BY KECIA BAL
MEYERSDALE – Out of the blue last year, Lawrence Paul got a packet in the mail from an energy company called Quest.
It wasn’t just an inquiry to begin discussions on the mineral rights to his 30 acres. It included a letter naming a price and a lease contract – the whole bit.
“I was worried at first. I thought it might be a scam,” Paul said.
“But I started talking to other farmers, who said it’s on the up and up.”
So he agreed to lease the Greenville Township property’s mineral rights to the company for $5 an acre, per year.
He received a check promptly, but he isn’t sure what exactly they wanted to unearth or what their reclamation plans would be.
Now, he’s hearing that other landowners are receiving 60 times what he received – $300 an acre from the Pennsylvania Mineral Group.
“It would be good to know, before you make a decision,” he said.
Three environmental groups have joined together to help Somerset-area landowners deal with such propositions.
“We have been fielding so many calls from residents,” said Krissy Kasserman, Youghiogheny riverkeeper with the Mountain Watershed Association, a Fayette County group that has organized a workshop for landowners.
“Our concern is that people don’t really realize what they are signing away,” she said.
Monday’s meeting will be the second of two meetings on the subject, said Raina Rippel, director of the Center for Coalfield Justice.
She cited a 72 percent increase in statewide production of coalbed methane wells in the past five years as one reason for the meetings’ timing.
“We are hearing a lot from citizens,” she said. “It is basically a boom.”
Rippel said residents should be concerned about damage to roads and the effect of industrial machinery upon their property.
“It’s going to make an impact on land,” she said, adding that methane also is a significant greenhouse gas. “It’s a concern.”
One company, Texas-based Pennsylvania Mineral Group, has mailed offers to hundreds of Somerset County residents. A letter the watershed association obtained provides little information to a prospective seller of oil and gas interests and simply asks him to sign the document and mail it back in a self-addressed envelope. An attached hydrocarbon conveyance does not mention reclamation work.
Tribune-Democrat archives show that dozens of residents in Cambria and Somerset counties have sold their mineral rights to the Texas company.
Somerset attorney James Courtney said he has handled a few of the transactions, but he provided little information about the company’s plans. Courtney referred questions to a company representative in West Virginia, who did not return calls for comment Monday.
“They have completed a lot of legitimate transactions,” Courtney said.
A Department of Environmental Protection spokesman said the agency does not regulate the sale of mineral rights. DEP officials monitor drilling for effects on water quality.
Spokesman Tom Rathbun said residents should have wellwater tested by a DEP-approved lab before any drilling begins, so they can prove a change in quality down the road, if necessary.
“The state regulates all aspects of drilling,” he said, adding that anyone who receives a contract in the mail should contact a knowledgeable lawyer. He mentioned a group of landowners in Bradford County who formed an association to ensure everyone got a fair shake.
Rathbun said some companies are hoping to tap into the Marcellus shale formation, which is as deep as 20,000 feet down. Such an operation would require a 20-acre drilling pad at least, he added.
Monday’s seminar is being held in conjunction with Washington County’s Center for Coalfield Justice and Harrisburg-based Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.
If you go
What: A workshop on gas leasing and development for landowners sponsored by three environmental groups.
When: 6:30 p.m. Monday.
Where: Quality Inn, 215 Ramada Road, Somerset.
Also: 15-minute private consultations can be reserved by calling (724) 445-4200.
More information: http://mtwatershed.com
