Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Bill Utterback, Beaver County Times, Pa.
While five months have passed since a natural gas well was last drilled in Beaver County, gas-related paperwork continues to accumulate.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has issued 10 drilling permits for Beaver County sites through the first six months of 2011, including one in May and six in June, according to the DEP online records.
Rolling Acres management received four drilling permits, three this month, for property in South Beaver Township, according to DEP records. All four of the permits are for horizontal natural gas wells to be developed by Chesapeake Appalachia.
Permits were also issued this year for one property in Economy (two permits for the site, both for gas and oil drilling, to be developed by Airdale Oil & Gas); and four Ohioville properties (including two gas permits and two combined gas/oil permits, to be developed by Chesapeake Appalachia).
Of 15 DEP drilling permits issued for Beaver County sites over the past 18 months, only one, located in South Beaver, has been developed.
Permits granted to two sites in Franklin Township and one in Independence Township in 2010 have likely expired because, according to DEP spokesman John Repetz, they must be used within a year.
A permit was issued to a Hanover Township site on Nov. 3, 2010.
Keith Hohenshel, council president in Industry, said borough council was approached by Chesapeake Appalachia representatives recently about the potential of developing a well on Engle Road, but no formal application has been made to the borough.
"It was nothing set in cement," Hohelshel said. "They still have some work to do. They can't do anything until they get a permit (from the borough)."
But Chesapeake Appalachia is continuing to lease gas rights in Beaver County. The company has filed 1,770 documents with the Beaver County Recorder of Deeds office in 2011, an average of more than 10 per day. Chesapeake Appalachia filed 138 documents in the first 17 days of June.
Copyright (c) 2011, Beaver County Times, Pa.
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