If the well site is constructed over a spring, the water coming out of the spring will destabilize the site. So if the driller wants to put a well site somewhere that you do not want it, look carefully for any springs that might be there. Then if the driller will not do what you want, be sure to comment about the location of the spring when you comment on the permit. Springs can be hard to see, so look carefully.
Advice and Updates
- West Virginia Surface Owners' Guide to Oil and Gas Summary and Updates
- Enacting Local City or County Ordinances
- Seismic and Geophysical
- Water
- Pipelines
- Leasing / Amendments
- Pore space/carbon sequestration offers
- The Provisions Needed by Surface Owners In Surface Use Agreements
- Partition Suits and Threats Thereof
- Gas Leaks
- Free Gas
- Field / Farm Tap gas service
- Buying Land
- Selling Land / Mineral Rights
- Selling land / Surface Owners
- Getting to own the oil/gas/minerals under your surface land
- Abandoned wells
- Going on Land Where There is Drilling Activity
- Floodplains
- Noise
- Coal Bed Methane
- Pads and other disturbance next door to you. What to do. Nuisance
- Farmland preservation - even if you do not own oil and gas minerals
Useful Information
What should I do?
- Advice for common situations and updates to Surface Owner's Guide
- You can refuse or block a horizontal well on your land
- If there is a proposal to plug an oil or gas well on your land, what should you do?
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Should surface owners sign pore space lease etc. papers? If so, how much money should you get?
Resources
- West Virginia Surface Owners' Guide to Oil and Gas
- Erosion and Sediment Control Manual (that drillers must follow)
- Reporting Violations: Information on Filing a Complaint with the WV DEP Office of Oil & Gas or the EPA
- Why an old well is plugged, not “capped”; and how a well is supposed to be plugged; and why a lot of oversight of well pluggers is needed.
- Latest on leasing, forced pooling, amendments/ratifications and cotenancy
- How a Gas Well Is Drilled Down Into the Ground, and What Can Go Wrong
- What a depleted oil or gas well should look like after it is plugged
- Lawyers, experts, tax and mineral management advice, and water testers
- State Office of Oil and Gas
- Information on the Marcellus Shale
- What are oil and gas wells’ “API” numbers? How to find them and use them to get info on wells.
- More Helpful Links and How To Find Information On Particular Gas Wells
Shared Experiences
- Marcellus Shale Play well examples
- Photo slide show for drilling of small shallow well.
- Bad Examples!
- Surface Owner Stories