To the Editor:
The leadership of Mohican Basin Landowners Association is very concerned by recent events in our area. Columbia Gas, a long term lessee of natural gas storage rights in the Clinton Sandstone Formation, has transferred drilling and recovery rights, of which it presumes to own, to other energy companies. These companies are staking well sites and preparing to drill into some of the deeper formations under our land.
The leases which Columbia Gas now hold for the storage rights are not adequate, in our view, for protection of our water resources, for preserving the integrity of our farmland, or for fairly compensating landowners for their minerals. Drilling technology is vastly different than when these leases were written and huge amounts of water are now required to complete the hydraulic fracturing process. The existing leases held by Columbia give nearly unlimited water rights to the lessee and there is no assumption of responsibility by the company for water quality or quantity to the landowner.
In the interest of protecting our landowner members’ rights, the leadership of MBLA is preparing to enter into discussions with Columbia Gas and its assignees.
We strongly urge all landowners to be extremely alert to any activity on their land. We request that you inform the leadership of MBLA of any attempt by Columbia Gas or other companies to modify your lease or to issue you a new lease. We recommend that you obtain legal counsel from a competent attorney who is well versed in oil and gas law.
Our landowners association currently has more than 800 members who have pledged 92,000 acres in the effort to maximize protection of our water, soil and economic interest in the mineral resources. We are committed to landowners being compensated fairly and to requiring developers to be strictly accountable for their actions on our land.
We will be finalizing our membership enrollment effort on Dec. 1, in order to focus on the issues with Columbia Gas.
We will announce additional enrollment and information events in the near future so that all landowners have an opportunity to have a direct influence over the protection of their land and water. We need your support and representation and we feel you need the bargaining strength of this association. As the membership deadline is fast approaching, please talk to your friends and neighbors so that they do not miss this opportunity to help protect not only their land, but also the land in the entire community.
You may contact MBLA at 419-606-7250, at http://www.mohicanbasinlandowners.org or at mohicanbasin@frontier.com.
Information and enrollment will be available Oct. 13, from 4-8 p.m., at the Loudonville Lions Club Building on Wooster Road, state Route 3, Loudonville.
Carl Ayers, president
Clark Sprang, vice president
Fred Workman, treasurer
Dave Draper, secretary
The leases which Columbia Gas now hold for the storage rights are not adequate, in our view, for protection of our water resources, for preserving the integrity of our farmland, or for fairly compensating landowners for their minerals. Drilling technology is vastly different than when these leases were written and huge amounts of water are now required to complete the hydraulic fracturing process. The existing leases held by Columbia give nearly unlimited water rights to the lessee and there is no assumption of responsibility by the company for water quality or quantity to the landowner.
In the interest of protecting our landowner members’ rights, the leadership of MBLA is preparing to enter into discussions with Columbia Gas and its assignees.
We strongly urge all landowners to be extremely alert to any activity on their land. We request that you inform the leadership of MBLA of any attempt by Columbia Gas or other companies to modify your lease or to issue you a new lease. We recommend that you obtain legal counsel from a competent attorney who is well versed in oil and gas law.
Our landowners association currently has more than 800 members who have pledged 92,000 acres in the effort to maximize protection of our water, soil and economic interest in the mineral resources. We are committed to landowners being compensated fairly and to requiring developers to be strictly accountable for their actions on our land.
We will be finalizing our membership enrollment effort on Dec. 1, in order to focus on the issues with Columbia Gas.
We will announce additional enrollment and information events in the near future so that all landowners have an opportunity to have a direct influence over the protection of their land and water. We need your support and representation and we feel you need the bargaining strength of this association. As the membership deadline is fast approaching, please talk to your friends and neighbors so that they do not miss this opportunity to help protect not only their land, but also the land in the entire community.
You may contact MBLA at 419-606-7250, at http://www.mohicanbasinlandowners.org or at mohicanbasin@frontier.com.
Information and enrollment will be available Oct. 13, from 4-8 p.m., at the Loudonville Lions Club Building on Wooster Road, state Route 3, Loudonville.
Carl Ayers, president
Clark Sprang, vice president
Fred Workman, treasurer
Dave Draper, secretary
Published: October 5, 2011
