Are Leaseholders Ready for Oil?

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

September 29, 2011 | 4:27 PM

The American Agriculturist has this piece on the new prospects for oil in the Utica Shale but warns leaseholders to check their lease to see whether it covers everything beneath their land.

“Most gas leasing contracts signed in recent years cover natural gas, gas liquids and oil in all formations, according to Jim Leonard, natural gas leasing consultant from Endicott, N.Y. Older leases, however, may not. So landowners may want to make certain they understand their lease provisions.”