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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