Refusal of Geophysical Permit...Can I ???

[fordy]

................Question.....I rece'd a Permit To allow a geophysical Survey(Vibroseis) in the mail today . I really don't want these people running their 4 wheelers all over my 5 acres . Can I simply Not sign and return the permit to prevent them from running cables and whatnot on my property??? Anybody been confronted with this?? thanks , fordy

[palani]

Return the permit (presentment) to them marked "refused for cause", legally post your property with no trespassing signs, or if you would like to permit the governent access for a fee consider the following notice

No Trespass
Notice of Foreign Law, on
Private Land; Read before entering:
You are hereby noticed that entering This land subjects You to This contract:

This land is private, and is not subject to public use or control. The Owner has the character suae potestate esse. Over This land flies the American Banner of Peace, and the Law thereon is the Holy Scriptures, and the Christian lex non scripta. The Owner has enacted other various ordinances, to which all who enter This land are subject. Among these ordinances is a Five thousand dollar Land use fee, charged per man or woman, per day, or any part of a day, for any man or woman (hereinafter, "Lessee") entering upon This land without prior written license in his possession at all times while upon This land. Acceptance of all ordinances shall be evidenced by the presence of any man or woman upon This land, not in possession of said license, and shall create a constructive lease agreement, binding Lessee to the terms of all ordinances which the Owner has laid upon This land. Said fee shall be deemed due and payable in full within thirty days from first notice, and payment shall be made in silver coin, at full face value. Lessee hereby agrees that if payment of said fee becomes delinquent, that said amount shall become a lien upon all of Lessee's non-exempt property. Any property brought onto This land by Lessee is subject to impound until settlement is made in full. Other ordinances are in effect upon This land, to which all who enter are subject, unless exempted by license. A complete list of ordinances may be obtained from the Owner. Ignorance of the Law shall not be an excuse, nor shall it relieve any person from liability therefor. Notice is hereby given that any license, lease, or right of usage may be revoked with five minutes notice. Revocations shall not relieve anyone from liabilities already incurred. Verbal invitees given five minutes grace as to fee only.

Notice to agents of government:
By entering This land you accept all of the above stated terms in full. Additionally, you affirm both individually, and in your official capacity, under penalty of perjury, under the laws of these united States of America (Title 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1746), that you will support the Constitution for these united States of America and the Constitution for This republic, and all the laws promulgated thereunder in conformance with the above named Constitutions, and will extend and protect the unalienable rights secured therein to the Owner, and those under His protection, and will faithfully perform all the duties of your office as it relates to Them, in compliance with the above Constitutions to which you acknowledge that you have already taken an Oath to perform said acts and actions to the best of your ability. Violations of the rights of the Owner, or those under His protection, shall be assessed a civil penalty of one million dollars in silver coin for each violation. Damages may also be prosecuted under Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1621 and Sec. 241, and Title 42 U.S.C. Sections 1986, 1985, and 1983, resulting in up to ten years in prison, and additional civil penalties.
The Owner may be contacted by sending correspondence to the following location:

[Kenneth in NC]

fordy a quick call to a lawyer or your locale magistrate should inform you of your rights.


Kenneth

[palani]

Ken

That is an easy one ... you have no rights. The lawyer and magistrate will carefully explain this to you and present you with a bill for $100 (or thereabouts).

The reason for returning the permit in a timely manner is otherwise you are consenting to the terms of their permit. It is acceptance of a contract. Why would you want to do this?

[nodak3]

Read the permit carefully. If you sign it, are you giving them permission? Or does it inform you that they HAVE permission and are offering you terms? Usually, with deeded land, landowner has to give permission. It is different if you have leased surface rights. Also, if you have leased or sold (or do not own) mineral or oil and gas rights, that lease or sale probably included the right to do these surveys. In that case, all you can do is negotiate terms. If you decide the latter is the case, and you do not like the terms, call the company that ordered the survey and talk to the landman. You might be able to work things out. In some states, in some cases, the sale of mineral rights included the right to do this without any input from you, and the landman is just being courteous sending you this "notification". Just be sure exactly who has what rights and go from there.

[texican]

fordy
If you don't own the mineral rights, you're pretty much SOL (s*** outta luck). The owners of the minerals have probably leased them to an oil company, or someone interested in exploration.

If you own the mineral rights, and they're leased out to an energy company, you're also pretty much SOL...they can do whatever they want...build an industrial complex if they want...their lease papers spell out all of the things they can do...which is pretty much anything imaginable for the production of oil and gas..

You do have the right to 'ask' for compensation. If you're lucky, they will not drill on your place. They do not have to pay you anything, even if they drill on your land, set up saltwater/oil tanks/compressors etc. NOW, having said that, it is *customary* for damages to be paid. It's good customer relations.

You can talk to all the lawyers you want...I have...I live in gas country...have one well on my place...own interest in a couple dozen wells.........and they'll tell you the same thing............legally you have no rights..... Now they'll all say they can sue for this or that, but any settlement is up to the oil/gas company to grant, and usually they will pay around 7-10K an acre for damages.

I'm not familiar with getting a geo. permit in the mail.............off the top of my head, this might be a courtesy letter letting you know that strangers are going to be showing up with a big thumper truck.

good luck,
and if you do "have to move" you might want to check up on the split estate status of the property. Once rights are sold, it's impossible to get them back. Because frankly, mineral rights, once owned, are a license to print money.........I get more income from gas royalties in a year than the physical land is worth.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I'm not sure what you mean by this....

If , they decided to drill a well on my 5 acres they would destroy all of the "saleability" of the whole tract which means that I would negotiate a sale of the whole place .

Me....
Drilling a gas or oil well would not affect the saleability of it in pieces or in a whole. It might affect the one piece the well is on, if you divide, or parts of it if the operating company has to put in a road. A producing well might affect the price of the whole, but remember that only 10 percent of wells drilled are producers. The odds are in your favor that there won't be a producing well drilled.

Also, just because they are doing seismic work, it does NOT mean you are getting a well drilled on your place. Those seismic lines run for MILES, and the odds that your piece of heaven is getting drilled on is slight.

We have had seismic run on our place twice. No wells yet, even though there is an old plugged and abandoned "dry hole" out in the pasture from a well that was drilled 50 years ago. For a long time, it was simply a piece of pipe that you had to watch for when shredding the pasture. DH finally cut it off below ground level.


In other words, take your money as surface owner, be nice to the seismic crew, and don't worry.

[fordy]

Originally Posted by Rose

I'm not sure what you mean by this....

If , they decided to drill a well on my 5 acres they would destroy all of the "saleability" of the whole tract which means that I would negotiate a sale of the whole place .

Me....
Drilling a gas or oil well would not affect the saleability of it in pieces or in a whole. It might affect the one piece the well is on, if you divide, or parts of it if the operating company has to put in a road. A producing well might affect the price of the whole, but remember that only 10 percent of wells drilled are producers. The odds are in your favor that there won't be a producing well drilled.

Also, just because they are doing seismic work, it does NOT mean you are getting a well drilled on your place. Those seismic lines run for MILES, and the odds that your piece of heaven is getting drilled on is slight.

We have had seismic run on our place twice. No wells yet, even though there is an old plugged and abandoned "dry hole" out in the pasture from a well that was drilled 50 years ago. For a long time, it was simply a piece of pipe that you had to watch for when shredding the pasture. DH finally cut it off below ground level.


In other words, take your money as surface owner, be nice to the seismic crew, and don't worry.

......Texican , thanks for the Help ! surface owners don't have much sayso .fordy..

,............Rose , the "pads" they are building for these wells are fairly extensive . It's not like the old days where they come in and dig a mud pit , standup the rig and start drilling . So , by the time they are thru building everything there just wouldn't be much left . I have 2 different 20 inch pipelines being constructed both south and north of me . I understand how most of the oil Biz. works I'm just not a lawyer . thanks for your advise . Atleast they won't be using Dynoooooomite in the shotholes . fordy..

[james dilley]

Without your permission they would be trespassing ,Thats why the card to ASK for the right to charge them to come on your property. Its called A trespass FEE.

[sullen]

Palani, I am gonna print that out and post it on the back hill that leads to the part of my property that I actually use. Should have people scratching their heads all over the place. Thanks for the sign.

[texican]

james

if they own the mineral rights, it is not trespassing...

the owner of the mineral rights have superior rights...(superior over surface owners rights) they have right of ingress and egress, right to build roads, locations, drilling pads, mud pits...average of one acre permanently taken out of production...if the well produces, they have a right to lay pipelines, establish production facilities, compressor units, pumpjacks, etc. ad infinitum.

and kicker to all of this is...they do not have to pay the surface owner squat... they usually do for locations and pipelines, but like I said earlier, its a courtesy, not a law/requirement.

oh, oh, double kicker............if they do establish a permanent presence on your land, taking it out of production permanently (20+ years)...you still get to pay property taxes on it.

I speak from experience. My father was a superintendent for a local exploration company all of his life. I've got wells and pipelines both on my land.

I've dealt with many oil/gas companies...most will treat you right...those that don't will back down if they think you're going to be a constant nuisance, or a security risk to their operations....like I said, they will usually pay a good price to stay on your good side.

[PonderosaQ]

Hi Fordy,
My son is a geophysicist. Unfortunately he hasn't been home for me to present your question to till this morning.

Firstly he says they wouldn't have sent you that letter if they had any right to trespass on your land! You can say no to any private company and then negotiate a fee for them to get access..if they want it badly enough you may get some nice $ out of it even if they only use 50'X50'. If it is from the government you can't say no. He encourages you ask any local authorities you can access to get more info on your rights, in fact that was his first advice.He said he might be able to tell you more if he knew what state you live in as the laws are different from state to state. He also said if one of your neighbors gives them access they may well be able to tap into the gas under your land without ever coming onto your land and you getting a dime out of it.

I wish you luck with your situation,

PQ