Posts Tagged ‘ROSS TWP’

Area group advises residents to be patient, don’t agree to low rates offered by drillers.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

ROSS TWP. – Gas-lease offers might be low, thanks to a lagging economy, but that’s not stopping drillers from proposing them.

Three gas companies are speaking with landowners in Luzerne County, and a fourth – Denver-based Whitmar Exploration Company – is covering leases, according to members of the South West Ross Township Property Group.

“Right now, they’re picking all this low-hanging fruit,” said Ken Long, a member of the group’s executive committee. “People are panicking to sign leases … because they want to get this monkey off their back.”

The in-depth, confusing and potentially disastrous decisions involved with signing a lease weigh on people, he said, and with offers crashing from one-time highs in the thousands of dollars per acre to Whitmar’s current $12.50 per acre, some landowners are eager to get whatever benefit they can and move on.

That, the committee warns, would be a mistake. “It’s not just going to be for today,” said Marge Bogdon, a member of the committee. “If you’re going to hurt your children or your grandchildren by signing a lease today, that’s bad.”

That’s why the committee has decided not to recommend Whitmar’s offer to their members and crafted 10 questions it says will combat “gas-rush fever.”

A large part of the rush is created, they say, by owners afraid they’ll miss out on everything if they don’t sign for peanuts now. Add to that pressure sales tactics levied by the companies, and the committee members foresee an ominous formula for rash, uninformed decision-making. They cite as example a recent missive from Conservation Services, the land-acquisition company employed by Whitmar. Announcing two meetings during which leases could be signed, the letter gave landowners six days to join before the offer was closed. Committee members said they received the notices with only about four days to decide. “If you only have two days to sign a lease, you can’t get a lawyer to look it over,” Bogdon warned.

Mark Stransky, another member of the committee, said he stopped by one of the signing meetings and found it “lightly but steadily attended.” Whitmar’s offer, as presented to the committee, was $12.50 per acre for the first two years, and the company would have the option to drop the lease after each year. In the third year, the company would pay a one-time bonus of $2,500 per acre to lease the land for the next four years.

“People are wondering if this is the only game in town,” Stransky said.

But the truth, the committee contends, is that lease offers will increase, not dry up, as the economy re-emerges, and that companies are likely cashing in on economic fears to score discounted leases. “You can lease with just about anybody,” Long said. “They’re taking everything they can at a really cheap price.”

“They’re coming out of the woodwork now with the Marcellus gas being proven,” Stransky said.

Near the beginning of the year, the group represented roughly 10,000 acres around Ross Township, but the committee members figured they’ve added on several thousand since then. They stress membership is nonbinding, and that landowners can opt out by writing a letter and waiting 10 days.

Though they receive no compensation for their efforts, they’re rewarded, the committee members say, by preventing their community from being spoiled. “If we weren’t part of this community, we wouldn’t be so concerned,” Bogdon said. “This is our home.”

And while they bear no animosity toward the drillers and landmen for their pushiness – “They’re salesmen; that’s their job,” Bogdon acknowledged – the committee members’ local ties, they say, are the best arguments for why their fellow landowners should hear them out. “Who’s going to tell you the truth, the people who are trying to help out the community, or the ones who are trying to make money off you?” Long asked.

10 Questions

If you go

The South West Ross Township Property Group’s executive committee has crafted these questions to help landowners scrutinize lease offers:

Has an attorney versed in oil and gas leases reviewed the lease?

Do I understand in detail exactly what I’m signing?

Are the terms and financial aspects of the lease acceptable, or will I regret signing it later?

Am I signing this lease just because a neighbor did or a landman claims a neighbor did?

Would waiting be more beneficial?

Can I afford to wait?

Does the lease protect everything I want protected?

What does my property owner group think about this lease?

What would my dad say?

Am I being pressured to sign this lease, forcing me to skip over things on this list?

What: South West Ross Township Property Group’s next meeting

When: 7 p.m., Tuesday

Where: Sweet Valley Church of Christ

Why: Dale Tice, an attorney with gas-lease experts Greevy & Associates, will speak.

More info: Call 570-256-4488 for an informative phone message or go to: www.rosstwpgas.com

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

Offer extended to interested landowners in Ross and Fairmount townships.

ROSS TWP. – For a limited time, landowners looking for a natural-gas drilling lease have a commitment-free offer to get a low-cost lease negotiator.

The Columbia County Landowners Coalition has a secured a consultant from Texas to negotiate a deal, but he’s starting soon and only doing it once.

The consultant, who has experience with fossil-fuel wells in the Midwest, is charging $1 per acre and expects to begin negotiations at $2,900 per acre for sign-on bonuses and extraction royalties of 18.75 percent, the executive committee of the Southwest Ross Township Property Group announced at a meeting on Tuesday evening.

Those figures exceed the usual for contracts inked in this region.

The Ross group, led by the committee of eight volunteers actively researching the situation, has been holding meetings to explain issues regarding gas leases and sign up landowners within its borders. It’s focusing on a roughly 10,000-acre region and hopes to amass a no-commitment membership of at least 4,000 acres within there.

The Columbia County offer is extended to interested landowners in the vicinity, including the Ross Township group and one in Fairmount Township. Landowners can sign up at the coalition’s Web site, but they must act soon.

According to the Ross group, the coalition expects to begin negotiating in a matter of weeks and hopes to have a contract to sign by the fall. And the consultant, who is doing a favor for a friend, plans to return to retirement after completing the deal.

If it sounds too good to be true, the suspicion might be warranted. The Ross committee acknowledged that the timetable is more rushed than they’d prefer, but they argue that there’s no commitment and people can opt out if they dislike the negotiated deal.

According to the committee, the Columbia County group is moving quickly because sign-on bonuses are considered regular income, and the group fears the changing political climate next year will mean tax increases for upper tax brackets.

What’s next?

The Southwest Ross Township Property Group is holding its next informational meeting at 7 p.m. July 29 at the Sweet Valley fire hall on Main Road.

Copyright: Times Leader