Thursday, March 24, 2011

Property Owners Beware - program to be held March 28th

Julie Monnin, Darke County Municipal Judge, will be the featured speaker at a public-education program sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Darke County, announced Karen Brooks, League co-President. The program, Property Owners Beware, will be held on Monday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Science Lab at Edison Community College in Greenville. Anyone interested in this topic is welcome to attend, Brooks said.

“Judge Monnin is known for her willingness to stand up and speak out for the rights of others as was evidenced when she joined the Citizens against CO2 Sequestration to help stop the experimental project,” Brooks said, adding, “She now has other concerns, which the League has asked her to share with the public.”

According to Monnin, property owners should know their rights and the risks involved when either government officials or oil and gas agents come knocking at their doors. She said this is likely since big money is being invested in Ohio in anticipation of an oil and natural gas boom.

She said as legislation is pending to allow oil and gas drilling on public lands, oil and gas companies are at the same time spending millions to acquire leasing rights to drill on private properties - - and this is before they are certain that oil or gas even exists on these properties, she added. Unfortunately, Monnin warned, “What can be a big boom for oil and gas companies can be a bust for property owners, especially if they do not know how to negotiate leasing contracts to protect themselves from future liabilities.”

Monnin added, some property owners in surrounding counties, and perhaps in Darke, have already entered into leasing agreements. In eastern Ohio, she said property owners are concerned about technology that involves the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of rock and shale that enables gas companies to reach deep natural gas pockets. Prior to this time, she said, these gas pockets have been unreachable. This technology is of major concern to environmental groups because of its potential to pollute wells and ground water and to inundate sewer systems with toxic waste, Monnin said.

Monnin said she will also discuss eminent domain, which is the right of the State to take private property for public use. She said, “The topic is becoming increasingly important to all property owners in our current economic climate where subsurface property rights are coming under attack.”

Following her presentation, a question and answer period will follow.

3 comments:

  1. Just a way for the League of Women Voters to support Juie Monnin for her re-election in November. She had better hope that none of the points she's talking about come before her court, or ANY court----she'll be visiting the State Supreme Court Disciplinary committee !

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  2. That's idiotic. Make sure you cry and moan every time Monnin's name comes up. That's a surefire way to get people to support the candidate you support.

    Doris speaks with the authority of a law expert, yet somehow i'm unconvinced of the level of expertise.

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  3. Henry (?): Not idiotic at all---LWV has ALWAYS leaned left and now they have a so-called-Republican in their midst also pulling for Mrs. Monnin. We have never seen Mrs. Monnin's articles in the media until she heard that she had an opponent. And yes, the crying and moaning has just began !
    At least this "Doris" can spell......

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