Posts Tagged ‘Back Mountain complex’

Land in the Back Mountain complex will not be disturbed, since the approach is horizontal.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

LEHMAN TWP. – Board members who oversee the Back Mountain Recreation Complex will certainly appreciate any revenue derived from a natural gas lease if local Marcellus Shale development is successful, but that’s not why they approved the lease, according to the board president.

“All of the adjacent landowners to our property I believe did sign leases with Marcellus Shale companies,” said board President Richard Coslett, a dentist practicing in Shavertown, Kingston Township.

Because it was expected that natural gas drilling would be going on all around the organization’s 130-acre property, there was no reason not to sign a lease with Chief Oil & Gas, Coslett said. “But there will be no well drilling on the property &hellip absolutely not.”

“Our land is there for one purpose – for the recreational enjoyment of residents of the Back Mountain,” he said.

Back Mountain Recreation will receive a bonus payment of $12.50 per acre and, if natural gas is extracted from the land beneath the complex, the organization will receive 20 percent royalty payments.

Coslett said that money would go right back into developing the complex.

Coslett said the lease gives permission to Chief Oil & Gas to drill horizontally deep underneath the organization’s property without disturbing the surface. “Now, on the other properties, I can’t speak for that,” he said.

EnCana Oil & Gas is proposing to drill just over a mile from the complex on property owned by Lake Township Supervisor Amy Salansky and her husband, Paul.

There was “very concerned discussion” among the board members about the safety of children and adults who use the complex if natural gas wells were drilled on nearby property, Coslett said.

“We see what happened to the roads in the Northern Tier counties; we heard the stories of water being contaminated in the Northern Tier. Myself and the board are very concerned about those things happening here also,” Coslett said.

And, of course, the thought of an explosion on property near the complex similar to the natural gas well blowout in Clearfield County on June 3 would be enough to make any Back Mountain recreational enthusiast shudder.

But Coslett is hopeful state officials will make sure adequate regulatory safeguards are in place before drilling begins anywhere near the complex.

“I really think there is a lot of emotional information out there right now,” Coslett said. “I can understand both sides of the issue. Hopefully, the facts will come out.”

The organization is in the process of a multiphase development. A lacrosse field and two soccer fields opened in summer 2007. They were dedicated in May 2008 as Edward Darling Field, Flack Field and Pride Field.

Two more full-size soccer fields and two mid-size soccer fields were completed in fall 2008 and opened for use last fall. The fields are currently used by Back Mountain Youth Soccer and Back Mountain Lacrosse. A football field, used by the Back Mountain Youth Football and Cheerleading League, is the most recent addition.

The fields lie on about 40 acres of the complex dedicated to organized recreational activities, Coslett said. But the board wants to develop part of the remaining 90 acres for passive recreational activities such as hiking and biking trails and other activities.

Copyright: Times Leader