Gas Wells Can Cost You: Glenn Aikens of Bradford County, PA

Published on Nov 4, 2014

Mr. Aikens received checks for ten cents and $1.10 from a division of Chesapeake Energy as royalty payments for his three Marcellus shale gas wells, after the company deducted post-production costs from his royalty payments.

Read the full story here.

"In Litchfield Township, Glenn Aikens, a member of the Bradford County Planning Commission, also has three shale gas wells on his land. Signing a lease brought a host of unexpected costs, Aikens says : $22,000 to set up an L.L.C. to make sure that his children could inherit the farm's suddenly valuable acreage in spite of estate taxes, pre-drilling water testing for the farm's seven wells (“He charged me $14,500 dollars, but I wouldn't have had a leg to stand on had I not,” says Aikens. “If they ruin the water, what do I do with this farm?”), and perhaps most painfully, the permanent loss of a valuable tax credit for farmland, now that the leased land is considered commercial property instead. Land that was assessed at $500 an acre was now assessed at $2,500 – and taxes were due retroactively."

Mr. Aiken had to pay literally thousands and thousands of dollars for the privilege of having gas wells on his property.  One royalty check from Chesapeake Energy was for 10¢.  The cost of testing the water was $14,500.  Does this sound like a lucrative enterprise for a land owner?

Royalty=10¢

"What Chesapeake claims is a crock..."

Well water from Dimock, PA

George Turner, a licensed professional geologist from Tunkhannock, has a strong message for the citizens of Bradford County.  He warns everyone that they must test their water before drilling begins, and they must follow protocol called "chain of custody."  The homeowner must prove that contaminated well water was caused by drilling and was not present before drilling was done.  Drilling companies notoriously claim, "We did not cause this," as their first line of defense.  Unless a homeowner has documented water tests, the gas company can get off the hook easily.Turner says that Chesapeake Energy's claims of pre-existing conditions on Paradise Road in Terry Township are, in his words, "a crock." 

Chesapeake says that pre-drilling water quality testing in the area was done by an independent lab and showed that nearly 70% of the residential wells had pre-existing  methane saturarion and 30% of the wells exceeded acceptable EPA standards for arsenic, iron, or mangenese.  Turner takes exception to this.

What Chesapeake claims is a crock. I've done testing in Terry Township and I haven't found any of that. I haven't found any examples of methane saturation at all in Terry Township. What they're trying to do is lay the groundwork for saying: 'We didn't do it.' That's the same thing that Cabot (in Dimock) did when people came to them about water contamination. First thing they said was: 'We didn't do it.' Well, Chesapeake is saying the same thing: 'We didn't do it.'

A resident on Paradise Road is able to ingnite the water coming out of his tap in his kitchen. According to Turner, this indicates that methane saturation has occurred- about 25-26 milligrams per liter of water. He stresses that, regardless of dramatic evidence, a well owner has to obtain documents that will stand up in court.

Read the whole article here.

Back story from SPLASHDOWN, Towanda's most reliable source of news, is here.

Breaking news:  Residents of Paradise Road were evacuated yesterday (8/4). Reported by the Rocket Courier.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

WE CAN'T DRINK NATURAL GAS!