PITTSBURGH -- Allegheny County property owners are now receiving an invitation that, until recently, only went to folks in rural areas of Western Pennsylvania.

Homeowners in Jefferson Hills, Kennedy Township and Monroeville have been getting letters from natural gas drilling companies with offers to lease their mineral rights and a mention of royalty income.

But before you get blinded by dollar signs, Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons has a report you don't want to miss.

What follows is a transcript of Parsons' report:

We're not talking here about the shallow natural gas wells that have been drilled for years in places like Penn Hills and Plum. The companies now approaching property owners in Allegheny County are in the business of going after the mother lode: the huge reserve of gas that's trapped in the Marcellus shale formation, located a mile and a half beneath us. There's no question these companies and some landowners are making money. But at what price?

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