Who has first hand EXPERIENCE with fracking?

I always thought that the one disaster I was safe from was earthquakes. Texas NEVER had earthquakes...Until a few years ago. I still remember the first time I heard about a quake in the N. TX area. My jaw hit the floor! Now I hear about them all the time. "Not from frackin??? Ya right...
Liars!

In our area of the north central PA gas wells are all over our county. they might not be an actual well on your land but you could be 2 miles away and they will pull the gas from under your land in a sort of ..gas stream. If you don't sign they will probably pull the gas anyways and you won't get paid for it. We have come across the same problem. Feel like Judas and the 30 pieces of silver. The wells are here to stay..no matter what public opinion is in your area. Sounds like giving up... that is the way it will be. You should read as much as you can and a good book to read is called...The End of Country...a new book. Join a group in your area and have a lawyer look at any contracts that come your way. You have some land that needs protected. $5000 an acre and 20% royalities is more than here in PA. It's a lot of $$$ to give up ..and the gas wells are here to stay. It is upsetting..to me and a lot of people. Educate yourself...I wish you the besst.

In our area of the north central PA gas wells are all over our county. they might not be an actual well on your land but you could be 2 miles away and they will pull the gas from under your land in a sort of ..gas stream. If you don't sign they will probably pull the gas anyways and you won't get paid for it. We have come across the same problem. Feel like Judas and the 30 pieces of silver. The wells are here to stay..no matter what public opinion is in your area. Sounds like giving up... that is the way it will be. You should read as much as you can and a good book to read is called...The End of Country...a new book. Join a group in your area and have a lawyer look at any contracts that come your way. You have some land that needs protected. $5000 an acre and 20% royalities is more than here in PA. It's a lot of $$$ to give up ..and the gas wells are here to stay. It is upsetting..to me and a lot of people. Educate yourself...I wish you the besst.

Texas has never had earthquakes. Wrong.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...as/history.php

__________________
Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Yep some folks just need to go get them a job in the oil patch a little hands on experience might go a long way . And to think you can put enough water pressure in a long iron pipe with slots in it to create an earth quake is a little far out . Some times it don't even create a better gas flow

__________________
Check it Out O added another Plank With O care
http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist...to-Planks.html

Fracking has been going on, for what?, 60 years or so? Believe it was invented back in 1949. I personally know they've been fracking wells in my county, since the 60's (pa worked for an independent exploration gas company) and they fracked all of their wells, once tight sand formations were discovered, and then realized all wells would benefit from the frack.

I personally 'cut bags' (literally) with Halliburton, one summer during college. We fracked 24 hours a day, till we were finished... then crews would move the frack trucks to the yard or out to another well site... sometimes you slept on the rig, waiting for the ok to start.

Now, for the questions....
First off, NO fracking company is going to lease your minerals. Fracking companies, Halliburton and Schlumberger, predominantly, are well Servicing companies............they don't drill. Your ExxonMobils, Shell, Devon, Chesapeake, Mom and Pop (literally) hire landmen to lease properties, they aggregate the leases into a unit, and the company hires a drilling company (independent rigs) to drill the well. Once drilled, they remove the rig, then the frac company moves in, and does their job. Once they get all the zones fracked, a recovery company comes in (Have several friends and relatives that do 'this' job).... guy sits on the well 24/7, monitoring the flowback of fluids and gasses.

Btw... I do the 'landman paperwork part' for a living...

In Texas... if you decide not to lease, your within your rights to not be included in the Unit. The exploration company will simply not include your tract in the unit... if at all possible, they'll draw their unit around your place, excluding you completely. They love folks that don't want to lease.... because they'll recover all of your gas/fluids and not have to pay diddly. You will be giving them thousands to tens of thousands (or more) each year.

If you don't lease, you lose.

If you have concerns about water, noise, dust, drilling on your land, roads, pipelines, whatever, on your land... you can place addendums on the end of your lease, which will protect your rights. In those addendums you can set pre well baselines and any deterioration of those baselines will incur costly penalties for the company. As a rule, no one willingly/knowingly pollutes... it's bad advertising, and costly (don't know of any state that doesn't hammer companies when they screw up).

I'm thinking if you have 15 acres, you either have a wooded hidey hole amongst a lot of cleared land, if you have 'lots of deer'... not knowing PA's deer populations needs, 15 acres would sound about like maybe enough acreage for one or two deer. Fracking only occurs a few days, flowback monitoring maybe a month.

If you don't lease, don't get protective addendums that address all of your concerns, your pretty much on your own (and SOL) if something bad does happen. You get pre-well tests done, at company expense, and if something happens, your covered. The other negatives? Your going to get those, regardless of what you do... You either lease, and get something for all the aggravation, or don't lease, and get worlds of aggravation, and the knowledge your giving the oil company all of your wealth, for free.

If your opposed to oil/gas exploration, that's cool. Just remember, YOU could be doing something good with this money, instead of it going to exploration company stockholders. Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Audobon Society, hey, I'm sure Homesteading Today would appreciate a big fat check each month to help pay for server/admin costs.

Oh, we have tens of thousands of wells, in this county Alone... I know of no spills that caused damage (that weren't immediately cleaned up) and zero water sources damaged. There is a case of water contamination in the southern part of the county, but it's because of salt water injection casing failure, not fracking.

If you seriously are considering selling out... why not lease your minerals, then sell your land.... quite often, at least hereabouts... the minerals are worth several times what the surface is worth... move somewhere else, and get monthly royalty checks, that could pay more than your regular income... for years and years... I've got a gas well about 2400' from my house... it's been producing gas for 65 years, a check every month, month in and month out....

If you do move, study the geology of the area.... with the advent of shale fracking, entire regions that were devoid of oil/gas exploration have suddenly got attention. Dirt poor people are suddenly millionaires... just like the Beverly Hillbillies... You move, you might end up in a worse spot.

Now if you don't want the minerals, I'll take em off your hands, if you decide to move.... most folks in the 'know', know that owning minerals are one of the very few legal ways of printing free money... Mailbox money beats a sharp stick in the eye....

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

I've worked in Dimock as a blaster for seismic surveys, and all across PA and WV. The whole Gasland movie is a farce, yes there are some risks in drilling, no the methane migration is not just from (if at all) drilling. Methane migration is common all over PA, NY etc. What people don't tell you is that Cabot (the one most talked about in Dimock) offered to buy those 12 families out of their homes, and they refused. They trucked water in, installed filtration systems on their own dime to make the situation "right" despite the fact that tests are inconclusive regarding fracking as the cause of gas migration. Finally, DEP has paid out of their own pocket to hook up many homes to public water.

The advice given above is sound. Really think about what it is you want to protect, preserve etc on your property and add it to your lease, and hold them accountable. You WILL be on the phone, email a lot while hammering this out and over the next few months making sure your lease addendums are honored.

The companies are responsible for clean-up, offer buy outs and fix problems, but by then it is too late and the damage is done. The property owners are the ones with the headaches, paper work, lawyers, etc. relative to getting the companies to "fix" the mess they have created. If someone breaks one of your dishes they might glue it back together, but you still have a broken dish.

..........and thus, the very real need to have an ironclad legal agreement (lease), with very explicit legal addendums that cover everything imaginable. I have some clients with over 40, yes 40, additional legal concerns, at the end of their leases. They live out of the area of concern, but they know they may want to move back someday, and want everything covered. If one does not have a lease, and the s happens, you're stuck with lawyers, headaches, etc. With a lease, someone buggers up, you get paid quickly. Imho, companies pay more than market value, plus damages (for real and imagined damages) whenever they mess up.

Fracking has been going on for over half a century... it's just been done out in the boonies... most uber-greenies live in large cities or metro areas... can't be rubbing shoulders with the country rubes... and, when fracking came to downtown DFW, all of a sudden, the intelligentsia had first hand experience with how their energy was produced... and realized it's an ugly, dirty, noisy experience getting a well drilled, and then fracked. Depending on location, the saltwater might be pipelined out, otherwise, it's trucked out on 18 wheelers to centralized disposal well sites.

btw.... I consider myself to be an uber-green person..... alas, I've been infected since birth with overdoses of common sense, and reality.

Today, I'd say pretty much ALL compressors on well locations, if humans are nearby, are going to be 'hospital zone compressors'... you can't hear them running hardly, from across the road. They brought one down to replace my old noisy compressor about four years ago. I'd planted 4 acres of pine trees between me and the old compressor, for noise suppression... now, it's a moot point. Of course, now I have four extra acres of pine trees that need a first thinning... probably around $800 by next summer, if I wanted to cut em down.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Exactly right. But, as this thread indicates most people prefer to cherish their myths about the eeeevil oil and gas companies. The earthquake thing would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.

Methane blows the roof off my uncle's well house every couple of years and there hasn't been a frack job or an oil well within three hundred miles of the place. Probably people are sneaking in at night and fracking water wells or something.

When there are so many can't change the plug on a toaster it is easy to scare them with big equipment of any sort . Frack fluid we heated in Co came right out of the Co. river Most companies rent those frack tanks and they aren't cheap either they don't want any toxic liquid with in a mile of them . Also those safety test just to get on a location are many and some companies won't take the others certification i had a bunch of them at one time .

__________________
Check it Out O added another Plank With O care
http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist...to-Planks.html

Yes, but the damage is still done...

Texican, thanks for the no nonsense non hysterical reply and explanation of the fracking process-very interesting. TTT

I live near Dimock. The EPA is now supplying water to the homes who claim their water is contaminated.
Also, someone said $5000 and 20 percent is more than that paid in PA. That is not correct. My lease was for more than that and I have a non-surface disturbance lease which means they can do horizontal drilling under my property, but can't even drive over it, let alone drill or put in roads.
Just clarifying some misinformation.

Phew, I was worried posting in this thread that all the ANTI's would be in it... thanks for sharing some of your real life stories everyone !

Hey people haven't you heard? FRACKING CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING! If we don't stop this soon we will all die. Here's how it works. The fracking scares the cows on the farm across the road and the cows eat more and fart more. The methane from the farts damages the ozone. The damaged ozone increases the temperature but not enough to kill, (global warming). Instead the increased temperature causes a need for increased air conditioning. The air conditioner manufactures have to manufacture more air conditioners. In the manufacture of the air conditioners they have to solder parts and the solder benches are made of asbestos. The people who use the solder benches and anyone they come in contact with and anyone those people come in contact with and anyone those people come in contact with......accumulate asbestos in their systems and 60 years later they all die from but not from asbestos. They die from heart attacks from working to hard, cancer, viruses, accidents, strokes, war and anything else they may encounter along the way which they wouldn't have encountered had there been no fricking fracking 60 years earlier.

Why can't you people see the truth? People in the past who never had cars, gas, oil, pesticides, asbestos etc... never had problems like we all do. Life was perfect and they all lived to a ripe old age and died peacefully in their sleep surrounded by the people who loved them.

.....................No one appreciates the drilling and production Bizz more than I do , and I happen to know a little more than the average JOE about the process and procedure of fracking ! They use diesel fuel , HYdrochloric ACID , salt brine water and other chemicals that have NO business in any source of potable water !
.....................The very idea that 'they' don't have any screwups when fracking at 5,000 to 10,000 psi and 50 barrels a minute is pure poppycock !!!!! There are mistakes made but they're never acknowledged , only paid for ! Too assert that ALL frack jobs go as planned is only Postulated by someone with Silly Putty for Brains and Contrary to Murphy's Law .
......................Drilling companies can and do log the cement jobs after they set their casing , and they KNOW , IF , VOIDS exist where the cement did NOT fill in and around the pipe as it should , unfortunately frack fluid being pumped at high pressure and high volume will do as it pleases . , fordy

Would you prefer your damages with or without cash?

Don't know about ya'll, but all things considered, if someone does me wrong, I'd like it to be righted, and a sack full of cash, to soothe my conscious. With a lease, it's a lot less painful getting compensated.

Fordy...
those are some of the 'good chemicals' they use for fracking... I wouldn't worry about those so much as I would the formic acid (same stuff that gives ants their 'sting'), organic acids, and whatnots....

Of course, it's been, what, 30 years since I was on a frack crew (Halliburton) but before they actually sent tons and tons of sand and millions of gallons of water, and all the secret sauce down the borehole, the well is (was) tested first to see if the casing was good. No one wants to spend ??? half million to a million??? {250K 30 years ago} on a frack job gone bad because of a bad cement job... they want the stuff to go where the client wants it to go, and nowhere else.

Again, if they were drilling/fracking close to me, there'd be several ironclad, lawyer approved, water quality addendums... multiple certified water quality tests, filed away in the courthouse, and if any damage whatsoever occurred later, to my water, they'd be responsible for replacing the water source, and damages. You place a high number on the addendum damages... most companies think they'll never have to pay off... if they do screw up, you get a 'new house' type settlement (lots of cash).

Drilling/exploration/fracking in an area is like opening Pandoras Box... All the wishes, wants, and dreams won't undue the petroleum genie.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

............ When they frac a well on this ranch where I work , they can and do frac into existing wells up to a mile away . Chesapeake , Devon , et al , know that a frac job has the potential too create problems for productive wells a goodly distance from the well bore being fraced . It happens all the time and they just do whatever too get those affected wells back into production .
.............You'd think folks with minerals wanting to lease said minerals would hire a competent Landman\Atty too proof read any lease prior to signing so their land and water was fully protected but some are penny wise and lease stupid . , fordy

14 acres isn't going to make a difference to the company leasing your oil and gas rights. Decide not to sign, and your neighbors do and the lease is accepted, they can very easily drill close enough but not directly under you to take all your gas anyway - and you will get NOTHING.

14 acres is about what they would need for a drill pad for a marcellus well - so IF they do drill, it's not going to ON your property but will be UNDER it.

If they are signing you up for $5000.00 per acre and 20% royalty, I'd take it in a heartbeat. I have a 12 acre and 40 acre area that was signed up for bid leasing - where the company coming in with the highest bid would be accepted - minimum bid was $3000.00 / acre. Between signing up with the company offering to do the bids and the year in order to accept the bid, the marcellus prices dropped in our area. So no one bid.

This was caused by several reasons - # 1 probably being the companies already had so much property already signed up, they want to get those areas drilled before the leases run out and they have to pay again.
# 2 is there are only so many drilling rigs, and they are already booked solid for several yeras.
# 3 is PA is now taxing the Marcellus gas industry.
# 4 is natural gas prices are low.

You figure it costs $ 1 million to drill a Marcellus well. With low gas prices and all these wells already drilled or in the process, there isn't going to be any shortage - so prices will remain low.

__________________
Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."