Thank you for mentioning the lease modifications.

Here in WV because a lot of leases are maintained by shallow well production and storage, these modifications are our only hope of preserving our land and the future of it. I sincerely appreciate all that you and Dave do and can’t imagine how overwhelming it must be. This is why educating our resident landowners is so important.

I would never sign an agreement for anything without having an in depth understanding of how it will affect our land and future generations of my family. Thanks again.

If you are fortunate enough to own your surface and your minerals and you do not want to end up with a Marcellus well site on you, do not sign an amendment that would add a “pooling and unitization” provision to the lease.

For more info. see http://www.wvsoro.org/resources/advice/advice17.html.

Thanks for the review as well as the plug for WV-SORO in the article. (And thanks, Randall, too for your comments and kind remarks.)

SORO doesn’t encourage leasing. However, because many people make the decision to lease we try to connect them with experts and other resources to help them make informed decisions.

For those considering leasing, the importance/need of educating yourself, getting legal advice and not being rushed into making rash decisions cannot be overstated. When it comes to leasing, the money may be attractive, however money is here and gone and folks need to think long term. The land will be here forever and the decisions you make now about whether or not to lease, or if you lease, what terms you agree to will affect future generations.

There are a lot more resources available for landowners than there were during the initial Marcellus leasing boom (and many folks who signed leases then exactly as they were presented to them by the companies are sick at heart) so there’s no excuse for not doing your homework.

We have some resources on our website — including our Top 6 Pieces of Advice Before Signing a lease (http://www.wvsoro.org/resources/advice/advice15.html) which links to a longer article on leasing for surface owner’ who also own their minerals. The latter was written by Dave McMahon based on his years of experience working with surface owners who were subject to leases with little or no surface owner protections.

And I am happy to point folks to additional resources if they contact me.

Thanks, again.

There are huge differences between a lawyer and a third party representing via a commission sales agreement. Julie Archer does a great job but is very overwhelmed at best because of the shear size of what is happening here in WV. Landowners becoming educated about what each word in the lease means and how it affects them and the future of their land is what matters.

People have to be educated to make educated decisions and that’s what matters the most. Don’t just trust anybody especially those that profit from your lease, make your own choice based on the vision you have of your land in the future. Based on the visions you have for future generations of your family. Money can not replace health, heritage, quality of life and the environment we all need to be balanced. Please get educated before you sign anything. Here in WV lets learn from our past mistakes.