Dave McMahon is a lawyer who wrote the West Virginia Surface Owner’s Guide to Oil and Gas.
The oldest Wayback snapshot from archive.org is from Jan 1, 2008. As of 2025, the website is still online!
The WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization (WVSORO) is a statewide membership organization formed in 2007 by concerned landowners, public interest lawyer Dave McMahon and WV Citizen Action Group. We serve as resource for our members and others who are looking for information and guidance on how to deal with oil and gas related activities on their land and in their communities. We also advocate for public policy and regulatory changes that will help surface owners have their rights recognized and respected by the oil and gas drillers and that will help them protect their land, air and water.
Join Us! Click here to print a membership form or e-mail info@wvsoro.org to have a membership packet mailed to you.
Contact us to help us help you educate your legislators about the need to implement the recommendations of the Horizontal Well Act studies and other protections for surface owners. Your personal stories will help make the case for the public policy and regulatory changes needed to protect your land, air and water.
Partial Funding by The Dunn Foundation.
According to this website, he will respond to an e-mail, or spend 5 minutes or so with anyone who calls on the phone with a question about their individual problem, and perhaps refer them on to a private lawyer for representation. See an example Gas Lease Checklist here.
Includes high-resolution image of a frack site. Permission to use may be obtained from WVSORO.
See: Owning the Center of the Earth
See: Gas Drillers Plead Guilty to Felony Dumping Violations
See: Drilling Wastewater Disposal Options in N.Y. Report Have Problems of Their Own – ProPublica
See: Under the surface : fracking, fortunes and the fate of the Marcellus Shale
See: Breathing is Political – Natural Gas Leases/Hydraulic Fracturing: One Property Owner’s View
See: New York State Attorney General: Oil & Gas Leases: Landowners’ Rights
See: Property Rights and Drilling
See: There’s Gas in Those Hills
See: Environmental Dangers of Hydro-Fracturing
See: No Frack Mountain
See: The Hidden Costs of Clean Coal: Longwall Mining Documents
See: Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE): Landowner Information
See: WATER | Aurora Lights. Public Health & Coal Slurry – Water Quality ::: Journey Up Coal River
See: Changing a Water Filter in Prenter Hollow, WV
See: Marsh Fork Elementary: Journey Up Coal River | A Community and Strip Mining
See: Coal River
