Louis Perna owns his land, his business, and the home where he's lived for 20 years. Recently, Reserve Oil and Gas Company notified him that since he doesn't own those mineral rights, they had legal rights to come on to the property.

"Since they own the mineral rights, they bought everybody and say they can do whatever they want, you know, tear down my fence down. Look at that (pointing), there goes a tree. I mean, that's just the beginning of it."

Bulldozers began clearing a path through the hillside. They're going to be cutting down the trees to get to the top of the hill, where an oil rig will be.

A company spokesperson says they are working with Perna and other surface land owners across the state. Reserve Oil and Gas spokesperson Doug Douglass says, "Once we're done, state law does require us to pay him damages, and he will be compensated."

For Perna, the compensation doesn't make it right. He says, "How are you gonna value a tree after they tear it down? My property value?"

Douglass says they think the rig is good for folks in Kanawha County. He says,
"Domestic resources are needed in this country, and I think we've seen that with our reliance on foreign energy. So this is just another way for us to obtain our own natural resources and provide those to consumers throughout the state."

Perna disagrees.

"They're destroying Kanawha County," he said.