Pipeline Annual Rental

[hgb]

Whoops, looks like another post already asked my questions. (I'm a slow typist)

[cowman]

I would advise anyone who is looking into this to contact their surface rights group or for that matter any surface rights group? The Apache pipelines were recently negotiated by a consultant who spoke at a meeting of the Pine lake Surface rights group. Not sure of a number to call but I believe Don Dreeshan is the president. His number is (403)227-2834. He is a good guy and will be willing to help you out.
Mountain View county is in the early stages of setting up a surface rights group. The reeve was pushing it at a recent meeting so you might want to contact the county.
The power of a surface rights group is the sharing of information on these oil and gas firms and the knowledge of what they are paying and the knowledge of your rights! The only way landowners will ever get any power is to band together and share information. I believe every landowner should be an active member if they expect to deal effectively with the oil companies.
Don't rely on the EUB or for that matter the Farmers advocate...they can be helpful but they are both funded by the Alberta government and we all know who calls the shots there, right? In reality the purpose of both these organizations is to get that well drilled so the money starts flowing to the government. And that may not be in your best interest?

[cowman]

Incidently there is an application by the EUB to increase the number of coalbed methane wells allowed per quarter in a designated area of the province. Right now only 4 are allowed per section and the application is to raise it to 8 or more! Not exactly sure where they are at just yet but eventually they could apply for up to 32 wells per section! The concern here is with that many wells the resulting pipelines and setbacks would pretty well make it impossible to do any kind of developement on these lands. You want to really be careful when you agree to a surface lease with a coalbed methane outfit, because once they have one well on a section they basically own you! All the old rules went out the door with coalbed methane!
So if you ever think someday you might want to build a barn, house or whatever on your land...or even subdivide your land for future developement...you should make sure you are very well informed on your rights! The fact is the few thousand you might get today could cost you a fortune somewhere down the road!
Be especially wary of the American Coalbed companies...they are not exactly the most honest players in the game!