Who owns the mineral rights?
My sister now does. This land has been in the family for over a century.
As the article points out, they are talking about the Monterray Shale, of which, a large part of it is split estate. The surface rights are privately owned and the subsurface rights or mineral rights are owned by the BLM.
Obama's Interior Dept first auctioned a smaller portion of these BLM subsurface rights in 2011 and then a larger portion in Dec 2012.
When it comes to drilling in a split estate, the surface owners don't receive royalties so they usually oppose drilling.
Whereas SatinDoll's sister owns both the surface and sub-surface rights, there are going to be a landowners opposed to this drilling because they have to suffer the activity of drilling but won't receive a royalty. NIMBYs.
The sister's land is probably not covered by this activity thus far, but a oil company land man could approach her in the future about a drilling lease. It is always a good idea to talk to a lawyer first.