Allegheny Township approves natural gas fracking deal beneath the Tredway Trail

Allegheny Township supervisors are pumping up the township coffers with approval of an oil and gas lease with Olympus Energy.

The “nonsurface lease” approved unanimously by the township’s three supervisors is for 27.7 acres of the Tredway Trail.

Township Manager Greg Primm said the land involved is from the end of the trail at Braeburn in Lower Burrell up to the yacht club along the Allegheny River.

Under the terms of the agreement, the township stands to raise at least $61,000 in revenue and conceivably a lot more depending on how much natural gas is extracted.

The agreement calls for Olympus to pay the township $2,200 per acre upfront, which totals $60,940. In addition, the township will receive a royalty of 16.5% on the value of the gas extracted.

“They only need to use a third of the trail, but they are offering us on all 27 acres because it is the township,” Primm said, adding that Olympus views it as a way to help out the township.

Energy companies obtain the lease agreements for fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. It’s a process in which oil and gas are extracted from Marcellus shale bedrock thousands of feet below the surface by injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

Supervisors chairman Mike Korns said: “That offer came in lower, but our township manager negotiated with them and came up with what I consider to be a damn good deal.”

He said the gas well involved with the lease actually was drilled in Upper Burrell, but it draws underground natural gas that is in Allegheny Township.

Representatives from Olympus Energy did not respond to messages from the Trib seeking information about whether users of the trail will notice any drilling activity.