Dear HCN,
I realize I’m a little
late writing to you about your coalbed methane article (HCN,
11/5/01: Wyoming’s powder keg), but I wanted to provide a viewpoint
that probably isn’t shared by many of your
readers.
What I understand from the article is
that some landowners are upset at the development of coalbed
methane wells on their land or adjacent to their land. The
landowners generally don’t own the mineral rights, they just own
the surface rights. I’m not a lawyer, but there must be a ton of
case law and precedent that establishes those rights and the
exercise thereof. The landowners knew all about the surface vs.
mineral rights when purchasing the land. They are free to go and
try to purchase the mineral rights, but my guess is the mineral
rights are far too expensive (after all, there’s coal and natural
gas down there that could be worth a fortune), so they opted for
the cheaper surface rights to the land.
Bottom
line, if the land is worth so much to you to keep it in its
“natural state,” then buy the mineral rights.
Mike Jennison
Broomfield,
Colorado
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