A sweeping bill to regulate the states natural gas industry cleared a significant hurdle Monday night, but its fate remains uncertain. Members of a House Judiciary subcommittee unanimously approved a bill to set new rules for companies as they seek to develop the states Marcellus shale, which contains a massive underground cache of gas that could help create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars. But the committee also stripped language from the bill that would have made it easier and perhaps cheaper for gas companies to get to the gas. A practice, known as forced pooling, lets companies extract gas from beneath a large tract of land even if they cant agree to a lease with all of the mineral rights owners. The companies still have to pay for the gas they force pool, but min...
Imagine winning the lottery without buying a ticket. It was much like that for Glenn Pore when the Fayette County retiree accepted an energy company's offer to pay him and 10 relatives thousands of dollars to lease mineral rights beneath farmland his ancestors plowed a century ago.
Rural property owners across the state have, occasionally, woken up to the sound of oil rigs being built on their front lawns. They walk outside indignantly and demand to know what's going on, and find that someone else - often enough an oil and gas company - owns the subterranean rights to the property. It's perfectly legal for energy companies to begin work without informing landowners that they even have mineral rights to the property, said Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan.
Mineral rights on nearly 50 Murrysville properties, including two owned by churches and one owned by a councilman, have been leased to the same oil and gas company. Huntley & Huntley, a Monroeville-based firm, signed nondevelopmental leases with Cornerstone Ministries and Christ's Lutheran Church late last year. Such leases allow the company to drill into the Marcellus shale beneath the properties, but do not permit it to build a gas well on the surface.
Mineral rights on nearly 50 Murrysville properties, including one owned by a councilman and two owned by local churches, have been leased to the same oil and gas company. Huntley & Huntley, a Monroeville-based firm, signed non- developmental leases with Cornerstone Ministries and Christ's Lutheran Church late last year. Non-developmental leases allow the company to drill into the Marcellus shale beneath the properties but don't permit it to build a surface gas well.
When Mary Ellen Denomy speaks to oil and gas mineral rights owners at The Greenbrier next month, she plans to dress up as the fictional character Sherlock Holmes and deliver this message: "Use that magnifying glass, and make sure those numbers are what you expect them to be. Denomy, a certified public accountant who specializes in mineral rights, will help royalty owners analyze contracts to ensure gas companies are not underpaying them.
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
ver las páginas en versión mobile | web
© Copyright 2012, vLex. All Rights Reserved.
Contents in vLex United States
Explore vLex
For Professionals
For Partners
Company
Other interesting searches:
5 usc 2105 c | Flee Home | adjusted gross income roth ira | calendar days numbered with | acquittal upheld | Permis de construire une centrale nucléaire | mercatil registro venezuela | conceptos juridicos de caracter formal | tipo de suelo de la selva | sociedad de responsabilidad limitada de capital variable
