State land no draw locally for gas

MATT HUGHES

mhughes@timesleader.com

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has opened its land and water resources for use in natural gas drilling, but no drillers have requested to use those resources yet locally.

The commission, which manages 43,000 acres of property, voted in March to open its land to non-developmental drilling and to consider requests to use its property to access, acquire or transport water.

While the failure of driller Encana Natural Gas to find marketable quantities of gas below properties in Lehman Township and Lake Township in 2010 makes future drilling in Luzerne County seem unlikely in the short term, companies as close as Tunkhannock’s Mountain Energy Services are collecting and hauling water for the natural gas industry.

But Rick Levis, spokesman for the Fish and Boat Commission, said he is not aware of any requests to drill for gas or withdraw water from commission property in Luzerne County or in neighboring Wyoming and Lackawanna counties.

The commission has entered into two water access agreements with gas drillers so far: one for a lake in Westmoreland County and one for a lake in Clinton County. Both types of agreement must be approved by the commission’s Board of Commissioners, which is set to consider several more proposals at its next meeting in September.

Larry Bundy, a supervisor at the commission’s regional office in Sweet Valley, said he hasn’t heard of any requests either.

“It’s decided but no guidance and real information has been given to me from Harrisburg as to where or when that might start happening,” he said.

The Fish and Boat Commission manages three state-owned lakes in Luzerne County: Mountain Springs Lake in Ross Township near Ricketts Glen State Park, Harris Pond near Sweet Valley and Lily Lake in Slocum and Conyngham townships. It also owns access points to five other bodies of water in the county including Harveys Lake, but Levis said the commission will not sell access for water collection at those points.

The commission hopes to use funds gained through gas leases and water access agreements for capital improvements, with priority to making needed repairs to 16 state-owned dams designated as high hazard.