Workshop held to help prepare area landowners

By DAVID THOMPSON - dthompson@sungazette.com
TROUT RUN — The times they are a-changing.

That statement has never been more true of natural gas exploration and the economic benefits landowners here in Lycoming County could receive by leasing their land for gas drilling.

That was part of the message delivered Thursday during a gas drilling workshop held Thursday at the Trout Run fire hall.

The workshop, which was sponsored by the Penn State Cooperative Extension, attracted more than 100 people, as well as representatives from gas companies from as far away as Texas, Oklahoma and upstate New York.

Not long ago, landowners were leasing their property to companies for $2 to $3 an acre, said Earle D. Robbins, of the cooperative extension in Tioga County. Today they are receiving a hundred times that amount, he said.

According to Robbins, the national push to find clean alternative energy is driving the market. New technology is making it easier to identify potential gas sites, he said.

Last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a record 7,300 new permits for new drilling sites and this year is on pace to surpass even that, he said.

Statewide, there are an estimated 80,000 gas and oil wells operating in Pennsylvania, most of which are in the western part of the state, Robbins said.

That could be about to change as far as Lycoming County is concerned, Lycoming County extension educator Thomas Murphy said. Two gas wells have been drilled, two more are about to be started and DEP permits are being sought for four others.

That’s a departure from a year and a half ago, when a workshop was held in which one gas company representative told the audience that it is unlikely any gas drilling would occur here, Murphy said.

Because of the drilling activity, the time is right to begin educating landowners on how gas drilling will impact their property, he said.

Murphy discussed the steps that occur leading up to actual drilling, including the confirmation of who is the actual title owner of the property, securing DEP permits, water quality and quantity testing, and seismic testing, among other things.

Property owners should understand what a drilling site looks and sounds like — trees are removed, the site surveyed and leveled, pits dug, and erosion and sediment controls put in place.

Gas drilling sites can be noisy and contain bright lights. Work goes on at a site around the clock, he said.

“It isn’t nine to five,” Murphy said. “It’s 24-seven.”

Murphy compared a drilling site to building a house. It looks “pretty ugly for a while” but once built and the land restored, “it looks pretty decent when it’s put back together,” he said.

Several gas company representatives spoke, including Matt Sheppard, of Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy.

Sheppard discussed questions landowners should ask gas companies before allowing them to drill on their property.

Landowners have a right to understand the safety of an operation, its environmental impact and how much noise, traffic and disturbed land it will produce.

Local attorney Lester L. Greevy, of Greevy and Associates, discussed “frantically asked questions” that landowners have about gas leases.

According to Greevy, an arbitration clause in a lease is essential. Arbitration is cheap, quick and binding. Going to court is slow, expensive and rulings can be subject to appeals, he said.

“The court system in this county has no experience with gas leases,” he said. “The court system is not the way to deal with this.”

Greevy also discussed whether a company can drill on one property and remove gas stored on adjacent properties.

If the drilling is straight down and does not exceed a depth of about 3,800 feet —the threshold known as they Onandoga Horizon — it can, he said.

If the well is at a depth below the threshold, it may have to compensate adjacent landowners for gas removed from their property, he said.

Snyder County extension agent Ken Balliet discussed timber cuts associated with gas drilling or the installation of gas pipeline. Balliet recommended hiring a forester to determine what the timber removed for a gas operation is worth.