We urge you to join your neighbors in the Killbuck Valley Landowners’ Association in order to enhance the benefits you might realize from oil and gas exploration beneath your land. We offer you the expected benefits of our Association.
This Association has been formed by landowners in southwestern Holmes County and northwestern Coshocton County. This is an association of indigenous landowners and no one else. All of the members own land in this area. The members of the Board of Trustees are landowners and are serving in a voluntary capacity – they receive no compensation. No member of the Association or its Board will receive any special benefit beyond what we are able to obtain for other members of the Association.
The Board of Trustees believes that by organizing as many of their neighbors as possible, they, along with their neighbors, will be able to obtain the best possible compensation for the natural resources that lie beneath our property as well as the most stringent protection of our environment.
The Killbuck Valley Landowners’ Association seeks to pull together the landowners in our region in order to bargain collectively with potential oil and gas lessees seeking to exploit the Utica Shale formation that is found throughout eastern Ohio. Experience indicates that gas producers are willing to pay much larger up-front fees, delay rentals, and higher royalties when they can obtain a large block of acreage than they are willing to pay to individual landowners. They are also much more willing to make binding commitments to protect the environment when bargaining for a large block of acreage. This is the basic premise of our Association. This is the only advantage that is sought by the members of the Board of Trustees. We would like to obtain these higher lease payments, royalties, and environmental commitments for ourselves as well as for our neighbors by creating an association with the ability to offer what will hopefully be a large, contiguous block of acreage.
The members of the Board of Trustees are members only because they were willing to attend the meetings. The meetings of the Board of Trustees are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month at the Glenmont School. Any persons who enroll their acreage in the Association are welcome to attend the meetings of the Board of Trustees. One of the fundamental principles of this Association is that all of our activities will be transparent to the people who enroll their acreage with us. There is no hidden agenda. A brief description of each member of the Board is attached to this letter.
At this point in time, enrolling your acreage with the Association does not carry with it any legally binding commitment. On the other hand, we do ask that any person who has enrolled their acreage in the Association not lease it independently without at least giving the Board of Trustees of the Association 30 days notice of their intention to lease and of the terms that they have been offered.
It may become necessary to ask the members of the Association to make legally binding commitments to the Association in order to enhance the negotiating power of the Association. If that happens, we will fully explain the need for such a commitment. Also, we will make the commitment time limited.
One issue that will be even more important to this Association than the amount of compensation is protecting the environment. We will insist that any deal we negotiate includes provisions to protect the purity of our soil, our ground water and our streams as well as the air we breathe. We know the risks of horizontal drilling and pledge that the environment will be protected.
The real key to this enterprise is to enroll as many landowners and as much acreage as possible. What is particularly critical for each member of the Association is to have all of their neighbors enrolled so that the Association can offer potential lessees significant contiguous acreage.
Even if your land is presently encumbered by an oil and gas lease, we would like you to join our association. If your property is so encumbered, please note the name, address and phone number of your lessee on the membership form. Also, we suggest you review your specific situation with your lawyer to determine if the encumbrance can be removed.
If you would like to join our Association, please fill out a membership enrollment form and mail it to Bob Hunter, President of the Association, 12061 TR 252, Glenmont, Ohio, 44628.
If you have any questions, you can call any of the members of the Board of Trustees. We thank you for your consideration.
Regardless of what you do regarding our Association, we urge you to be very careful about leasing your land. Do not take the first offer. Get competent advice before you do anything. The Utica Shale prospect is both a promise and a threat. Protect your property and your family’s future.
