009, by Judon Fambrough. Senior Lecturer and Attorney
at Law, Texas A&M University, Describing Texas law
Oil
and Gas Law in a Nutshell, 5th Edition, 2009, by John S. Lowe, West Publishing
Co.
The
Oil and Gas Industry’s Exclusions and Exemptions to Major Environmental Statutes,
2007, by Renee Lewis Kosnik, Oil and Gas Accountability Project
Oil & Gas
Production in Nontechnical Language, 2005,
by Martin S. Raymond, PennWell Corp.
Fundamentals
of Oil & Gas Accounting,
5th Edition, 2008, by Charlotte Wright and Rebecca Gallun
Internal
Revenue Service Oil and Gas Handbook
An
Ohio Landowner’s Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing: Addressing Environmental and
Health Issues in Natural Gas Leases , Rev. June 2011, by Emmett Environmental Law
and Policy Clinic, Harvard Law School
Drilling Down:
Protecting Western Communities from the Health and Environmental Effects of Oil and
Gas Production, 2007, by Amy Mall, Natural Resource Defense Council
Drilling Doublespeak:
Gas Drillers Disclose Risks to Shareholders But Not to Landowners, December 2011,
by Dusty Horwitt, Environmental Working Group
Drilling around the
Law, 2010, by Dusty Horwitt, Environmental Working Group
Finger
Lakes Region Gas Lease Mapping Report, 2011, by Citizens Campaign for the Environment