George Lucas, of Clearfield County, learned that the hard way. His land is in the process of being torn up by people who own the rights to the oil and gas, which were sold off years ago.

He ran into even further problems when the drilling company illegally dumped some type of liquid on his land from another drilling site. While Lucas is waiting for lab results of the mysterious liquid, he wants to give other land owners a strong warning.

"If you don't own the oil and gas rights, the companies that come in and extract those minerals can do just about whatever they want," he says. "They can put in roads, make sights to drill, run gas lines. I have no recourse. The gas laws in Pennsylvania when it comes to the surface owners are extremely poor."

State Representative Bud George says he agrees and plans to take an active role in changing the status quo.

"There's got to be something state government can do, something that will help these individuals that have been powered over, simply because of the statement, we own it and we have the right to get it out."

The drilling company that dumped the liquid has been written up by the DEP, and may be fined and penalized pending lab results.