How far down does the nation go?

Factual Questions
1

Cecil has addressed how far up governments
own the air. How far down do they go?

If I drill to molten rock, is that still
sovereign land, or could I claim it?

I know what would happen, of course- whatever
country I started drilling in would suddenly
claim it’s their land, but is there already
a provision for that? Or would they have to
make something up on the spot?

2

Along these same lines, how high above and below my house do I own? If Monty Burns decided to slant drill for oil from my neighbor’s yard, would I own the well?

Jeremy…

Nobody ever calls me after they’ve done something smart.

3

If I’m not mistaken, you own everything underneath your property as far down as you care to dig- if you own the mineral/water/etc. rights. If you don’t, then whoever does does. Read that fine print carefully, folks.

An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.

4

Coming from an area that was big on oil and natural gas, this question was brought up when i was in high school.
Legally, as long as you own the mineral rights, everything under your property is yours. The poser was this: Your neighbor could drill under your land and you wouldn’t know. The rigs look just like regular rigs. So, if the people involved with the drilling weren’t completely honest, they could still from you and you’d never know.

5

Here in unincorporated North St. Louis County, Missouri, I DO own mineral rights and undetermined depth rights to my property. As evidence, I receive a check, twice a year, from Laclede Gas Company (local natural gas supplier) for about $3 for use of my property as a storage site for natural gas. They use the vast local karst system as a natural underground tank, and compensate those of us who stil own our rights. About 10 years back, they purchased many rights for $25 each. There are only a handfull of us who didn’t sell. My attorney tells me that they gave up more than they think, and I should hold my rights. I figured, $6 a year, for the past 10 years, and future earnings for as long as I own the property, make me ahead of the game even considering inflation. We stick the money in an interst-bearing account and will have enough for a night’s stay at the hotel/motel of our choice when the whole system goes up in a big bang, allowing that we survive the holocost.

We are told our property ownership “goes to any depth to which (we) decide to use, claim use to, or declare ownership of.”

Chuck L.

6

How does this work for mining operations? If I lived above the Detroit salt mines, would I be entitled to a cut of the profits from the ore? Would I have the right to go down there and hack out a winter’s worth of rock salt, provided that it was from a vein below my land? Of course, I think the salt mines have been closed for years, so this is all hypothetical.

neuro-trash grrrl I love your sig! ROTFLOL :smiley:

–It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.