10/11/2015
I am beginning to have a problem with the concept of privately owned mineral rights. Did you know that the mineral rights of the property you own could be owned by someone else? Did you know that such an owner, or mineral rights lease holder could come onto your property put an oil well 150 feet from your house, on your property, without asking you for permission? A lot of people are finding out about that now that fracking is wide spread. A lot of people are finding they can do nothing about it.
I think this whole thing is a problem we the people should address. I have on more than one occasion heard people like Mr. Sanders or Richard Wolff advocate the democratization of the work place. They say that would bring greater equality, and narrow the divide of income inequality. I think something more is needed. The democratization of the mineral and energy wealth of our nation.
The resources of minerals and energy in this nation belong to the people. The people should be able to dictate what resources may be extracted, where the resources may be extracted, what is done with the resources and lastly the people should derive the greatest benefit from those resources.
As things stand now, there is a mish-mash of mineral rights ownership. Some are private and not severed, some are private and severed, others (about 34%) are owned by the federal government. Ever since fracking became an undesirable norm, there has been a lot of homes being sold in our nation that the mineral rights have been severed without the knowledge of the buyer. There are some banks (like Wells Fargo) that will not offer home loans on property in which these mineral rights have been severed.
This present status of distribution of mineral rights ownership is one of the causes of income inequality. For instance, the oil company either owns outright the mineral rights, or they lease the rights from privately owned or government owned mineral resources. The status of the surface of the land means little or nothing.
They extract the resource, process it, then market and sell the finished product. The only real benefactor of those extracted resources are the mineral rights owner, and the lessor. Afterwards it is the general population that is left with the aftermath of the irresponsible use of the national assets of mineral resources. Problems like global warming, ground water pollution, air pollution, surface contamination, oil spills, mine retention pond failures and a host of other real threats to the well being of our citizens are left up to our citizens. With the present political environment, one that has been crafted and fine tuned into its present form for the last 100+ years, the capitalists (big money) forces are given a de facto free reign. This is intolerable.
I therefor postulate that all resources of minerals and energy are owned by the people, and should be nationalized. The people should have a say as to who, what, where and when those resources are extracted. The people should have a say as to what products are being produced from those resources. The people should be the prime benefactor of those resources.
There are people who would fight the nationalization of the nations resources tooth and nail. People like the Koch Brothers, who have been ripping off the American people for a long time, would hate such a proposal. That is to bad for them. If they had of performed their activities in good faith, we would have never come to this. People who produce energy for our nation has at every opportunity used our governmental processes to enrich themselves at the expense of the American citizenry. This intolerable situation must end.
In conclusion, I believe that the democratization of the work place, and the nationalization of the mineral wealth of our nation will go a long way in bringing equality to the masses.
"The billionaires can't have it all."
I am beginning to have a problem with the concept of privately owned mineral rights. Did you know that the mineral rights of the property you own could be owned by someone else? Did you know that such an owner, or mineral rights lease holder could come onto your property put an oil well 150 feet from your house, on your property, without asking you for permission? A lot of people are finding out about that now that fracking is wide spread. A lot of people are finding they can do nothing about it.
I think this whole thing is a problem we the people should address. I have on more than one occasion heard people like Mr. Sanders or Richard Wolff advocate the democratization of the work place. They say that would bring greater equality, and narrow the divide of income inequality. I think something more is needed. The democratization of the mineral and energy wealth of our nation.
The resources of minerals and energy in this nation belong to the people. The people should be able to dictate what resources may be extracted, where the resources may be extracted, what is done with the resources and lastly the people should derive the greatest benefit from those resources.
As things stand now, there is a mish-mash of mineral rights ownership. Some are private and not severed, some are private and severed, others (about 34%) are owned by the federal government. Ever since fracking became an undesirable norm, there has been a lot of homes being sold in our nation that the mineral rights have been severed without the knowledge of the buyer. There are some banks (like Wells Fargo) that will not offer home loans on property in which these mineral rights have been severed.
This present status of distribution of mineral rights ownership is one of the causes of income inequality. For instance, the oil company either owns outright the mineral rights, or they lease the rights from privately owned or government owned mineral resources. The status of the surface of the land means little or nothing.
They extract the resource, process it, then market and sell the finished product. The only real benefactor of those extracted resources are the mineral rights owner, and the lessor. Afterwards it is the general population that is left with the aftermath of the irresponsible use of the national assets of mineral resources. Problems like global warming, ground water pollution, air pollution, surface contamination, oil spills, mine retention pond failures and a host of other real threats to the well being of our citizens are left up to our citizens. With the present political environment, one that has been crafted and fine tuned into its present form for the last 100+ years, the capitalists (big money) forces are given a de facto free reign. This is intolerable.
I therefor postulate that all resources of minerals and energy are owned by the people, and should be nationalized. The people should have a say as to who, what, where and when those resources are extracted. The people should have a say as to what products are being produced from those resources. The people should be the prime benefactor of those resources.
There are people who would fight the nationalization of the nations resources tooth and nail. People like the Koch Brothers, who have been ripping off the American people for a long time, would hate such a proposal. That is to bad for them. If they had of performed their activities in good faith, we would have never come to this. People who produce energy for our nation has at every opportunity used our governmental processes to enrich themselves at the expense of the American citizenry. This intolerable situation must end.
In conclusion, I believe that the democratization of the work place, and the nationalization of the mineral wealth of our nation will go a long way in bringing equality to the masses.
"The billionaires can't have it all."
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