Protecting Your Surface Rights - What Not to Do
If you live in rural Colorado, then you probably have a tractor, bulldozer, semi, or other heavy equipment to block unwanted oil and gas equipment from coming onto your land. When that unwanted equipment shows up at your door, you’ll know what to do to keep them off. Maybe you’ll even put that shot gun in the back window of your pickup to let them know you mean business. These antics are likely to get their attention and likely to let them know that they aren’t wanted or welcomed. Odds are they will turn around and pack up shop. You’ve accomplished what you set out to do.
Who Can Come on My Property
While this would seem like the best course of action, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, in most instances, this is the exact conduct you want to avoid as a landowner. As a landowner you might believe that an oil and gas lease, surface use agreement or easement agreement prohibits the oil and gas company from coming onto your property or taking a certain course of action under a certain clause or provision in the agreement. While your belief may be well founded and even correct, the ultimate arbitrator of such agreement is a judge or jury. The judge or jury may not agree with you. The judge or jury may find the company’s rationale convincing or they might simply interpret the agreement differently that what you believed you agreed to.
Oil and gas companies are big operations and they are big business. The cost of their daily operations is astronomical. In certain instances, their daily equipment and labor can easily reach the tens of thousands of dollars. Why does this matter? It matters, because if you are wrong about your agreement with the company you may be liable for the disruption in their operations. At tens of thousands of dollars per day, you may be forced to sell your ranch or farm if you are wrong.
Surface Rights - Best Practices
While it is always best to try and work out a problem with the other side, when a dispute escalates to the breaking point and you’re ready to make them stay off and keep out of your property, you should consider utilizing the court process rather than blocking access in order to limit your potential liability. In Colorado, there are various types of relief available including temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and final judgments to prohibit the company’s activity. Most often these court processes can be utilized to avoid exposing yourself to financial ruin if you’re wrong.
Jenna H. Keller, Esq.
Attorney at Keller Law, LLC. (www.kellerlawllc.com)
Jenna H. Keller defends property rights and provides legal services to farmers, ranchers, rural property owners, and severed mineral interest owners in the areas of estate planning, natural resources (oil, gas, wind), real estate, and water.
DISCLAIMER: The information in this article is for general information purposes only. This article should not be substituted for legal advice and should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or reading this article does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You are encouraged to contact an attorney for legal advice concerning the information provided in this article