Here's How Bill 2 Will Work

[ASRG]

Of course they are not going to level a farm yard.
Say though that the well site is in the middle of the quarter? Would you want them to come in straight off the road allowance or go up the side with the lease road? Right now you have some clout about where the lease road goes because you can object and get a hearing at the ERCB. Just the threat of an objection is enough to make them come around to your way of thinking...because it is going to cost them time and money. With the new regulator you can "request a review"? The regulator can accept or deny that review......and if they deny that review or rule that the road is okay where the company wants it you really have no further options? You can appeal the regulators decision.....to the same regulator! Do you think they will reverse their own ruling? And that's where it ends.....you can not take it to court under the new rules.
With a horizontal well they can basically drill from any location. With a vertical well (especially shallow) it's not so easy. Horizontal wells are not cheap.
Did you know that the well spacing rules have changed dramatically for shale wells? Literally every square foot of the ground under your land can be horizontally drilled and hydro fracked and you will be paid for one multi well pad site. Now you might be happy with that because you won't be farming around a bunch of well heads?
However, realize the county you live in will be getting a linear tax on every meter of horizontal and vertical well bore under your land? You the landowner will be getting your surface lease payment of $3000, or whatever, and the municipality will be getting around $30,000!

Do you see anything wrong with that? Don't forget the municipality already gets fees and the machinery tax to cover any extra road traffic! Why should they get that money?

Prior to Bill 24 (Carbon Capture and Storage) you owned the space under your land. Now you don't. Therefore you have no claim to a horizontal lease.
Many people are going to make a lot of money with the coming shale plays....it won't be you.

[ASRG]

Green Valley: Most oil companies try to accomodate the landowner....that just makes sense? No one wants to work with a pissed off farmer....and yes on my land the surveyors and landmen always were very good about lease road location.
I don't know how this thing will turn out. I just know a senior ERCB staff member has told me it's going to be a nightmare for them and he believes the government has gone too far with this new regulatory system!

I suspect it won't be all that bad for the majority of us. Where things will really change will be if there is a problem, either with compensation issues or environmental wrecks.

From a real "boots on the ground perspective": I've negotiated a lot of leases, right of ways, and annual rental reviews over a lot of years. This new act just took away the biggest hammer from my tool box....the threat of an objection to the ERCB (triggering an ERCB hearing), refusal to sign-thus resulting in the company having to apply for a right of entry order, and a request for a compensation hearing at the Surface Rights Board.....and at the end of the day if none of the above are satisfactory, the right to take the ERCB or SRB decision to the court of Appeal.
Now having said that....I have never had to go to an ERCB hearing, or in fact a Surface Rights Board hearing. Just the threat of taking the company to a hearing, brings about a whole new attitude? That tool will be gone (or vastly reduced) under this new regulatory body.
The reality is it won't be much of a big deal for me as I know longer help others negotiate any of the above. Hopefully in the near future I will sell the land I have and retire. The 7 wells already on my land will be someone elses problem.

[ASRG]

Just one more thing:
checking: The mineral owner (the oil company) does have the right to access your land to recover his property (oil and gas). The company does have the right to survey, with or without your consent.
Oil companies don't like conflict anymore than anyone else. The land managers and the landmen of today are professionals. They know how to do their job.

It can be quite frustrating for them when they run into a farmer who doesn't know the rules and has unreasonable expectations. They truly would like to deal with someone who knows what they are doing. It makes their job so much easier and less stressful for everyone.

Two people who know the rules, know what the costs and prices are, and are willing to get a negotiated deal done is the best (and most cost effective) solution for everyone.

A lease, right of way, or rent renewal, doesn't have to be a war. At the end of the day if you can shake hands and both go away happy with the deal...everyone wins!

I always have enjoyed negotiating deals. I don't do them anymore because I just don't have the time. Even though I am still involved in my surface rights group and mineral rights group, I will be quitting both in the near future. Everyone gets old and one day you have to hang it up.

[checking]

I fully agree with your last comments.

The situation you described in your original post is not that of a professional landsperson, or most oil companies. That's a hardass approach which could work in a single encounter, but these oil leases and infrastructure tend to become a cow herd over time. Would any oil company deliberately wish not to talk out concerns from day one knowing there are years they could be on a particular farm?

A listening regulator I see as no different than a family doctor screening patients to see which ones require a referral to a specialist.

[ASRG]

checking: Through competition "inspired" by the new regulator....companies might have no choice but to take a hard ball approach?

Every area in the province has a "pattern of dealing".......unfortunately, established by the cheapest companies?
All I am saying is the Alberta government is taking away the biggest tool in our toolkit, to keep the companies honest?

I'm glad I'm done with this stuff....because I suspect in the future it is not going to be pretty!