A couple weeks ago, I asked a couple questions of you. Thought I’d post a couple responses. Reminder. I asked, “How long has your family owned the land in Louisiana? 2) When did you lease? 3) What’s been your experience? 3) Any concerns for the environment? 4) Why did you join GHS? 5) What has been the biggest change for you?” A few of you responded. I posted a couple of the responses below.

Feel free to give us your thoughts at the bottom of this page.

Member One
"The land had been in my family for over 100 years. Some of my cousins still own their part of the surface, but I own only minerals. The surface was sold by my parents. I have approximately 231 net mineral acres in DeSoto Parish. I leased 189 acres in 2007 to Comstock and SGS for $150 an acre with a .20 royalty through Whit Porter in Shreveport/Mansfield with whom I went to high school. In less than a year it was going for $25,000 -- needless to say, I'm not happy about that. In 2010 Petrohawk leased 42 acres for $5,000 an acre with a .25 royalty.

I own land in 4 sections. Chesapeake has drilled three of them and they have done everything they said they would do, have corrected any mistakes, and the checks are always on time. The 4th section has a permit hearing this month.

I don't live there, but I do live near the Barnett Shale and I hear about the safety concerns. I think they are overblown. The water table is far above the shale.I joined GHS to be informed and I have learned a great deal as well as being kept up on current news in the area."

Member Two
"We own land and mineral rights in SE Texas mainly Sabine county and not LA but I greatly appreciate your site. I am mostly looking for objective information on these topics but I find a get a feel for that by reading the blogs which obviously have a lot of well informed and intelligent responders.

Our Dad died in late 2009 at 92 and prior to that he gave away thousands of acres of lease land for 200-300/ac because it was so much higher than the 20-30/ac that he experienced over the last 50 years. Since then my 2 sisters and myself have had a few leases in the 1500-3000 range and have become smarter about dealing with the landmen with the help of our local attorney in Texas.....Our experience with them has been to get all the information and questions answered up front since once the signatures are dry it is tough to get answers. We have only a handful of interactions with actual drilled wells, division orders, etc Yes, we have significant concern about water and aquifers but feel that if the technology is followed and done correctly that the risk is relatively small. And philosophically we are in favor of gas vs oil in terms of eco concerns."