I think it may be time for Royalty Owners to Organize. The Surface Owners have an organization to protect their interests. The various groups who are involved in the extraction and marketing of oil and gas have organizations dedicated to their interests. Seems like the only group involved in this business that does not have organized representation Is the mineral owners.
What do you think of the idea of organization?
Is it worth a discussion?
There is the National Association of Royalty Owners
which has an Appalachia division. There will be a meeting in early Sept. at the Greenbriar for that Appalachian division. I had forgotten about them.
http://naro-us.org/event-1719713
I expect if enough West Virginia royalty owners joined there could be a state chapter. Pennsylvania has its own state chapter.
They have a very good booklet about leasing "Look Before You Lease" .
Rather expensive but that depends on your viewpoint and pocketbook. They do a lot of good lobbying and are very active at the national level about things like keeping the royalty owners depletion allowance.
Nancy, I have been a member of NARO for quite a few years. I have seen very little activity from the Appalachia division. I finely gave up on the organization. NARO seems to be primarily interested in TX , LA and OK. I have found much more information here than I ever did there. I agree that they do a lot of good lobbying, but once again, primarily for things that concern TX & OK. I’m hoping that someone out of this group will step forward. I was also a member of the Surface Owners Rights Organization for a number of years. It is a very good Organization and before the current boom they were a mix of surface and mineral owners. However, the current operations have created such a rift between the Surface only owners and any one who owns minerals that SORO now seems to have become concerned only with the Surface owner. What we need is, a knowledgable, honest, O & G lawyer, an accountant that knows the O & G business, a good business organizer and membership willing to step up and do what is needed. I do believe that Antero is one of the better companies in this business. Oh well , it’s past my bedtime so I’ll shut up for now.
Great idea. I am in a group of six heirs. Five of us are attorneys, but no one has the knowledge to act as a consulting attorney. However, some enterprising young attorney with a lot of knowledge (hum...Kyle) might be able to do well helping with something like this. No matter how much I seem to think I know, every day teaches me differently. And it is endless. I am still dealing with leases that are over 50 years old. Some good speakers in all the different areas of this huge field. Problem is that a lot of us are not local, but well timed meeting would/could solve that. Probably a "pipe dream".
Jim, Yes, the “local” thing is a problem. I still own most of the farm that I inherited from my Grand parents, so I try to spend some time there each summer. But, most of the people that I knew growing up are since deceased. Any organization would need someone in the State to stay on top of things. The SORO group has established a pretty good blueprint for how to do it. All we need now is a few knowledgable people with the energy to make it work.
Richard, I see what you are saying about NARO and agree that the information on their website is very limited. I would be glad to join a WV based organization but like you and Jim I live out of state. Looking forward to where this goes.
I am from out of state, but pass through the area twice a year to visit family. I would be interested in a group specific to WV.