Published: February 06, 2008 08:48 pm      

Landowners seek ‘bill of rights’ for oil, gas jobs

CHARLESTON — About 30 landowners, farmers and foresters decried the “ugly underbelly” of the burgeoning oil and gas industry Wednesday in promoting proposed legislation aimed at giving them a tougher shield against such operations.

Before the Legislature are bills in both houses to expand the rights of property owners so they are given 60 days notice before a permit is issued to a drilling outfit, instead of the existing 15 days.

If the two sides come to terms, Charleston lawyer David McMahon explained, the operation could proceed.

A second part calls for the holder of the mineral rights to sell the landowner his product at the going price as he does to his own customers.

And the third segment of the bill stipulates that landowners will be compensated for land seized at market value, not its current worth, McMahon said.

“We’re not opposed to natural gas and oil development here in West Virginia,” Gary Zuckett, executive director of West Virginia-Citizen Action Group, told reporters.

Zuckett and McMahon are prime movers in the newly organized group, West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization.

“This country needs more energy independence,” Zuckett said. “But we’re here today to talk about the ugly underbelly of the oil and gas boom here in West Virginia.”

Permits that once numbered 900 annually have soared to 3,000-plus, and that figure is ballooning monthly, the CAG leader said.

Nancy Powers of Clarksburg said she and her husband bought land in 1977 on which they hoped to build a home and were startled to find survey stakes in the foundation after clearing the property.

Unaware the couple was occupying a nearby house until a new one could be built, she said, the surveyor asked if he could go through their property to re-insert the stakes.

Despite promises that were reduced to writing, she said, within a year the firm had failed to keep its pledges.

“Nothing was done,” Powers said. “No reclamation. No work on the road. The road became impassable in a short period. From then on, the nightmare began.”

Private consulting forester Russ Richardson said he works with many landowners who have been taken advantage of by oil and gas drillers on their land.

“It’s incredible how many times $7, $8, $10,000 worth of timber is destroyed and the landowners are given $500, take it or leave it,” Richardson told reporters at the briefing.

“That happens many times.”

McMahon said drillers possess all the advantages when they embark on a drilling operation for a gas or oil well.

“They have knowledge, they have experience, they’ve got the lawyers, they’ve got the money and they’ve got surprise on their side,” he said.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com