The Seismic Man Came to the Farm

Today a man visited the farm.  He had with him a map and lots of permits and contracts.  It seems the company that owns the mineral rights to my farm, and all those around me for miles was on the prowl.  They want to do seismic tests in the area.  As a property owner there is really nothing you can do to stop them. 

On his map I could see my small hobby farm, just an inch big.  The map was criss crossed with green and red lines.  The man pointed out my property, it had a green dotted line right through the middle of it, and a red line running down the side, but in my neighbors property.

He informed me of intended tests in the area which involve running a cable through my property (the green line) and drilling 30 ft deep holes for small explosives on a neighbors property (the red line).  I was not the only one.  These lines criss crossed a huge map, I was but a blip. 

He informed me that as a land owner I would get paid for this.  He also informed me of my rights to get a well test prior to the procedure.  I took him up on the offer for the well test, as water is too valuable to risk.  The contract stated that if any "damages" occurred as a result of the geophysical testing I would be compensated.

Since my property was small I would get their minimum pay out, but that payout (I am not sure I am allowed to say what it is) is about the same as I would make working a few days.  Heck they would even pay me (a smaller amount) for my trouble if they decided to cancel.

It is winter here, but he assured me that is the best time to do the tests since some of the land they have to test is swamp, they prefer to cover it in the winter when the ground is frozen. 

Of interest the entire project, just to do these geophysical seismic tests the land this way, is going to cost around a million dollars, about $2,500 per quarter section (by the time they pay land owers and the guys to lay the cable, drill holes, and so forth).

I will let you know what happens later, he figured it would be a month before the guys were in my area to lay the wire.  I told him to make a note that the crew watch out for the curious llama, perhaps I should have warned them that the ram is getting pushy too.