Share your success story!

It's Thanksgiving Week. And before you pass the turkey and trimmings around, share your success story on organizing your neighborhood! You can share your best tips, your best resources, your whole story!

We'll package them together and run them in Blogging the Barnett Shale later this week! It's easy. Just respond in the "comments" section at the end of this blog post, or send us an email at snishimura@star-telegram.com.

Thank you, and have a great holiday!

-- The blog authors

Comments

[Jim Popp]

BH, You know, I almost said to you previously that you and I probably have more in common than not, and that we would probably agree on MUCH more than we would disagree on, generally.

Please know that I am NOT against you and most of the other mineral rights only owners. I agree with you about the oil/gas and drilling companies, but I really think if you researched another subject, that you would see that the "rights" you believe are now law for surface owners are mostly non existant and are not "rights" but merely the "good will gestures" of some of the drilling companies, for the most part.

In that Commercial Injection Well fight we just won on appeal, the property on which the old, non producing, natural gas well the company wanted to convert into a commercial toxic waste injection well was located, was bought by that oil and gas company using a "straw" person to buy the actual property itself under false pretenses. You see, in order to have an injection well, commercial or otherwise, the operator has to have permission of both the surface owner and mineral rights owner. By buying the property, they took care of the surface owner part, but now the mineral rights owner could have objected and stopped the whole process. When approached to do just that, the MRO owner said that he didn't live out here anymore and wasn't concerned enough to get involved. Honestly, that left a bad taste in everyone's mouth out here since it meant the present nearby land owners, including both land/mineral rights owners and SRO owners could possibly lose 50-80% of the value of their properties.

I think you'll find that most SRO only folks do not want to take away anything from the MRO only folks, as it is their right of heirship and it is the law under which the SRO land was bought. All most of the SRO folks are asking is a more level playing field, with whomever it has to be leveled with, to accomplish that objective. In other words, let's make it law for their fair monetary compensation and not allow it to be just dependant on the good will of someone else, as it mostly is now. Most SRO owners can't afford an attorney, and the legal fight fees, as you previously suggested they do, and the oil and gas companies know this. If the MRO owners and SRO only owners would get together, we would find a great deal of common ground and together we could get this worked out for the betterment of BOTH sides.

BH, I wish you and yours a VERY Merry Christmas, and a VERY Happy New Year. I have good friends who live in the Jacksboro area, and at one time I spent a great deal of time in the area myself. I honestly appreciate the generations of work that went into those ranches in your area and other areas of the Barnett Shale.

Peace be with you and yours!!

[BH]

Mr. Popp* I understand everything you are saying quite clearly.

I am also detecting in your words that you need to decide who

your issue is with and what law needs to be changed to make it

better for the surface owners. Unless you can get over your

resentment of heirs of either land or mineral rights, which you

point out in every way you can with a zap, zinger or condesending

remark about them, you will be clouding your real goal and issue

with the surface laws getting changed, and "brought up to date"

"Focus" Mr. Popp, on your objective and leave the past and the

people you resent from the past out of it. Bring your thinking on

that "up to date". You have convinced me of the plight the surface

owners of today are suffering. I agree, They do need protection

with new laws. Who do you need to fight the hardest against?

The State Laws or the Conduct of the Drilling Company's?

Surface Owners do have rights for the surface use of their Land.

They are due compensation from the Drilling Companys for damages

and water use. They are responsible for a standard of respect for

the land with all kinds of laws already. Look what is happening

with the Barnett Shale leasing in Fort Worth, it is a raping of

the mineral right owners in neighborhoods, with excessive leasing

and unfair bonus money amounts. No standard value of our minerals

was ever established, The Energy Company's are not being held

accountable for fairness and there appears to be no end in site of

the number of wells that will be drilled. I wish you Luck in your

quest.

[Jim Popp]

Beverly Humphries, you detected wrong maam'!! I have no jealousy and/or certainly no rage against mineral rights only owners. I made all my money myself and I've been very fortunate. I didn't have to rely on my ancestors to do it for me. Honestly though, I certainly would have liked it if one of them had made a bunch of money, or discovered something, or invented something big, and then left the proceeds/royalties to me, but I wasn't that lucky. No, I have no rage towards them at all, and at my age, jealousy doesn't do me any good either. I don't dislike mineral rights only owners in any way and for you to think I do, means you are grossly mistaken and have seriously misunderstood what I've said and what we are talking about here.

This is not about liking or disliking anyone. It's simply about bringing laws up to date with the times and fairness in today's world. That's all, pure and simple!!

I just wanted to clear up that last statement you made.

[Jim Popp]

Hello Mrs BH. You know, I would have bet that you were a Texas Lady from an old Texas family, still, or recently, living on the family ranch. I just needed to find out for sure so I could then better understand where exactly your point of view was coming from. Thank you for being so up-front about it.

Its obvious that each of us is coming into this discussion from a much different, and opposite, point of view. Here in the area of Wise County where I live, we too have some ranches, but very few, that are still owned and operated by the decendants of the original founding families. What they do with their land is completely up to them, and I completely agree with that thinking.

Much more of the ranch land here however was sold off long ago, split up, and is now owned by folks who are Surface Only owners. Their land ownership amounts vary from 10 acres to 50 acres on the average. The people (decendants of those original owner families) who sold them that acerage, made good money on the sale of that land and as you have stated so elequently before, these newer land owners paid for the surface ownership and not the mineral ownership. On that we COMPLETELY agree. Most of those decendants of the original owners who sold the land were so far removed from it, they could not have cared less about it (the land)either. Their only interest was how the land sale money was split up. Just so you know, and in the interest ( as my attorney friends would say) of full disclosure, I am one of those folks and I own approximately 50 acres. I bought it with my eyes wide open and I understood fully when I bought my place, 10 years ago, that it did not come with the mineral rights. They had also not drilled a new oil or gas well in this area in 25 years at that time either.

OK, so now here I am, one of those surface only owners that you seem to think should basically get what they deserve, which I interpret as anything and eveything some slack jawed oil/gas or drilling company rep wants to lay on me. If I don't like what old "slack jaw" has to say, or what they're going to do to my property then, as you have stated, I can go hire a lawyer and have at it! I guess to the uninformed, that sounds like a feasible answer because afterall, we are a nation and a state of laws. The truth however is a much different story.

Many laws from the 50's are still governing oil and gas drilling operations today, and as you probably know, mineral rights owners have "dominance" in those old laws. I guess that was just fine back in the 50's when most of the drilling operations took place in rural areas, where very large chucks of land were still mostly owned by those original ranching families, but things have changed greatly today from the 50's and the circumstances have greatly changed too. Oh, and what if after building my nice home, barn, fencing, and trying to raise my children, a person doesn't have the money to hire a lawyer to go up against the oil and gas or drilling company? Most attorneys won't touch a case against oil and gas because most private citizens don't have the money it would take to compete legally against an oil and gas company. Your statement about that particular aspect made me chuckle and reminded me of that French Queen who when told the citizens were starving and had no bread to eat stated, "Let them eat cake"! Your statement about surface rights only owners getting a lawyer had the same feel and ring to it to me.

Please, let me be clear here, I do not want to try and take ANY of the mineral rights away from those who have inherited them from family. Their family owned those mineral rights and those decendants own them today. To try and take that away from those decendants would be Socialism or Communism and I spent 4 years in the service fighting that kind of thinking back in the 60's.

What I would like to see, and will work towards as much as I possibly can, would be a modernization of those laws from the 50's to give surface owners more rights when it comes to negotiations with those oil/gas drilling companies regarding where a well is drilled on their property, compensation for loss of their land value due to any drilling or after drilling operations such as permenant tank batteries left on their property, etc. Please notice again that NO WHERE have I said, or even intimated, the taking away of anyone's mineral rights and/or royalties either! Also, with the drilling technology available today, one surface hole can be drilled and five wells can be obtained by horizontal drilling the other wells from the original bore hole.

Additionally, I believe that you are incorrect in thinking that these laws from the 50's won't be changed because they most certainly, eventually, will. This is simply because they need to be and the voters in Texas will make those changes eventually, by forcing legislators to make those new laws through the polling booth. There is too much oil and gas drilling going on right now, that is affecting too many non mineral rights owners property negatively, for it not to happen. It is true right now that oil and gas money funds many of the re-election campaigns of almost our entire state legislature at the present time, and thus controls that legislature. However, without the votes from John Q Public to put those folks in office again, all that re-election campaign money means absolutely nothing. It won't be too long now before John Q. speaks out with a loud roar about this situation you and I are discussing and those new legislators they will put in office, from either party, will make some new law and needed changes. As I said, oil and gas drilling is negatively affecting too many people, and it doesn't have to be that way if folks would just sit down and discuss this problem.

A feasible and equitable solution is out there Mrs Humphries to satisfy all parties involved. Mineral rights owners or their reps have the right to recover those minerals they own, but NOT at the complete and total disregard for the surface owners rights and ownership of the land itself. We just need to work together and your attitude of "all for the mineral rights owners only" won't get it done.

[BH]

Mr. Popp* Mineral Ownership is an investment, just like a Stock
in a Financial Portfolio. It is an asset that is retained by
extended Family Members and willed to successive generations
for many years, sometimes decades. It is a family tradition
and a source of pride to have obtained them and have the ability
to protect the revenue it generates for the Younger generations.
Not all mineral rights held by a family thru generations have
production on it yet.

If the Landowner who held the Mineral Rights, but sold the surface
due to hardship, marriage, divorce, death, what ever the reason,
had every right to do it. Once the Surface Land was sold out of the
Family, It had New Owners, Different Owners. There was a separation
of Land and Minerals. The sale relieved the original owner of any
obligations to any future surface owners of the property. And any
heirs of any obligations to any future surface owners.

Your present day opinion on the rights of surface owners verses the
rights of the mineral owners of the surface is so deep in bullshit
it makes my ears ring. You have the mineral owners obligations
to the land owner confused with The Conduct of the Drilling Company's. Thats who your beef is with, so stick with your objective. To clean up the conduct of the Drilling Company's.
Surface owners do have rights. They need to learn what they are and
enforce them.

Personally, I detect a little rage mixed with jealousy in your
statements against long held mineral right owners.

Beverly Humphries

[BH]

JP* Most Family Ranches in Texas bought by Great-Great Grandpa

and was still in the Family, both the surface and the mineral

ownership by the 4th generation, was a Business as well as a

way of life. Production on the minerals in certain counties in

Texas came into play during the 1950's, that would be the second

generation of holding the land and finally getting Royalty off

any minerals. The 3rd generation to live the lifestyle and continue

the business and hold the land, had it the easiest yet. They

finally had the most production with increased funds to help pay

the rising cost of property taxes, improvements and expand the

Cattle herd and pay for the 4th generation to attend Universities

because Ranching for a living was becoming obsolete. It was done

to prepare them for todays world and lifestyle. But even the 4th

generation were working the business like a man by the age of 10

on through school, during breaks and summers.

You, Mr. Popp are making alot of assumptions. If today's surface

owners are being abused by Drilling Companys, There are plenty of

Lawyers in the state of Texas. Maybe they should have Educated

themselves on Surface ownership only and O/G Production on the

property they bought before signing on the dotted line.

The mineral owners of today from past land ownership that you are

describing are a minority group. You will never get this Law Changed

Mrs. T.E. Humphries III
Rt.2 Box 82
Jacksboro, Texas

A Fine Old English Name

[Jim Popp]

BH, I suspect from reading your response that you may very well be one of those third or fourth generation folks that I was talking about. Let me be clear here though regarding those Texans, generations ago, who endured the hardships you mentioned and braved all those troubles. You and I are in complete agreement about the respect that they are due and owed for ALL that they accomplished during very hard periods in this country's history, be it economic or otherwise. I have the utmost of respect for all of them and their accomplishments. That is a fact!

BUT, just because I have that respect for those folks who worked very hard and have now passed on, it doesn't mean that their heirs, generations away, deserve the same respect. Certainly not when they themselves have done absolutely NOTHING to deserve that same kind of respect.

I would also suggest my friend that before you start talking about what a surface owner can do and can't do regarding negotiating with drilling companies, that you research what statements you are making as fact. At the present time, what a surface owner only can and can't get compensated for depends largely, and mostly, on the goodness of the particular oil/gas or drilling company they are dealing with. Yes, I agree that some companies are decent and fair companies, but for as many that are fair and decent, there are just as many, or more, that are not fair and decent. That's the problem and there needs to be new laws in place to make it an even playing field for those surface only owners having to deal with those not so fair and decent oil/gas drilling companies.

One more thing too. Your statement seems to express your feelings as though you believe that because someone's great, great, grandfather was a hard working person, that the public owes respect to that man's great, great, grandson today due to his deeds, decades ago. That is Jolly Old England thinking my friend and just so you know, there is no "Royal Line" here in America!! We must all make our own mark, ourselves, and earn our own respect for what we've done. We can't ride our great, great, grandparents coat tails forever! By the way, what does "BH" stand for. You've got my name and I'm not ashamed to put my real name with my opinions. How about you?

[Jim Popp]

For those of you that might not have heard yet, late last Thursday, the Third Court of Appeals handed down their decision in our case against Pioneer Exploration, Ltd. and The Railroad Commission of Texas. WE WON!!!!and all prior decisions by the RRC and the Travis County District Court regarding permits issued for that Commercial Toxic waste Injection Well here in NE Wise County were ordered reversed.

The Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision by all three judges, found that the RRC had not considered the "Greater Public Interest" issue in the correct way that the Texas Supreme Court had meant it and had only considered it on the basis of what was best for oil and gas. They said that the safety concerns and interests of the citizens living around a proposed toxic waste injection well site regarding roads, road safety, first responders safety concerns, and other concerns must now be considered too.

This is a tremendous victory for ALL the citizens of Texas, and new law has now been created that is GOOD LAW for every person living in Texas, especially in the counties of the Barnett Shale area.

[BH]

Mr. Popp* You are in left field on this one. Insulting to generations of Texan's also. Freedloaders my butt. If the mineral
rights have been retained in a family for 3 or 4 generations on
a large track of Land in Texas who's ancestors made sacrifices,
endured every hardship imaginal, from droughts and diease to
livestock, which each generation had to endure and work from sun up til sun down to earn a living, pay the taxes and keep the land in
the family for that many generations, every cent paid to the
decendants from retained mineral rights was earned, bought and paid
for by successive generations though hard work, blood, sweat and
tears. And don't forget the original ancestor who had to purchase
the land which included the mineral rights and the surface mostly
during the time of the great depression and still manage to pay for it and make a living off of it., and pay his taxes. And had to agree
to use his crop fields to plant peanuts for the government for the
war effort instead of hay to feed his livestock.

Most Ranches or Large tracts of land sold by a family by the third
or fourth generation was done so because of the amount of heirs
involved. It was better to sell than to break it up in tracts so each heir would get a piece of it. Of Course the mineral rights
were retained by the Family. They were bought and paid for by each
generation, and by Texas Law it was their right to retain them.

This is a Law that will never be changed. And Should not be changed.
Nothing is free in this world and mineral ownership, but not surface
ownership any longer is not a Luck of Being Born. It is a fully
earned privilege by the original owners and heirs.

I have no compassion or interest in the issues of surface only owners of any property. It was their option to buy or not buy.

Every surface owner can negotiate with a drilling company for compensation on surface damage or use of the surface for wells to
be drilled. Ingress, Egress, road damage, water use, clean up of
well sites, have their road surfaces maintained by the drilling
company, have their water well table maintained and avoided of
contamination, have their stock ponds protected from use and
contamination, the list goes on. They can insist that all pipelines
be buried in the surface negotiations. They need to learn their
rights and implement them.

[Jim Popp]

This whole thing about Mineral Rights Only Owners vs Surface Rights Only owners is going to change. Its only a question of when its going to change. To the poster who wrote that our laws are not ancient, you are very sadly mistaken in that statement, but I would expect nothing different from a Mineral Rights Only Owner in Texas at the present time. You're just not very informed, that's all.

Most Mineral Rights Only Owners are second, third and even forth generations removed from the family members who initially sold the land and retained the mineral rights. They are, in effect you might say, freeloaders on the system who did nothing to earn the royalties they now recieve but rather, by luck of the draw, they were just born into a family that had the mineral rights handed down. They don't care about the actual land itself anymore, and care only about their royalty checks each month, that basically they did absolutely nothing to earn.

I have no real problem with this however, because this is America and if my family had oil and gas royalties coming in, I certainly wouldn't return those monthly checks myself. I also do not feel as though anyone but those owning the mineral rights should recieve those royalty checks, nor do I feel they should be "split up" with anyone else. It is their family heritage and they inherited those mineral rights, thus the monthly royalty checks that go with it. What I do have a problem with is their attitudes, as some have reflected in statements here.

My problem with Mineral Rights Only Owners is that they are absent, for the most part, from the land being drilled and they really don't care about that land at all. The persons living on that land now however, do care deeply about it and what is done to it. Many have put their entire life savings into building a home for their families, and they have spent a great deal of money improving the land in the process. They too should therefore receive ample monetary compensation for the economic loss they suffer due to damage to their property from drilling operations and be amply compensated for the permanent destruction to certain parts of their land from drilling operations and it's aftermath, ie; large tanks and tank batteries destroying views and the beauty, as an example. Lets not forget that it is the Surface Rights Owner who now has to continue to pay taxes on the land where those huge tank batteries are located, but never gets to use that land for anything he/she wants.

The present laws in Texas will have to change and with calm heads and a desire to work this issue out equally for both sides,a good compromise solution/law can be attained.

[TXsharon]

Nick, if you find any errors in anything I've written Please point them out and I will hastily correct them. It is my greatest desire to provide accurate information so that we might have a future.

[BH]

Nick: This is the USA not China. "propaganda" is an obsolete tool.
TXsharon has documented every comment she has made. She has proof.

Calling someone a liar and hypocrite either in person or in writing
without Facts or documentation of your own reveals your Character.
Look up "Character" in the dictionary Nick and while your at it
look up "Facts".

[Nick]

Then you hit the nail on the head did you not Sharon since this applies to what you do every day. You present no facts only propaganda. You are a liar and a hypocrite.

[TXsharon]

Personal attacks do not equal debate or rebuttal of facts. Personal attacks expose your immaturity and inability to provide sound arguments. =)

[The Judge]

Talk about someone not knowing facts and law Tx Sharon.

[Gneralissimo Santa Anna]

Texacan interloppers. Get off of my land. All gringos are given to sundown 12/31/2007 to get off my properties.

Lands now occupied belong to the sovereign state of Mexico. You no longer have rights in Mexican occupied lands.

Vacate the premises or face explusion by PEMEX. All minerals are now owned by the sovereign nation of Mexico. We will drill where we want, when we want, and how we want. Vacate all gringos.

[Barbara]

TxSharon is mad. And I mean that in the mental sense. Stark raving lunatic mad. That is the most insane irresponsible, socialist remark I have ever heard. You are just plane mad.

What kind of tme do you have on hand to post such a website and make such insane statements. It bars on something the New Black Pather party might post on their webite, or the past Republic of Texas. Maybe we should just give Texas back to Mexico, I mean it is occupied territory, correct? So really all minerals are owned by Pemex and you have no say in the matter. Absolute madness.

[RealTexasSharon]

Is this woman, Tx Sharon for real, or is she posting from an Al Queda cave somewhere in Pakistan?

[Debbie]

Sharon, the thing that lets me rest at night knowing someone like you is out there is the fact, YOU WILL NEVER EVER BE IN POWER. Otherwise there would be civil war.

How our educational system ever produced someone like you makes me believe our educational system has absolutely failed. Your statement is just absolute nonsense.

[Nick]

Here are the words from the Nazi Environment Police:

"Many of the people commenting in this thread "are" mineral owners, that should have nothing to do with protecting our environment."

There you have it. Your rights are denied. To hell with the constitution, Bill of Rights, out the window. The Grand Ruler Tx Sharon has used her dictatorial powers to deny your mineral rights if you own any, which a large portion of the population does in CFW. So what grand edict will she throw out next? All first born should be put to death to save the planet, as less food will be used and oxygen. Or animals have more rights than human life? How about abortions. Probably does not even bother Texas Sharon at all. But the environment. To protect that at all costs all rights can be denied, no problem.

[Margie]

Where have I heard or read that statement before, FOR THE GREATER GOOD? Possibly when Hitler sent Jews to the concentration camps, FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF GERMANY? Or in the USSR, when Stalin sent people to the the Gulags, FOR THE GREATER GOOD? Or how about in Darfur at the moment, as Christians are being butchered, FOR THE GREATER GOOD? And who is to say Sharon may choose someone elses right to deny, FOR THE GREATER GOOD? Does that sound like the same country your ancestors fought and worked for. Sounds more like communisms or socialism to me. How would you define it? In Germany in WW II, a minister of a church made a comment to the effect, "First they came for the Jews, and I did nothing. Then they came for the mentally incompetent, and I did nothing. They came for the gypsies, and I did nothing. And then they came for me, and no one did anything." Tell what you really are Tx Sharon, a communist and socialist.

[Sarah]

Sharon, you are nothing but a communist. The grand ruler speaks again telling the world it is just fine on taking away someone's property rights. Well, how about I come to your ranch and just deny you all you property rights? How would that meet with your satisfaction?

See you in court.

[TXsharon]

Companies going out of their way to respect surface rights like this?
http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-you-signed-lease-with-chesapeake.html

Many of the people commenting in this thread *are* mineral owners. That should have nothing to do with protecting our environment.

I am thankful that there are people in this world who put the greater good before profit.

I am thankful for people like Don Young who is constantly degraded by people who don't put the greater good before profit.

[Marge]

If you bought surface only in Wise County, then you only paid market value for those rights. Mineral rights have value that are also guaranteed by the constitution last time I checked. So I can take away your rights as well any time I feel like it?

If mineral rights are denied then you should be sued for inverse condemnation.

If you buy next to a railroad track or airport, then you have no right to complain about trains or planes. Same thing with oil and gas. Don Young is a jerk.

[Wes]

The mineral laws were not written in ancient times. They are current. You are talking about an industry that pays more taxes, provides more jobs and benefits this state more than any other industry ever has. Now I know most of you writing here are plainly Don Young buttlicks, but get a clue. Many companies go out of there way to respect surface rights, but mineral owners (Ever hear of the Texas Royalty Owners Association) have rights as well. So unless you are prepared to compensate the mineral owners for rights you wish to take away then shut up.