Energy In Depth's Mike Chadsey reports on a recent Road Usage Maintenance Agreement (RUMA) from PDC Energy:

"UPDATE III (4/19/13, 2:55 pm ET)

For over a year, Energy in Depth has updated our readers about RUMAs, which are agreements between a producer and a county that cover road repairs, upgrades and bonding. The idea behind the RUMA is simple: Leave it better than you found it. Perhaps even more important is that the agreement stipulates designated travel routes for heavy equipment to ensure safety and minimize impact. Recently, the Marietta Times featured one such agreement between PDC Energy and Washington County. It focused on a three-mile street in Adams Township on Dixon Ridge Road where PDC is developing a well pad site. Moving a few counties north into the heartbeat of the Utica play we find ourselves in Carroll County, which has seen great success in road repairs thanks to RUMAs. Here’s some coverage of the PDC agreement:

“Before the work began I reached out to other areas of the state like Carroll County where oil and gas companies have been doing horizontal drilling,  In 2011 those companies spent nearly $30 million on road improvements there.” -Washington County Commissioner Ron Feathers (Driller’s road work welcomed in Adams Twp., 4/17/13)

“The RUMA with PDC one of the best things that’s happened for this township.” -Adams Township Trustee Wayne Isner (Driller’s road work welcomed in Adams Twp., 4/17/13)

While RUMAs are with local governments — as written into law in Senate Bill 315 — Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jerry Wray weighed in on the topic during an interview with the Times Reporter."

READ THE REST: http://www.eidohio.org/update-iii-the-latest-ruma/