Posted on 11/16/2005 9:47:32 PM PST by Coleus
Refreshing to see such an unbiased post from the MSM.
Since when did CBS and Blather care about people's property rights?
Old joke from the 1974 Energy Crisis... "Fart in a jar! America needs the gas!"
Doesn't the federal goverment own most of the mineral rights in Wyoming?
They lead you on, in their RatherBiased way to think this poor rancher was defrauded or worse, but ... But Smith doesn’t have a choice. In Wyoming, the law is not on his side. Like many ranchers, he owns the surface land – the land you can see. But the gas and minerals underground are owned by another individual, or the government, which leases them to gas producers.
Wow, someone actually came and CLAIMED WHAT THEY OWNED?!?!
The horror!
But what about "Eminent Domain"? Think of all the tax dollars generated by the sales and eventual windfall profit tax collected
As usual these MSM RatherBiased types are opposed to real property rights. Apparently Rather wants the mineral rights owners to go pound sand, else he wouldnt have made them out to be the meanies in the article.
When you buy land, read your contracts. In the title report it will say who has easements to your property and whether or not you have the rights to the land under your feet or just the dirt on top. This all is a worst case scenario and is driven basically by the fact that most of the best places to drill (which don't have people living on them) are completely off limits to us. Wyoming legislature can pass laws immediately requiring drilling companies to 'fairly' compensate owners for water loss and anything else.
bump 4 later
Post Number 10 is correct, read the papers when you get the land, it will spell our who has what. This thing about surface rights and mineral rights is not new. They have been fighting over them for years.
Yep, my accountant out in Montana just bought up mineral rights to a whole valley. It seems that a bunch of the people living there didn't like it because they thought he should have given them first crack at them. Too bad for them - money talks and BS walks.
"The vast majority of Wyoming’s private property was created at the turn of the century when Congress granted homestead rights to the surface land, but reserved for itself sub-surface mineral rights."
Landowners Association of Wyoming
I think that the citizens of Wyoming should work towards a law that gives landowners the mineral rights to the property that they own. What if the federal government held all the lumber rights for all property, both private and government? Then anybody could get a license from the government and come in a strip your land down with a minimum of compensation to the landowner.
What Wyoming has now is facism.
West Virginia also has this system. I don't think it's just. But at the same time, I don't know how to fix it.
The depth where the dividing line falls depends on the deed, as does the minerals involved, and varies from area to area as well.
It isn't unusual for a surface owner to be bitter about not having the mineral rights, but it is rare they don't know about that.
Keep in mind, though, there is the anti "BIG" oil jihad going on in the media. They want those "windfall profits taxes" on "BIG" oil, even though that will do diddley squat to lower consumer costs, and may, in fact, increase them now, and hurt the long term picture even more.
When Coalbed Methane became a hot item in Wyoming (about 1996 or so) I figured they should build two pipelines, one for the gas, and one for the water which has to be pumped out of the coal seam to get the methane gas to come out of the coal, and sell both.
I'm not sure how many ranchers have wells deep enough to be tapping the water out of those coal beds, anyway, but my bet is that the numbers are few.
Hell, I think that just because I sell my car, doesn't mean I shouldn't have the right to go drive it now and then, or to keep the new owner from driving it. /sarc.
Why should Wyoming, or any other government give the rights to something to someone who either sold them or never owned them, while taking those same rights from someone who either bought or leased them?
The only thing that I disagree with is the ability of the mineral rights holders to create some truly awesome havoc on the surface. They have to compensate you, but have you ever lived near an oil well? The stench can be horrific.
I know it's the smell of money, but it's somebody else's money. I just wish most drillers would operate in a "kinder and gentler" way.
Well, hell, just because I bought a car doesn't mean that somebody can't get a lease from the government to drive it when they need it.
Why should Wyoming, or any other government give the rights to something to someone who either sold them or never owned them, while taking those same rights from someone who either bought or leased them?
I think that the better question is, why should the government own any private property?
fascism - an authoritarian form of government typified by attempts to impose state control over important aspects of life: political, social, cultural, and economic. The fascist state regulates and controls the means of production.
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