Web seminar to cover issues related to natural gas leases

1/10/2010 3:33 AM

A Web seminar to address ongoing implications of natural gas leases will be available at 1 p.m. Jan. 21.
While many landowners across Pennsylvania have signed lease agreements with natural gas exploration companies, new questions - which may or may not be clear in the original leases - continue to emerge. A discussion of these questions will be the focus of a free Web-based seminar titled, "Post Leasing - Considerations of What Happens Next, Lessons Learned to Date."

Sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the seminar will provide information about the scope of existing and additional lease agreements. The seminar will address some of the trends landowners have been observing as the gas extraction phase begins to ramp up in many parts of the state. Some of these trends include negotiations with landowners for siting the well pad, lease extensions, the addition of roads, pipelines, sound mitigation and the need for timbering. The seminar is available at http://naturalgas.extension.psu.edu/Events.htm.

Online participants will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions during the session.

The seminar is part of an ongoing series of workshops addressing issues related to the state's Marcellus Shale gas boom. One-hour seminars also will be held at 1 p.m. on the following dates:

n Feb. 18: "Underground Injection Wells as an Option for Disposal of Shale Gas Wastewaters: Policies and Practicality." The presenter will be Karen Johnson, chief, Groundwater and Enforcement Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3.

n March 18: "The Impact of Marcellus Shale: What Do the Economic Impact Studies Imply?" Presenter will be Timothy Kelsey, Penn State Cooperative Extension state program leader.

For more information, contact Joann Kowalski, extension educator in Susquehanna County, at 570-278-1158 or jmk20@psu.edu.