Gas Rights, Pipeline and Storage Lease Services

Services for New York Landowners

Advice on the following issues:

1. Interpretation of gas, pipeline and storage lease terms. Click here for my short analysis of the standard Chesapeake lease wording for Friends of Barrington,
2. Enforcing a lease,
3. Terminating a lease,
4. Alternatives to leasing—the pros and cons of compulsory integration,
5. Eminent domain rights for pipelines and underground storage, and
6. Conflicts of interest on the part of local officials.

Presentations on Gas Rights Issues

Overview of gas leasing issues for Western Steuben-Allegany Association of Realtors, Hornell, NY, May 10, 2012.

Overview of gas leasing issues for York Concerned Citizens, York, NY, February 26, 2013.

Gas Rights Litigation

Ontario County Gas Well Case

Represented the defendants in Rogers v. Rogers, Ontario County Supreme Court, Index No. 110986, against a claim by their neighbor that she has rights in their gas well. Successfully defended against a motion for a preliminary injunction. Case withdrawn.

Seneca Lake Gas Storage Case

Representing Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association in an administrative proceeding before the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the application of Finger Lakes LPG Storage, LLC for an underground gas storage permit. For more information about this proceeding, click here.

Gas Leasing News

COME AND TAKE IT – Why Forcing a Condemnation Is The Best Option, Chip Northrup, No Fracking Way, July 8, 2013.

Pipeline ruling strengthens private property rights, Austin American-Statesman, May 23, 2013.

New York Landowners Sue Norse Energy USA Over Leases, Katy Stech, Dow Jones Newswires, May 20, 2013. Eighty-nine New York landowners challenge Norse Energy's attempt to use force majeure to extend their leases in Norse bankruptcy proceeding.

Gun club sues gas driller over land use, Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Scranton Times Leader, Mar. 22, 2013.

Video of Chenango Forum on Lease Termination, sponsored by fleased.org, Mar. 14, 2013.

BP and Chase at odds over drilling lease in Ohio, Jamison Cocklin, Vindy.com, Mar. 10, 2013.

Contractors’ liens filed for Chesapeake’s non payment show up as claims against land owners, Mineral Rights Forum, March 3, 2013.

Instructions for Landowners Who Received a Letter from Chesapeake regarding AG Settlement, fleased.org, Mar. 2, 2013.

W.Va. case accuses gas company land men of fraud, Charleston Daily Mail, Mar. 2, 2013.

Oil and Gas Leases - Force Majeure Extensions, Bulletin to New York Agents, Stewart Title Insurance Company, Feb. 21, 2013.

Federal Court Rules Marcellus Leases not Extended by New York’s Delay in Issuing GEIS for Fracking, Ed Roggenkamp, SPR Blog, Dec. 2012.

Norse Energy files for bankruptcy while hydrofracking still on hold, Glenn Coin, Syracuse Post-Standard, Dec. 7, 2012.

Study: Fracking can hurt property values of homes with wells, Sean Cockerham, Utica Observer-Dispatch, Nov. 7, 2012.

The Effects of Fracking on Easements, Clifford Lipscomb and Sarah Kilpatrick, Greenfield Advisors, Oct. 15, 2012.

Fracking and Insurance, Sarah J. Kilpatrick and Clifford A. Lipscomb, Greenfield Advisors, Oct. 1, 2012 .

Gas Drilling Jitters Unsettle Catskill Sales, Mireya Navarro, New York Times, Sept. 27, 2012.

Oil and Gas Leases Create Conflicts for FEMA, Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, Sept. 25, 2012.

Chesapeake Squeezes Landowners on Costs Amid Cash Crunch, Bradley Olson and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg, Aug. 31, 2012.

Chesapeake Irks Landowners As It Renegotiates Leases, Gilbert Daniel, Wall St. Journal, July 15, 2012.

Responsible Associated Landowners of New York State (formation of new landowners coalition for landowners against fracking), July 2012.

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Landmark Agreement With Chesapeake Appalachia To Allow Landowners To Renegotiate Natural Gas Leases, June 14, 2012.

Chesapeake Foists Bad Leases (again) on NY Landowners, Sue Heavenrich, The Marcellus Effect, Apr. 3, 2012.

Mortgages for Drilling Properties May Face Hurdles, Ian Urbina, New York Times, March 18, 2012.

Ohio landowner misses out on Utica shale bonanza, Chris Cotelesse, NewsOutlet, Akron Beakon Journal Online, March 17, 2012.

Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases, Ian Urbina and Jo Craven McGinty, New York Times, Dec. 1, 2011.

Gas Leasing in Western Maryland Spurs Calls for Reform Landowners, Realtors Seek More Disclosure, Protections, Timothy B. Wheeler, Baltimore Sun, Dec. 31, 2011.

Oil Giant's Shell Game Nets Elderly Farmers, (about Chesapeake's leasing practices in Michigan), Joshua Schneyer and Brian Grow, Reuters/MSNBC, Dec. 28, 2011.

Homeowners and Gas Drilling Leases: Boon or Bust? Elisabeth N. Radow, New York State Bar Journal, Nov. 2011.

Lowball gas leases haunt Pennsylvania landowners, Associated Press, Corning Leader, July 24, 2011.

Recommended Reading on Gas Leasing

Drilling a gas well, building a pipeline or building a gas storage field are multi-million dollar enterprises, and hosting such an enterprise on one's property is likely to have major financial consequences for a landowner and for his or her neighbors. It behooves any landowner who has a lease for any of these purposes, or who is considering signing such a lease, to study and learn about oil and gas production and distribution and the legalities involved. Some introductory sources I recommend are:

A Gas Lease Can Prevent You from Selling Your Property, Catskill Mountainkeeper

Loss of Property Values, Difficulty Getting Mortgages and Home Insurance, Save Colorado from Fracking

Gas and Oil Leases Impact on Residential Lending, Greg May, VP – Residential Mortgage Lending, Tompkins Trust Company, March 24, 2011.

Tompkins County Council of Governments – Task Force on Gas Drilling – for Assessment and Land Valuation Subcommittee

Oil and Gas at Your Door? A Landowner's Guide to Oil and Gas Development, 2nd Edition, 2005, by Lisa Sumi, Oil and Gas Accountability Project

Minerals, Surface Rights and Royalty Payments, Nov. 2009, by Judon Fambrough. Senior Lecturer and Attorney at Law, Texas A&M University, Describing Texas law

Oil and Gas Law in a Nutshell, 5th Edition, 2009, by John S. Lowe, West Publishing Co.

The Oil and Gas Industry’s Exclusions and Exemptions to Major Environmental Statutes, 2007, by Renee Lewis Kosnik, Oil and Gas Accountability Project

Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language, 2005, by Martin S. Raymond, PennWell Corp.

Fundamentals of Oil & Gas Accounting, 5th Edition, 2008, by Charlotte Wright and Rebecca Gallun

Internal Revenue Service Oil and Gas Handbook

An Ohio Landowner’s Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing: Addressing Environmental and Health Issues in Natural Gas Leases , Rev. June 2011, by Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Harvard Law School

Drilling Down: Protecting Western Communities from the Health and Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Production, 2007, by Amy Mall, Natural Resource Defense Council

Drilling Doublespeak: Gas Drillers Disclose Risks to Shareholders But Not to Landowners, December 2011, by Dusty Horwitt, Environmental Working Group

Drilling around the Law, 2010, by Dusty Horwitt, Environmental Working Group

Finger Lakes Region Gas Lease Mapping Report, 2011, by Citizens Campaign for the Environment