About the gas drilling...where is it happening? where will it? (Woodbourne: leases, new home)

[lorac07]

Good Morning Everybody.
As some of you may remember, I am (still) looking for a new home, and am looking "out in the boonies." I am aware of the gas drilling situation (I can hear the refrain from the gas explorers heading here: "There's GAS in them there hills..."), but I'm not exactly sure where it's happening, and where it might happen. As you may guess, the LAST thing I want to do is buy a new home far away from this maddening city of Scraaaan-ton, and find a gas drilling rig parked next to my house, blaring away 24-7. Might as well have stayed HERE with the neighbors-from-h-e-double-toothpicks.

[ki0eh]

South of Montrose on 29 yesterday, I saw 2 drilling pads right near the Nature Conservancy preserve (Woodbourne Forest).

Where will it happen? In the light peach colored area on this map: Marcellus Shale - Marcellus Shale Map - Natural Gas Field PA

[highfallslover]

I think most of Wayne and Susquahanna [sp] Counties have signed with one company or the other. I don't know where they will drill but they have alot of land leased in these areas. We signed with Hess in July. Many others signed too and there are more on a list so they have alot of leased land here. Where they will drill I don't know but it can be anywhere.

[shoegal111]

I know that there are companies that are negotiating with property owners in Northern Lackawanna County at the moment. And up near the NY border as well.

[shoegal111]

Just read an interesting article about federal lawsuits related to the leases: Landowners vs. gas drillers comes to top Pa. court | AP | 09/12/2009 (http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20090912_ap_landownersvsgasdrillerscomestotoppacou rt.html - broken link)

[DavidWebb]

A friend of mine owns the airport Zaverton Field, now called Husky Haven Airport, on Rt. 29 in South Montrose and I hear she's already been paid $35,000 for exploration rights on the airport land. Soon to be millionaires in that area!!

[mbs7]

Originally Posted by lorac07

Good Morning Everybody.
As some of you may remember, I am (still) looking for a new home, and am looking "out in the boonies." I am aware of the gas drilling situation (I can hear the refrain from the gas explorers heading here: "There's GAS in them there hills..."), but I'm not exactly sure where it's happening, and where it might happen. As you may guess, the LAST thing I want to do is buy a new home far away from this maddening city of Scraaaan-ton, and find a gas drilling rig parked next to my house, blaring away 24-7. Might as well have stayed HERE with the neighbors-from-h-e-double-toothpicks.

Unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way to be certain that you will not, sooner or later, encounter drilling in your area. However, here are some steps that you might want to take to minimize your chances of ending up living in a gas field:

If you are considering a given area, first go to the county clerk's office and try to find out if leases have been signed in that area. In some counties, these records may be online, so you might not even have to make a trip to the country clerk's office. Also, you may want to talk to some of the neighbors to get a feeling for what they think about the drilling: Have they signed leases? Do they want to sign leases in the future? Do they absolutely not want to sign leases?

You will also definitely want to check to be certain that you own the gas drilling rights for any property you may buy.

If you are working with a realtor, make sure the realtor knows that you are specifically interested in a property that is not leased and is not surrounded by gas leases. Realtors are already becoming aware that many buyers don't want to be near the drilling and some homes are already being advertised as being free of a gas lease.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to be right next to a gas well in order to have problems related to the drilling. For example, if you are on a road that is likely to be used for truck traffic related to the drilling, that could be a problem. (The trucks are huge, noisy, may be carrying toxic chemicals or wastewater, and there are a LOT of them.) Pipelines may also be a problem, although it's going to be hard, at this point, to figure out where they may be sited, since at this point not many wells have been drilled.

Best of luck!

[nkotb]

Originally Posted by lorac07

Good Morning Everybody.
As some of you may remember, I am (still) looking for a new home, and am looking "out in the boonies." I am aware of the gas drilling situation (I can hear the refrain from the gas explorers heading here: "There's GAS in them there hills..."), but I'm not exactly sure where it's happening, and where it might happen. As you may guess, the LAST thing I want to do is buy a new home far away from this maddening city of Scraaaan-ton, and find a gas drilling rig parked next to my house, blaring away 24-7. Might as well have stayed HERE with the neighbors-from-h-e-double-toothpicks.

Aaah -- that would be Scraaaaan-on (the T is silent)