Ohio landowners unite in anticipation of increased shale drilling

The natural-gas boom may be moving west of the Marcellus Shale, leading a group of Ohio landowners to band together in an effort to secure the biggest price for their mineral rights. Bob Rea of Salem, Ohio, and several of his neighbors have "formed a land group to educate themselves on an industry that has the potential to make them overnight millionaires," Grace Wyler of The Vindicator in Youngstown reports. The coalition, the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley, has more than 200 members in Columbiana County, accounting for about 200,000 acres of unleased land.

"We are trying to address the issues from the standpoint of how we can best protect ourselves," Rea told Wyler. "These are capitalists, and they want to make money. The way you make money is you buy low and you sell high — there is nothing wrong with what they’re doing; it just feels wrong when you are on the low side." While only about 30 of the 64,000 oil and gas wells in Ohio are currently taping into shale formations, leasing agents are aggressively pursuing Columbiana County landowners. The county recorded 550 leases in the first 10 months of 2010, Wyler writes.

Tom Tugend, deputy chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Minerals Management, noted shale drilling is still months, if not years, from playing a large part in Ohio's energy landscape. "At this point, companies are in the exploratory phase," Tugend said. "They are signing a lot of land, so we know there will be more [drilling], but how much more is hard to say." Regardless, Rea and his neighbors will be prepared. "All we want to do is try to level the playing the field a little bit," Rea said. "We want to make it so that those of us who aren’t educated in this new technology at least have a chance to defend ourselves in the negotiations to get the best that we can." (Read more)