Oil, gas and other minerals, as well as wind farms, solar and other energy-related ownership rights are becoming a big issue for title insurance professionals throughout the country as the race for clean energy and onshore drilling continues. With the increase in these transactions continuing to surface, the title industry needs to adapt both in the way it searches for ownership on property and the way it insures that ownership.
The Legal Description is hosting a Webinar on April 24 at 2 p.m. ET that will instruct title insurance professionals on how to conduct better searches and transactions with these unique and, many times, difficult properties. This 90-minute educational Webinar, “Clean Energy, Dirty Title: Working through title complications for minerals, wind, shale oil and gas,” will point to specific checkpoints a title agent and underwriter need to have established for properties located above or near land being used for energy resources.
Produced by publisher October Research, the Webinar will feature Kathleen Law, an attorney with Nyemaster Goode P.C., who has represented wind energy developers on preparing agreements with landowners, zoning and other permitting and title matters; Jim Hollerbach, owner and president of Hollerbach & Associates, a San Antonio-based title research and abstracting company, which has served oil and gas, mortgage, title and vendor management businesses nationwide for more than 25 years; and Louis Canaras, vice president, senior underwriter, Stewart Title Guaranty Company and commercial production manager, Stewart National Title Services.
The featured speakers will offer title insurance professionals full training on wind farms, mineral rights and other clean energy-related transactions. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask their specific questions to the instructors in a Q&A segment during the Webinar.
The training will cover:
- An in-depth view of where wind farms are going as well as concerns with wind farm leases;
- A discussion of where oil and gas activity is happening, why it is so difficult to do a search for oil and gas rights and examples of state-specific issues that may cause problems for the title agent;
- Insight on what title agents should be telling their underwriters when dealing with wind farm, mineral rights and other types of energy-related transactions; and
- Information on the American Land Title Association’s new endorsement for coverage of mineral rights on a standard title policy.
“Title agents are finding more and more that simple surface ownership is no longer the case in many regions, where someone may own the rights to what is underground and even overhead,” said Andrea Golby, editor of The Legal Description and moderator for the Webinar. “Title agents need to know what to look for when searching title records for who owns these particular rights. This Webinar will cover both the big picture of what is happening in various parts of the country with land rights and land use when minerals and other clean-energy issues are concerned and drill down on the specific things title agents need to consider in their title searches.”
Title insurance professionals are encouraged to participate in this 90-minute training session. Register today at www.OctoberStore.com or call (877) 662-8623, ext. 6611.