Fracking the Burgh: How will it influence population growth? (Pittsburgh: moving, transport)

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Wouldn't they have researched this prior to approaching us?!?!?!

I would think, but I doubt that they never mess up. It's possible your land had an old option that expired (although usually they liked to jump on those) or some other reason that the rights reverted to you, or that you never gave them up after all and that memory was bad.

Originally Posted by Hopes

They went to a lot of trouble to track us down. It wasn't easy how this contract made it to us. They weirdly showed up at a very strange location---not our house, not our camp property---and presented this contract out of the blue in the parking lot of a golf course. It was like being tracked down by a private investigator when they could have simply delivered it to our house or sent it certified mail.

A little odd, but if they're truly ready to start soon then they might be in a hurry to get it done! Or it might just be part of a tactic someone uses to get you to sign now, dangling the $$ in your face or whatever. I dunno. I could see why not to use delivery because no matter what you do to it to restrict delivery to the right person that still doesn't guarantee they'll read it or act quickly on it. Why they didn't go in person to your house is the strange part.

Just make sure you independently check it out to be clear on what's going on and what they're offering.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

I would think, but I doubt that they never mess up. It's possible your land had an old option that expired (although usually they liked to jump on those) or some other reason that the rights reverted to you, or that you never gave them up after all and that memory was bad.

I was wondering the same thing. I told my husband to find the deed so I can look at it. I want to go to the court house up there and see what I can find too.

Originally Posted by greg42

Why they didn't go in person to your house is the strange part.

Maybe they didn't want to drive to Allegheny County, but they sure spent more energy figuring out where he was golfing.

Originally Posted by greg42

Just make sure you independently check it out to be clear on what's going on and what they're offering.

Definitely.

[RyanR]

Hopes,

As for the mineral rights, they'll check it at the courthouse before they cut you a check for the signing bonus. They won't do it until you sign because they would be wasting their time. If you don't own the mineral rights (most do for gas but may have lost it years ago for oil and coal), they'll let you know and then you're released. If they're doing surface activity (ie. putting the drill pad) on your property but you don't own the gas rights, they'll work something out as well.

19% royalties is respectable. 12.5% is the State minimum.

For the signing bonus, most are going for about $2500-3500 per acre depending on location and demand. The price also goes down if you want a "no surface activity" clause.

As for royalty payments, it varies greatly but as a conservative ballpark, figure $100 per acre per month.

Monies and contracts for the drill pad and any pipelines are normally negotiated separately.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by RyanR

Hopes,

As for the mineral rights, they'll check it at the courthouse before they cut you a check for the signing bonus. They won't do it until you sign because they would be wasting their time. If you don't own the mineral rights (most do for gas but may have lost it years ago for oil and coal), they'll let you know and then you're released. If they're doing surface activity (ie. putting the drill pad) on your property but you don't own the gas rights, they'll work something out as well.

19% royalties is respectable. 12.5% is the State minimum.

For the signing bonus, most are going for about $2500-3500 per acre depending on location and demand. The price also goes down if you want a "no surface activity" clause.

As for royalty payments, it varies greatly but as a conservative ballpark, figure $100 per acre per month.

Monies and contracts for the drill pad and any pipelines are normally negotiated separately.

Thank you so much for the information. My husband will be glad to hear we can sign the contract prior to knowing where we stand. He was concerned about the legality of selling something we might not own. If they do their due diligence prior to cutting the check, I'm perfectly fine with that, and my husband will be too if it's the industry standard.

As greg mentioned, the rights could have reverted back to us, or they might not have been lost for gas like you say. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. This camp my husband bought in his early 20s has become very interesting asset. He planted expensive hardwood trees there over 30 years ago. We signed a logging contract just a few months ago. Now this.

From the sounds of what everyone is saying, we've received a very fair offer. I'm looking forward to seeing the contract myself tomorrow.

[RyanR]

I do recommend you contact an attorney that covers gas rights and have him look over the agreement. The one initially presented to you is probably not what you want.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by RyanR

I do recommend you contact an attorney that covers gas rights and have him look over the agreement. The one initially presented to you is probably not what you want.

Definitely. We already discussed who we might hire. I'm going to get some recommendations too.

[trackstar13]

My family was offered 20% for royalties and a pretty big chunk of money upfront, I am not sure what it amounts to per acre though.

[jbpribanic]

@trackstar13 - just came across this comment thread while citing recent articles about Triple Divide. I'm the co-director & editor-in-chief of PublicHerald.org. Would you be interested in publishing your initial question as part of our "opinion" section for Monday the 12th of August? Please email me at joshua[at]publicherald.org to discuss this more.

In relation to your initial question about how the drilling is affecting residents... Jim Harkins, who is part of the "Good Neighbor" chapter of Triple Divide, has recently purchased property in Florida, abandoning an over $300,000 investment on his home you saw in Potter County. He says that the realtor told him there's no way he could sell the home due to the location of the well pad, and the bank had the same negative response about financing the home. All in all, if the drilling is near anyone's backyard, it affects their longterm residential decision-making, and has caused many long-term residents to leave the Commonwealth. That's not some bias opinion, this is just the data we're seeing.

[trackstar13]

Joshua thanks for the reply to my initial post and it is really sad to hear that Pennsylvanians are abandoning their homes due to drilling, related pollution and subsequently a decrease in property values. I will shoot you an email and I would be more than happy to let you post my question, I just want to remain anonymous because of my family's direct negotiations with the drilling companies. I do not want them to run into any issues due to my stance on this issue. They feel as if they are being surrounded by wells and may have to sellout at some point and don't want to sour their relationship with the drillers.

[trackstar13]

Well it has been confirmed that fracking has caused hundreds of earthquakes less than 70 miles away from Pittsburgh in the Youngstown, Ohio area.
Confirmed: Fracking practices to blame for Ohio earthquakes - NBC News.com

It also appears that there are already offers on the table to frack in some Allegheny County parks.
"The county could receive $40 million to $96 million if Monroeville-based Huntley & Huntley teams with Range Resources to drill for natural gas under Deer Lakes, a Tribune-Review analysis found."

http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/4...#axzz2dyzOhwef

"Dozens of protesters with pamphlets to spare packed Allegheny County Council's meeting Tuesday night, speaking against the push to drill for natural gas beneath county parks -- a plan that they say betrays the county's commitment to preserve parkland for perpetuity."
Protesters object to possible drilling in Allegheny County parks - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette