Thursday, January 31, 2008

NWPOA Northern Wayne Property Owners Allience

Hello NEWBIE,
Welcome to the Community at large and the Community of the NWPOA.
While I can not tell you how to proceed with your attorney in Honesdale I can share with you some of my thoughts and observations as well as offer you a mini update from the Alliance.
Let me preface this email with the information that I am not an attorney and in all instances do not give legal advice. Only an attorney and perhaps only an attorney specialized in oil and gas should do that for you. I have spent a great deal of time learning all I can together with a tremendous bunch of neighbors who have at their collective disposal a wealth of resources.
We are farmers in West Damascus. We do not work off of the farm. We love our farm and our children plan to continue on the tradition.
I know that by banding together as neighbors and friends the price being offered has gone from $25 -$300 per acre to $750 per acre. That is not because our land has changed that is because we became united.
I know that earlier only company leases were offered with no or next to none protective addenda. Now that we have negotiated for protections (of which most are agreed to) the Company has begun to freely offer some of those to land owners individually who are willing to sign out side of the group or who do not know about the group. The community at large is already getting great benefits from the NWPOA even if they are not part of the group. Think what happened just 6 month ago to your neighbors next door before the group existed. They signed company leases for very low up front money.
The Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance is far over 50,000 acres. It has a sister group in New York State of 10,000 acres which blocks in the pipeline to our east. To our west in Susquehanna County we have significant acres as well. The Susquehanna County Farm bureau just completed Meetings in that County similar to the Meetings sponsored here by the Wayne Pike county Farm Bureau in Damascus.
The result has been that multiple companies are now courting us! They are calling and emailing us! They want to position in Marcellus Shale. The companies are respectable and certainly have the financial ability to partner with us. They include:
Equitable Productions
Noble Energy
Cabot Oil and Gas
Chief Oil and Gas
Southwestern Energy
Exco/ North Coast
AND OF COURSE
Chesapeake Appalachia llc
That is 7 companies have come in to this process in just a few short weeks. The competition is purely a result of the property owners banding together. This put us in a very favorable position. The acreage continues to increase daily although I am not actively soliciting for more land. We believe that one fair deal for all of the area would be greatly beneficial to all of the residents.
We have used multiple attorneys at this point and are hiring one final oil and gas attorney collectively to carry the process through the final stages of the negotiations.
When the process is completed we will have one favorable lease draft for each member to consider. If you own 3 separate parcels you will have 3 separate leases listing each parcel individually. Your leases will be identical except for parcel Id information and further they will be the same as your neighbors.
You can take it to your attorney for review. You can choose to sign it or not to sign it.
I will be working with the NWPOA Committee to develop the best deal I can. I will be considering the final offer. I will be waiting to take this document to my attorney if I feel it would be warranted, once it is completed. I will not sign until I am sure that our farm and natural resources are adequately protected.
I will be encouraging the NWPOA to use its position to negotiate a higher royalty payment. It is the royalty payment that my children will have to live with since shale wells can produce gas for a very long time.
I also believe, like you that the Alliance is making history today. I think this process, our process, will change the way people negotiate leases in the future.
I know that this is the right way to do it. I can feel it.
Thanks so much for writing, I know you are feeling overwhelmed by the volume of information emails you have gotten. But isn't it great to have all these resources and this guidance from across the country delivered to your inbox by the neighbors who live right beside you?
Marian Schweighofer 570 224 4352

Suggested Attorneys

Blogger Caution - This is a suggested list only. Absolutely NO guarantee of performance is implied. Do your homework! This list comes from another larger group in Wayne County who is a bit ahead of us in their quest for attorneys who specialize in Oil and Gas Leases. We do not recommend any of these attorneys but publish the list for your own search.

. Lester Greevy and Associates, Williamsport, PA 17801 Phone: (570) 326-6561

2. Rosamelia and Brungard, Randy Brungard, Lock Haven, Pa (570) 748-5572

3. Chris Denton, Elmira, NY (607) 734-0661

4. Richard A. Gerard, Elmira NY (607) 732-3793

5. Michael Joy, Linamin & Bilteroff, Williamsville, NY (716) 633-3200

6. Wesley A. Cramer, Washington, Pa. (742) 222-4520

7. Charles A. Schneider, The Mazza Law Group, State College, Pa. (814) 237-6255

8. Sean Cassidy, Greensburg, Pa (724) 836-4900

9. James A. Naddeo, Clearfield, Pa (814) 765-1601

10. Robert Lewis Jr. , 800 Maplewood Avenue, Ambridge, PA 15003, Phone 724-266-1000

11. Wilson, Thompson, & Cisek 1162 Elk St, Franklin, PA Phone 814-437-2121

12. Robert Clark 201 N. Market Street, New Wilmington, PA 16142 724-946-9093

13. Mathew L. Wolford, Wolfors Law Firm, 638 West 6th Street, Erie, PA 16507 814-459-9600

LLC Companies

It is important to understand that the company with which you signed may not be there for the time a gas company occupies your property. As the exploitation of a site has reached a point where it is no longer economically viable to them; sell rights to smaller firms. An attorney could put in transfer restrictions and do a complete search on the company.