Hello, this is my first post so forgive my ignorance on the subject. My family has been passing down mineral rights in Kern County for generations. In the beginning my ancestors used to receive money on the leases. There was a flutter of activity during the fracking period, then nothing. Now we are being approached again because a company wants to erect solar panels on top. Do they need our permission to do this? A surface waiver was mentioned. What is this and are we in a lucrative position? Thank you.
Stew, They want you to waive your right to drill where they want to put their solar panels. I, too, have interests in mineral rights in the Central Valley and I have done five surface rights waivers in the past several years. Did they offer you a one time payment or payments over several years as is done in Texas and Arizona? In the past a very large mineral owner in California had a policy of getting at least $2,000 per acre plus expenses related to it while reserving five drill sites per section. The drill sites are designed so as to not interfere with the solar project. The waiver involves much else and much more than the limited comments here. If you want more information, please respond with your phone number and I will call you. Obviously you should have your attorney involved Roger