My property has been taken out of an active unit. Can they just bump us out because they do not want to pay? Additionally our surface water runs directly onto the property where some of their wells are located. We have wells on either side of our house so, I doubt that it is a municipal issue,
Contact the operator by certified mail return receipt and ask why your property was taken out. It may have to do with the structure of the reservoir. If they are drilling horizontal wells, the surface location may not be directly over the reservoir. They may be drilling a zone a mile or more away. There can be many legitimate reasons.
It’s a weird situation there are wells on either side of my home and they’re still clearing brush and trees on my land, I thought that would be considered activity and apparently they are still using our surface water so, I’m puzzled as to how they could remove our property from the unit and not pay. I’ll have our attorney look into it. Thank you for the information.
Also, you need to find out if you own the surface and all the minerals or just part of the minerals or none of the minerals. Hopefully, you have a good surface use agreement for your water and use of it for the well pad.
We own both by way of PA purchase by simple fee deed, Our lawyer has confirmed our ownership by title search however, the water usage was covered in the lease, which means it appears that they our violating the lease contract. My understanding is that the laws have changed meaning that they should be paying for water use by way of surface agreement. My initial thoughts were that they had us in the unit for the water and maybe they don’t need it anymore or something but. the water still flows.
They have also posted new rules indicating that failure to comply with a well or failure to respond can lead to removal from the unit, we have requested re-instatement at the same previous rate, if we are re-instated I will seek a contract for a use of surface water agreement.
Definitely good to get an attorney involved in this one! Best wishes!
My property is across the street from two well pad locations and my water drains directly onto one of them. I live very close to the old AK steel Company which is now the Cleveland Cliffs Works in Butler. I thought about contacting Cleveland Cliffs because the water might be involved. My property is surrounded by wells.
Carl,
It seems like you are very concerned with the surface use of your property. Have you received any royalties from being included in the unit or was it just a preliminary unit declaration? It would be good to review units from those wells surrounding your property to see other unit boundaries have changed to include you. Surface water usage in the state is a very hot button topic. I would urge you to look into the permits for the surrounding wells to see how the wells are permitting. Plus, you can contact your municipality, borough, or township to see their perspective. In my experience, they are usually very involved in the water issue.
Hope this helps,
Rachel
CARL819,
Operators will develop proposed unit boundaries (not finalized yet). There could be a few owners holding out depending on where you were located in that proposed unit. If you are located at the end of a horizontal well leg and the owner above you refused to sign because of wanting more money, royalty, etc… The company will get with the development team and they could shorten that leg and/or remove that leg which would remove you, which is common. When you signed a lease, did you ask the landman for a proposed unit map? Do you still have the landman’s #? If not, contact the operator and/or check the courthouse for a DPU filed by the operator. A Declaration of pooling and unitization (DPU) document is recorded when the unit is finalized. That document will explain to you if they added you or cut you out.
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