that worries attorney david porteous, who's spent three decades representing landowners in drilling leases. he fears economics may prompt property owners to sign on the dotted line too quickly. >> somebody shows up at their door with a big check. "sign this lease." of course it's tempting. what a gut-wrenching sort of a decision that you have to make, "do i take it or not?" >> reporter: still, drillers could end up being the big losers. while they're confident there's a lot of gas to be had beneath northern michigan, at this point they don't know precisely where it is, and it may not be under osceola county. diane eastabrook, osceola county, michigan. >> tom: diane picks up this story tomorrow night, when it's land owner against land owner, fighting over mineral rights also tomorrow, the commerce department releases second quarter g.d.p., and our market monitor guest weighs in on prospects for a double dip recession and just what could jump start hiring. he's marshall front, chairman and chief investment officer at front barnett associates. >> susie: the secret recipe for "nooks and cranni

. >> reporter: attorney david porteous says a surprising number of people buy property in michigan and have no idea they don't own the mineral rights under their land. >> i've seen may occasions where somebody looks out their window in the morning-- they're having a cup of coffee-- and they see somebody with a survey marker pounding some stakes in their ground. and they go out and they ask them, and the person says "well, we're getting ready to clear a location to drill an oil well." and then the landowner finds out that maybe they don't own the minerals, and frankly, there is very little that they can do about it. >> reporter: michigan also has something called compulsory pooling. it means if you don't want drilling or production on your property, but everybody around you does, the state can twist your arm. farmer larry gingrich says he was forced to have a nat gas processing station built on his land. the facility's been here more than a decade, and he's still steamed about it. >> it just sets here. i lost five acres of ground. yeah, i get a little bit of a lease, but if i had my cho