Oil, gas race is on!

To the editor:

A 2002 assessment determined that a fortune of oil and gas reserves may lie under the surface of this area. The race is on!

As we speak, teams of people are scouring abstracts of properties for mineral rights that may be leased, including rights that have been dormant for 50 years or more.

Everyone stands a chance to make a bundle: the drilling companies, the gas and oil producers, and the mineral rights holders; that is, everyone except the people that actually may have the deed to the property and pay the taxes.

Surface owners in Pennsylvania have few rights under the law in Pennsylvania, although they pay the taxes for that surface.

If you are a surface owner of land, your land may have already been leased for exploration and drilling. You, as a surface owner, need not be notified until the actual drilling permit is about to be applied for. You then have a specified amount of days to object to a well location. It may be too late to arm yourself with adequate knowledge about dealing with this devastating event.

There are rules as to how many feet from a structure or a water source a well can be, but by law a surface owner ultimately cannot interfere with the drilling of a gas or oil well and is not entitled to royalties from such a well, unless you also have mineral rights.

Words of advice:

- Do not purchase property until you know the status of the mineral rights and the consequences of not owning them.

- Secondly, if you own land and are not sure if you have the mineral rights, find out. The courthouse has records of any oil, gas or mineral leases that have been filed.

- Thirdly, if your property has been leased, get an attorney. This in itself may be a problem, because many local attorneys will tell you they have a conflict of interest, as they are retained by the drilling companies. Call the Pa. Bar Association to find an attorney versed in oil and gas laws.

- Contact the Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection to make sure that, during and after the drilling, all laws are adhered to in cleaning up your surface.

- Last of all, contact your local, state and federal representatives and advocate for rights of surface owners. They do listen. After all, you are the only one paying the real estate taxes on the property.

Some states have "Mineral Lapse Acts." In these states, mineral rights that have not been acted upon in 20 years (sometimes 10) revert back to the surface owner. We need a similar law in Pennsylvania.

Jane Berrettini

Eldred