United States: State to lease forest land for gas drilling.

Byline: manish03

The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will lease 31,967 acres of state forest land for deep gas well drilling, an amount that could meet a legislative mandate to raise $60 million from the sale of such leases in the 2009-10 budget year.

DCNR Secretary John Quigley said today that offering leases on the forest land balances the state's environmental and fiscal obligations.

"We chose these tracts of land after extensive environmental reviews to protect the health of the forest now and in the future, to allow for gas and timber extraction and public recreation, and to keep ecosystems intact that support a diversity of wildlife and plants," Mr. Quigley said.

The six tracts proposed for leasing are located in the Elk, Moshannon, Sproul, Susquehannock and Tioga state forests in Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton, Potter and Tioga counties.

The lease sale requires a minimum bid of $2,000 an acre and royalties of 18 percent. If the state gets $2,000 bids on all the offered acreage it would raise almost $64 million.

Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango County, who pushed for the lease sale as chairwoman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said she is pleased that DCNR moved quickly to implement an important part of the budget and is hopeful the offering will be successful.

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