A Northern Tier township may be taking a stand Tuesday night against a major gas drilling company.
Wilmot Township Superivisors will be voting on a resolution to not let Chesapeake Energy take any more gas from wells in the township until they start paying landowners what they deserve.
That's according to Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko who says county commissioners support the move.
McLinko says property owners should get at least 12 and a half percent of the value of the gas in their royalty checks.
However he says Chespeake and and other companies are circumventing that required minimum by improperly deducting expenses such as compression and transportation costs from royalty checks.
McLinko says the practice is taking money directly our of the Twin Tiers economy.
He says most of the property owners being hurt have small properties adding that these people aren't getting rich.
McLinko admits the vote is just symbolic. It can't be enforced.
It's part of a larger effort to get a Pa. House bill approved that would ensure Pennsylvania well owners royalty checks never go below 12.5%.
He says in some cases so much is deducted from their checks the property owners actually get bills instead of checks.
