Oil and Gas at Your Door? (2005 Edition) - Earthworks

Landowner Stories
• We have felt that these issues usually are best solved by frequent, direct contact with
the workers, and calls to the company.
2. Sloppy company procedures. These result in erosion problems, road and dust, fencing and
waste pit issues, and the never ending noise (we feel that human beings who can hear are
now an endangered species).
• We have found that dealing with the company is at best a very short-term solution,
and usually resolves nothing. Any political entity (county, city, state) will insist that you
begin with the company. We have found a simultaneous approach to be more effective.
If a well is “blowing off,” a frantic call to the company is necessary; a call to the
county should follow immediately. Whenever possible, a letter or email is far superior
so that documentation exists.
3. Neighbors. It has become customary for the company representatives to foment suspicion
among neighbors. Carrying stories about trash, driving habits, infidelities, etc., from one
house to another has become common practice. This suspicion can be escalated by
secrecy around payments for land use, “better deals” on fencing, gates, culverts, etc.
• When leasing or surface occupancy begins in an area, neighbors need to guard
against these tactics immediately. Hurt feelings are hard to cure.
Over the years we have tasted success in measures to improve our situation. Election times are
often successfully used to draw politicians’ attention to our problems. The noise problem is still
unsolved, but things have improved. No longer are wells “blown-off” to reduce the internal pressure
so that work can be done. Now the pressure is released very slowly, and there is no sound.
Sound barriers have become routine. Mechanical problems with pumpjacks will be repaired (so
long as you report them). Water quality is monitored.
Speaking out really does pay off. The sages of yesteryear who cautioned “Be nice to the company
or they will get you” have been proven wrong.
In anticipation of a new well construction, and in the discussion of compensation, remember
that you are entering a time (probably a lifetime) of monitoring, reporting and investigating activities
around the well to protect your own health and well being, and that of your neighbors. It is
no small task - don’t sell yourself short.
6. THREATS AND INTIMIDATION: THIS IS CALLED “NEGOTIATION”?
FORCE POOLING AN AFFRONT
By Hans Voss, Michigan Land Use Institute, Great Lakes Bulletin News Service, Spring 1997
About a dozen property owners actually are force pooled each year. But the state’s authority to
force holdouts to lease strongly affects oil and gas policy across Michigan.
Leasing agents frequently mention force pooling during negotiations with property owners who
have questions or reservations, as a tool to pressure them into signing a company’s contract.
In addition to threats of forced pooling, property owners report that common tactics include
constant badgering, misinformation, and inflated estimates of royalties.
The Michigan Energy Reform Coalition often hears stories like these:
• Property owners in Manistee County’s Filer Township were pressured into authorizing a
natural gas well in their neighborhood. The well contains dangerous levels of poisonous
hydrogen sulfide, but residents were not told of the health risks.
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