I can sympathize with your worries and concerns regarding the CBM and shallow gas drilling. Down here (just north and east of Calgary) we too are being overrun with oilies and their hard ball tactics. The thing that the oily land men never tell you that is you have the right to be represented in any meetings with their land agents. I have used a wonderful land agent by the name of Paul Vasseur. Paul is from Three Hills, however, has worked all over Alberta representing land owners and proudly states he has nev er represented an oil/gas company. Paul spent 12 years with the Farmer's Advocate office, so knows the province and certainly is current with all the new regulations and devious habits of the o & g companies. The other things that the oilies never tell you is that you are not obliged to pay for representation--the invoice for that work goes directly to the oil/gas co. who you are dealing with. Even if you do not have the wells directly on your land, you are still impacted and still have the right to have conditions set out to lessen the impact on you and your land. Paul's email is flyingv@telus.net..you can certainly give him an email and see if he is working in your area. (phone 403 443 7392) The sad part of the prolifertaion of wells is the fact that they need to be connected by a pipeline (or several lines) and compressors, as shallow gas or unconventional gas is very low in pressure.
By all means get out to a landowner's group--the old 'divide and conquer' routine is a favorite with the oilies. I have managed to keep them mostly off of my home section by putting out stronger conditions. To this point in time their operation in this area is 'on hold'. As was stated previously by someone--they will eventually get here and they will get their wells drilled, even if it is just by a 'right of entry' order. So if you must have them on your land, get the most yearly compensation that you can get and be sure to get absolutely everything in writing. You will have a stack of business cards a foot high when you are done with these people as they have a staff of a thousand for every little job--and then they change jobs at the drop of a hat to go to a more lucrative position and someone new and wet behind the ears takes over.
I spoke to a machinery dealer at Eckville yesterday and he said he lost a good and young mechanic to the oilies as they offered him $700/day--little hard to compete with that in agriculture. Perhaps all these oilies should try eating and drinking their oil/gas. But I digress...take all the time in the world before signing any document with the oilies and by all means--get representation to help you. You can also invoice the oilies for the time that you spent negotiating, phone calls, visits etc., so start a journal of dates, times, activities--even if it is having to check and close gates etc. each day--mark it down and then send them an invoice. The oilies seem to think that they are the only ones who should get paid for their time.
With regard to any flaring or venting in your area, you can insist that they use a complete burner that burns efficiently, quietly and is not affected by wind. Flares are 99% unefficient if there is wind--gee do we get wind in this province..and then as you say, we are supposed to bear the brunt of being good stewards of the land but the o & g companies get away with air pollution with impunity. The best burners that I have heard about are with a local company Bekaert CFB Technologies--24 hour phone (403)399 9927 Kris Kinear is a contact name. The carcinogens that come off a flare or vent stack is truly frightening. The Ab. government will be truly amazed in the next 20 years about the number of cancer related conditions in their entire population.
Just one more thought, but if you don't want more than one well per quarter, have that as a condition in your original agreement and also state that the one footprint is only for the drilling of one well and no more. The oilies don't like it, but it will give you and your heirs some peace of mind. And don't let the 'easy' money fool you--banks and lending institutes are now looking sideways at all this activity on the land and are demanding environmental studies done before giving out a mortgage as they are well aware of the liability if there is environmental damange to the land and the cost to clean it up. The cost would choke most landowners if the o & g bunch are not made to clean up their own mess..but again, I digress...don't cave in and stand up for what you want..good luck...
By all means get out to a landowner's group--the old 'divide and conquer' routine is a favorite with the oilies. I have managed to keep them mostly off of my home section by putting out stronger conditions. To this point in time their operation in this area is 'on hold'. As was stated previously by someone--they will eventually get here and they will get their wells drilled, even if it is just by a 'right of entry' order. So if you must have them on your land, get the most yearly compensation that you can get and be sure to get absolutely everything in writing. You will have a stack of business cards a foot high when you are done with these people as they have a staff of a thousand for every little job--and then they change jobs at the drop of a hat to go to a more lucrative position and someone new and wet behind the ears takes over.
I spoke to a machinery dealer at Eckville yesterday and he said he lost a good and young mechanic to the oilies as they offered him $700/day--little hard to compete with that in agriculture. Perhaps all these oilies should try eating and drinking their oil/gas. But I digress...take all the time in the world before signing any document with the oilies and by all means--get representation to help you. You can also invoice the oilies for the time that you spent negotiating, phone calls, visits etc., so start a journal of dates, times, activities--even if it is having to check and close gates etc. each day--mark it down and then send them an invoice. The oilies seem to think that they are the only ones who should get paid for their time.
With regard to any flaring or venting in your area, you can insist that they use a complete burner that burns efficiently, quietly and is not affected by wind. Flares are 99% unefficient if there is wind--gee do we get wind in this province..and then as you say, we are supposed to bear the brunt of being good stewards of the land but the o & g companies get away with air pollution with impunity. The best burners that I have heard about are with a local company Bekaert CFB Technologies--24 hour phone (403)399 9927 Kris Kinear is a contact name. The carcinogens that come off a flare or vent stack is truly frightening. The Ab. government will be truly amazed in the next 20 years about the number of cancer related conditions in their entire population.
Just one more thought, but if you don't want more than one well per quarter, have that as a condition in your original agreement and also state that the one footprint is only for the drilling of one well and no more. The oilies don't like it, but it will give you and your heirs some peace of mind. And don't let the 'easy' money fool you--banks and lending institutes are now looking sideways at all this activity on the land and are demanding environmental studies done before giving out a mortgage as they are well aware of the liability if there is environmental damange to the land and the cost to clean it up. The cost would choke most landowners if the o & g bunch are not made to clean up their own mess..but again, I digress...don't cave in and stand up for what you want..good luck...
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