Several dozen landowners in Bedford County have found themselves between a geologically formation and a hard place. They will likely be in court and tilting against a massive gas company resisting the sale of underground storage rights.
Here's a short summary of the twisted path that got them there.
They've already tapped their property natural gas once -- from the Oriskany sandstone formation. That,it seemed, could have been the end of it.
Then last year, Spectra Energy and New Jersey Resources unveiled plans for one area underlying about 40 parcels – for natural gas storage in those old Oriskany holes. The joint venture wants to pump natural gas into the ground – 12 billion cubic feet of it. The company got approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates interstate pipelines and storage.
The process has just started in federal court in Pittsburgh and a judge and a panel of experts, it is presumed, will make sure landowner are properly compensated for the underground storage rights.
Here's the problem: The landowners want to get to the natural gas in the Marcellus formation, which they also have underfoot. They fear that if the Oriskany layer is filled with natural gas, it would preclude them from teaming up with a natural gas company for getting their Marcellus gas for decades. A Marcellus lease and royalties, they figure, could end up being worth much more than a storage lease. The Oriskany layer, they say, could be productive again with modern fracking and drilling techniques.
-- David Falchek
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3 comments:
Is FERC going to stop the project or what is the status?
Will this apply to all gas storage fields in the state, ie also those in Western PA ? What is the Federal Court case name ?
Want to know more of the landowners comments telling you what FERC has done to their properties based on an oath?
Go to: ferc.gov
choose: elibrary
enter docket #: CP08-15
FERC seems to have a record elsewhere in the country according to other dockets that they have allowed storage companies to take gas wells for projects and FERC did not review production records to ensure the wells are depleted; FERC does not review any formations such as the Marcellus which lies 111 ft from the Oriskany; FERC tells landowners, this is not their job. FERC takes the oath of a private company for profit then gives this company the power of eminent domain. FERC tells landowners it is a compensation issue when they question whether the wells are truly depleted, asks for metering, asks to produce the Marcellus Shale before gas storage. Do you feel it is a compensation issue? Landowners feel FERC needs to change the way they review proposed storage projects. The legislative representatives don't have a clue what landowners are trying to tell them needs changed at FERC; representatives don't understand or maybe can't hear and need a hearing aide adjustment because nothing is happening for the landowner while this private company is in the drivers seat and FERC placed them there. Who created an agency with such power to make decisions based on oaths?
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