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| Pa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas Windfall |
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BusinessPa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas
WindfallPa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas
WindfallThe Associated PressFarmers in
Northeast Pennsylvania are leasing their land
to natural gas companies and hoping for a
multi-million dollar windfall. (July
14)((Susquehanna County, PA))
NATS: cow noises It may look like
an ordinary Pennsylvania farm - but what lies
beneath appears to be worth millions of
dollars. NATS: rooster
Before she realized the REAL cash cow on
her farm, Elizabeth Downey put the land up
for sale, needing money to keep the family
afloat. ((Elizabeth Downey, Farm
Owner)) "We needed the money to
help raise this child." But in
what has become an everyday occurrence here,
a better offer came her way. NATS: natural
gas well being drilled She
leased her property to a natural gas company,
and stands to make millions of dollars over
the next several years in royalties.
NATS: rooster crowing. There's
a land rush underway here. Just
over two years ago "land men," many from
Texas; started leasing mineral rights from
landowners here for as little as two dollars
an acre. Now, the going rate has
skyrocketed to 2 thousand, 500 dollars an
acre, for a five year lease. ((Tom Murphy,
Penn State University)) "You have
whole communities that have essentially won
the lottery, because of these lease
payments." Tom Murphy is an
agriculturalist from nearby Penn State
University. "This is a huge
mineral resource that's coming to market at a
time the market is asking for more and more
gas. There is really no land for sale any
more. In about the last six to eight months
any land that came to the marketplace has
disappeared." The source of the
fuel, and thus the wealth, is a 300-million
year old land formation called the Marcellus
Shale that stretches from West Virginia to
upstate New York. ((Ted Shaffrey,
The Associated Press))
((Susquehanna County, PA)) "Geologists have
known for more than a century that the thick,
hard shale here contains lots of natural gas.
"But it wasn't until now that it made
economic sense to go deep underground and
unlock it in large quantities. "New drilling
technologies and rising fuel costs have
changed all that. "But here in Northwestern
Pennsylvania, the natural gas market is
purely speculative. "Not even one cubic foot
has been extracted and brought to market.
Yet." NATS: tractor Ted Barbour
stands to make 15 percent of all the natural
gas mined from his family farm - if it
produces. "Hope changes a lot
of things, and there's a lot of hope here
this is going to be a big thing. But that's
tempered with the fact they haven't put a
pipeline in yet." Gas companies
and others have plans to build a pipeline
from these farmland wells into the huge
markets of New York City, Philadelphia and
other densely populated areas in the
northeast - by the end of this year.
Lester Greevy and Dale Tice are attorneys
who broker deals between land owners and oil
companies - and business is good. ((Lester
Greevy, Lawyer)) "Just the energy crunch
created a perfect storm." ((Dale Tice,
Lawyer)) "Who knows how high the
prices are going to go? A lot of certainty
and a lot of excitement right now."
Geologists speculate some of these prospect
wells may produce up to three million cubic
feet a day of natural gas. Ted Shaffrey, The
Associated Press, Susquehanna County,
Pennsylvania
Tags : pa natural_gas pa. farmers hope natural gas windfall |
|
Affichage : 3816
Durée : 179 s |
| Pa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas Windfall |
 |
PlusPa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas
WindfallPa. Farmers Hope for Natural Gas
WindfallThe Associated PressFarmers in
Northeast Pennsylvania are leasing their land
to natural gas companies and hoping for a
multi-million dollar windfall. (July
14)((Susquehanna County, PA))
NATS: cow noises It may look like
an ordinary Pennsylvania farm - but what lies
beneath appears to be worth millions of
dollars. NATS: rooster
Before she realized the REAL cash cow on
her farm, Elizabeth Downey put the land up
for sale, needing money to keep the family
afloat. ((Elizabeth Downey, Farm
Owner)) "We needed the money to
help raise this child." But in
what has become an everyday occurrence here,
a better offer came her way. NATS: natural
gas well being drilled She
leased her property to a natural gas company,
and stands to make millions of dollars over
the next several years in royalties.
NATS: rooster crowing. There's
a land rush underway here. Just
over two years ago "land men," many from
Texas; started leasing mineral rights from
landowners here for as little as two dollars
an acre. Now, the going rate has
skyrocketed to 2 thousand, 500 dollars an
acre, for a five year lease. ((Tom Murphy,
Penn State University)) "You have
whole communities that have essentially won
the lottery, because of these lease
payments." Tom Murphy is an
agriculturalist from nearby Penn State
University. "This is a huge
mineral resource that's coming to market at a
time the market is asking for more and more
gas. There is really no land for sale any
more. In about the last six to eight months
any land that came to the marketplace has
disappeared." The source of the
fuel, and thus the wealth, is a 300-million
year old land formation called the Marcellus
Shale that stretches from West Virginia to
upstate New York. ((Ted Shaffrey,
The Associated Press))
((Susquehanna County, PA)) "Geologists have
known for more than a century that the thick,
hard shale here contains lots of natural gas.
"But it wasn't until now that it made
economic sense to go deep underground and
unlock it in large quantities. "New drilling
technologies and rising fuel costs have
changed all that. "But here in Northwestern
Pennsylvania, the natural gas market is
purely speculative. "Not even one cubic foot
has been extracted and brought to market.
Yet." NATS: tractor Ted Barbour
stands to make 15 percent of all the natural
gas mined from his family farm - if it
produces. "Hope changes a lot
of things, and there's a lot of hope here
this is going to be a big thing. But that's
tempered with the fact they haven't put a
pipeline in yet." Gas companies
and others have plans to build a pipeline
from these farmland wells into the huge
markets of New York City, Philadelphia and
other densely populated areas in the
northeast - by the end of this year.
Lester Greevy and Dale Tice are attorneys
who broker deals between land owners and oil
companies - and business is good. ((Lester
Greevy, Lawyer)) "Just the energy crunch
created a perfect storm." ((Dale Tice,
Lawyer)) "Who knows how high the
prices are going to go? A lot of certainty
and a lot of excitement right now."
Geologists speculate some of these prospect
wells may produce up to three million cubic
feet a day of natural gas. Ted Shaffrey, The
Associated Press, Susquehanna County,
Pennsylvania
Tags : pa natural_gas pa. farmers hope natural gas windfall |
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Affichage : 1115
Durée : 179 s |
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