Having a well drilled near your house generates a lot of disruption. There is noise from the drilling, with something on the order of 2,000 truck trips and round-the-clock lights. I’ve been told you can feel the rumble in the ground when fracking is going on near you.
An article in the Wall Street Journal explains Energy Boom Puts Wells in America’s Backyards.
The level of tolerance from neighbors of all those wells is pretty much based on whether those neighbors are getting a check or not.
Sometimes the mineral rights to land are split from the surface rights. That can generate painful results:
Russ Braudis, the former mayor of Azle, Texas, northwest of Fort Worth, says one subdivision there was split down the middle. Half the residents owned their mineral rights—and got leasing and royalty checks—and the other half didn’t. “Whether you were for it or against it,” he says. “That’s where the line was drawn.”
Half the subdivision was fine with drilling and half upset. After smiling a moment, I do understand. If you are compensated now and for many years into the future for the disruption today, those disruptions are much more tolerable. I understand being upset if there is nothing but disruption.
There is a downside to the huge energy boom. We do need to get right how we collectively handle the disruptions.