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Have I mentioned how much I hate fracking? About 3 years ago 3 wells were drilled about 200 yards NE of our house. Three months of endless trucks and the ugly drilling rig. Then came about a week of fracking and endless trucks since then. January 26th they moved another drilling rig in and drilled 2 more wells. Took until last week of March, again endless truck traffic and drilling noises. Two weeks ago the fracking crew started moving in the large water tanks and installed the extended christmas trees. Tuesday 12 fracking pump trucks and 6 silo type tanks arrived along with the assorted equipment necessary to run everything. Thursday they started fracking but stopping at 10pm each night. Endless tank trucks keeping the silos filled with whatever chemicals they are pumping along with the water. Last night they didn’t stop at 10 and here it is 9:15am and it’s still going. Absolutely no courtesy for the folks living close by. We will survive but I need some serious earplugs to sleep. Oh, and by the way, 2 more wells are scheduled to be drilled about 300 yards NW of our house within the next year and 2 more 1/2 mile straight south.

Martin,
I would go absolutely nuts, dealing with that! From living in peace and quiet, except for Mother Nature filling the air with birds singing, only to be overwhelmed by heavy machinery pounding away!
Your a better man than me!
Best to you!
Jim

That's one thing about the view outside one's front or back door, unless you you own it, it's subject to change and usually not for the better. My condolences Martin. Hopefully with the extra wells they sunk, they'll pump the area dry quickly and move on.

I'm in the city, and what once was green space and horse pasture is now a 4200 sq ft pole building and construction yard with heavy equipment. At least they try (after complaints to the city) to be somewhat respectful of us neighbors.

John

I am SO happy I live in a mineral poor area. There are no pump jacks within miles.

Only 2 pump jacks on my section but 4 shallow wells and 3 deep horizontal wells. The wells currently being fracked are on the section just north of me. I live on the E/W section line. Within 2 miles of a pin dropped on my house there are probably 20 wells. All activity the last 10 years has been deep horizontal wells. Two shallow wells on my section have been closed in recently. The shallow well on my property has changed hands 3 times since 2015. The current owners won’t close it in because of all the other drilling going on. They can come in and drill a deep horizontal well without having to negotiate a new lease.

Martin, sad to say, I know how the system works and unless you're on a first name basis with those in power, not much to do once fracking starts. There are noise mitigation steps that can reduce the gen sets and mud pumps sound levels by 10 db or so. Primarily hospital quiet mufflers and sound damping fence enclosures. However the time for starting the process to insure these steps are taken is when a well is being permitted. Then homeowners and business concerns have to be brought to the attention of the appropriate people at the State Permitting level. I've never worked for a driller but I have been in position to be in the Company staff meetings (NDA's required) when the drilling of new wells was being planned and when drilling progress on new wells was discussed. It's a high pressure (no pun intended) business and public concerns are often secondary.

Sounds like it's a good time to call on friends to feed and take a vacation.

Good Luck,

RonR

Ron, just hoping it doesn’t take too long. Seems like last time it was about a week. Not only do they have to get State permits but our City has a permitting process also. We do live in the City limits. All they care about is the $ for the permit and the royalties on production. They have permitted drilling right in the middle of a residential area on City property. No relief for the residents. Pumps have been running for 24 hours now with 1 fifteen minute break, 1 twenty minute break and 1 hour long break this evening. Pretty sure they are going to run all night again. We will survive.

Local zoning laws should make them shut down around 7pm?

Good luck Martin. As I know you've learned, the only time a surface owner has any leverage over the mineral owners rights (underground rights trump surface rights) is when the mineral rights are sold. It's a standard part of the negotiation dance. Sadly, most land owners get dollar signs in their eyes and can't see down the road on how drilling can disrupt their life. Those folks who may own their rights but only have small tracts of land often wind up in a forced pooling of drilling units and have basically zero leverage. A good oil attorney is worth his money when dealing with oil companies (did I just type that out loud), don't tell anyone I said that.

RonR