Could eminent domain be used by oil companies to acquire

[cornermouse]

property from unwilling owners who refuse to allow them to drill? Just sort of wondering.

[barbaraann]

1. hmmm....

Bush Sr. was a Landman. That oil business terminology for someone who talks landowners out of their land and/or mineral rights for the drilling companies.

[amazona]

2. they don't need the land, just the mineral rights

In the 60s and 70s, seems I heard a lot about landowners who didn't own the mineral rights getting their property destroyed by coal companies who did own the rights. I haven't heard so much about oil companies but most or maybe all of the few folks I have met who have drilling rigs on their property want the oil drilled because they get a royalty. It's a bigger problem with coal where the royalty is not enough to make up for the destruction of the land. I've heard people who have leased the mineral rights to an oil company complain about the oil company not drilling when the price was too low.

[cornermouse]

14. Did they just refuse to drill or did they cap the well that they drilled?

I know they used to drill wells and then cap them.

[amazona]

15. they capped some wells because of low prices

The landowners only get royalty when oil is being drilled, and while it might seem better to hold out for higher oil prices and consequently a higher royalty, the oil price stayed low for many years and people need to eat more often than that, so it caused a problem for some people who depended on the income from the well on their property.

[lapfog_1]

3. My take on this SUPREMELY bad decision

is yes. If any government entity decides that it is in the economic best interests of the community to condemn property, they now have the right to do so. I can't believe the conservatives aren't up in arms over this one, which is very socialist or communist in flavor.

[natrat]

21. oligarichal---i think thats a word

[NashVegas]

4. They Wouldn't Have to

All they need is mineral rights. Get that and you can do pretty much anything.

If you're buying property, check your paper work to see who owns the mineral rights on the land, they may already have been claimed.

[TX-RAT]

9. mine was

but i do get surface damages

[cornermouse]

11. I know about mineral rights, but I don't think they already have

mineral rights to all the property that might have gas or oil already.

To be honest, I've been looking at some ads which indicated that you were buying surface property only (another way of saying no mineral rights) with the thought in mind that anything I would spend money on will not have mineral rights already attached to it and wondering if the imminent/eminent domain law would affect my possession of it.

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. Think of all the Jobs

that will be created by drilling wells. And don;t forget the taxes we can collect once the well is completed. It has nothing to do with that hefty campaign contribution form the oil companies. Thats just some viscious rumor. :evilfrown:

Were back to 1774, it'[s all the kings property. You get to borrow it at the kings pleasure.

[Eugene]

6. Yes. Nevada already allows this.

[TX-RAT]

7. no

[geek tragedy]

8. Absolutely. The constitution will need to be amended to change

that horrible opinion.

[spanone]

10. I think it allows business to fuck over anyone they want

with governmental blessings.

[Sir Jeffrey]

12. You raise an interesting question here, and I would like to add...

that it will be very interesting to see what kind of leverage is given to big energy companies in the energy bill ** is trying to get passed.

Supposing that "it is in our national interest to take your land from you to get at the X under your house" is a frightening thought...and one that probably deserves serious consideration when the details of the energy bill are known.

Scary...

[alfredo]

13. In Kentucky we have the broad form deed. We had to fight for

it. Before it was difficult to get deed to the minerals and timber on your land. Before, they could strip mine the land out from under you. It didn't matter if your house was over the coal.

Now the Broad Form Deed will mean nothing. We have lost our rights to property.

I wonder what this will mean to our national parks?

[Squatch]

16. Yep. Check out this month's National Geographic on just this subj.

[nwprogressive]

17. not unless...

they have a local government's cooperation.

Guess some people are trying to get a hotel built on one justice's property. Don't know what to make of that.

[blm]

18. Yes, and they have throughout Texas.

.

[Squatch]

19. Here are a bunch of links on the impact of the question you posed

Maine

"Subject to the provisions of this section, a natural gas utility may take and hold by right of eminent domain lands or rights in lands necessary to the safe, economical and efficient operation of a pipeline and to the provision of adequate service to the public."

Montana

Interstate Natural Gas Assoc

"As pipelines are facilities that operate in interstate commerce, the power of eminent domain comes from the Federal Natural Gas Act. Eminent domain is the right of the government to take private property for public use, with compensation to the property owner."

[Ilsa]

20. Maybe they could directionally drill from another property to access the

desired reserves.

Some subdivisions in the countryside have rules about this sort of thing: allowing a company to come onto your land and inconvenience everyone else in the subdivision might be prohibited. My in-laws had that clause in their real estate papers, but it expired twenty years after the subdivision was formed, and the residents never bothered to renew it. So a neighbor allowed a drilling company to come on his property to drill. They made tons of noise, bright lights all through the area for weeks, tore up the road with excessively heavy trucks, etc. They had to fix everything, of course, but it was horribly inconvenient for my inlaws.

[jmowreader]

22. They wouldn't need to take the WHOLE property

Just the hunk they need for the well or the pipeline.

However, if you're dealing with a really recalcitrant landowner, Halliburton still makes slant-drills. Negotiate mineral rights with your neighbor and slant-drill into the oil deposit under your property. If they do it, what are you gonna do about it? You don't have the fourth-largest army in the world at your disposal.

[cornermouse]

25. Apparently they can insist that gates be left open,

put major gravel on what was once a very pleasant walk down a dirt country lane, and when they do have an "accident" and spill nasty stuff (otherwise known as pollution to most of us) on the property, force you to the expense and time of hauling them into some sort of lengthy and hassle filled process before they are forced to clean it up according to their satisfaction, not necessarily yours.

Its not the oil or gas for me. Its keeping them from taking my property away, keeping them from polluting my property and basically just keeping them off my property that is the real goal for me.

[Carla in Ca]

23. I remember someone saying that half of

OC (coastal cities) are land-lease because Shell Oil owned the land. I will have to check that out.

edited for spelling

[donheld]

24. They can and will

just you watch.