Surface Ownership is a Legal Myth

Real Estate is earth, rocks, coal, limestone, clay, water, oil, gas and all the mineral elements that you walk on when you stand in your field. There is no "Surface" above it. No magic realm apart from the earth itself which is somehow distinct and separate from the "minerals". Try standing on your land without your feet touching the earth! When a person leases their minerals, they are leasing all their land and all their rights in that land. They retain a "Surface Myth"; no more! If your minerals have been severed and not just leased, then as owner of the "Surface" you really are a mere tenant on the earth someone else owns and they can come in upon you and take that earth from you. Of course you can have the "Surface back" when they "Reclaim" the earth they took away. My humble advice is to think long and hard about the reality of what you are doing with the most precious asset you own.............your land.

A great deal of land in Pocahontas County and WV has been severed into "Surface" and "Minerals" and the owners are usually large corporations which got these assets years and years ago for pennies. Now its nearly impossible for a surface owner to buy back his/her minerals. As a note, the Farm Land Protection Board can not accept an easement on farm land that does not have the minerals with it. The purpose of our county Farm Land Protection Board is to preserve farm land for future generations. The Board believes that farms and farm land are essential to the continuing strength of America. When a land owner has leased or sold mineral, oil or gas rights, the owner of these underlying rights can extract them and, in that process, often destroys the quality and character of the surface soils. Reclamation after mining or drilling can not restore the land to its prior fertility or character.