Fracking companies extracting gas from under river, other waterways since 2010 via state lease program

Waterways which have been leased to gas and oil companies dating back to 2010 are shown on this map provided by the DCNR -- including four tracts of the Susquehanna River totaling 2,869.5 acres.

Riverkeeper's note: This is the first of a two-part report from the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association. Click here for the second piece, a commentary response from Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky.

​In the Nov. 20, 2021, issue of the online Pennsylvania Bulletin, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced the execution of an oil and gas lease for publicly owned streambeds in Wyoming County with BKV Operating, LLC. 

According to the short release, the lease was effective as of March 15, 2021, and included the leasing of 198.5 acres of “submerged lands” along the Susquehanna River streambed in Mehoopany and Washington townships. 
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The lease allows “the development of oil and natural gas below and between the ordinary low water marks of the Susquehanna River solely by means of directional, including horizontal, drilling on a nondevelopment basis that will not disturb the river or its bed.”

Two days later, gas industry website marcellusdrilling.com shared a mini release about the announcement, including that the state would receive $794,000 for leasing the riverbed via this lease.

“In a nutshell, gas companies are required to pay the Commonwealth when they extract gas underneath rivers and streams, as the river belongs to the citizens of the Commonwealth,” relayed Dunn in an email response to the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association’s questions about this process. “Typically this happens when an owner of mineral rights is connecting their parcels, or the parcel is split by the strip of mineral rights under the river.”

According to Arianne Proctor, Geoscience Manager of DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry Minerals Division, a number of similar leases have been signed dating back to 2010. According to four leases she provided the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, 2,869.5 acres of Susquehanna riverbed have been leased out over the past decade along the North Branch in Wyoming, Bradford and Susquehanna counties.

“Pennsylvania is a water-rich state with a high density of streams, creeks and rivers. In order to allow for the efficient development of oil and gas resources using horizontal directional drilling, the laterals most cross under the beds of those waterbodies,” Proctor said. “No disturbance is occurring to the streambed as the well pads are on other lands, sometimes miles away. There is no known surface impact to waterways or their beds from the development and production of oil and gas authorized by the publicly owned streambed oil and gas leases.”

The river is considered a legally navigable river, according to Proctor, via a ruling by the PA Supreme Court, and the beds of navigable rivers are held by the Commonwealth “for the benefit of the public,” she said.

When asked specifically what these leases allow, Proctor responded: “Drilling under the river at the depth of the marcellus, which in these areas is around 7 (thousand) to 8,000 feet deep. It includes only the streambed from low water mark to low water mark. Gas companies can not do anything on the surface, including pulling any water. The surface is a no-go zone.”

Studies are done prior to drilling, including 3D seismic work using geophones and a “small seismic event” which sends soundwaves through the region’s geology and illustrate if there are any fractures or faulting, according to Proctor. 

“We get a copy of the seismic data and any potential faulting concerns, and confirm if there could be any surface impacts,” she said. “Since 2010, we haven’t come across any yet.”

According to Dunn, denying under-river leases “would result in more well pads and fracking because the various gas companies couldn’t cross that invisible barrier under the river that is Commonwealth property,” she said.

“The under-river lease is more a way of returning the public funds to a public value instead of just letting a gas company cross under a strip of publicly owned land without paying the public.”

Since 2010, the state has collected “about $26 million in up-front lease bonuses and another $26 to $30 million in royalties from our under-river lease program – so roughly $50 to $60 million,” said Proctor. “Those monies are part of the Pennsylvania Constitution Article 1, Section 27 trust and must be used for trust purposes.”

Riverkeeper's response

Click here to read a column response from Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper John Zaktansky about the under-river gas extraction leases.

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Susquehanna river leases
​since 2010

The following are the four tracts of the Susquehanna River leased via the state's under-river lease program since 2010. Other waterways have been leased since then, as illustrated in the map at the top of this story. The following focuses specifically on stretches of the river itself.

Tract 2042 includes 198.5 acres of the Susquehanna River in Wyoming County. It was leased to BKV Operating LLC effective March 15, 2021. See the full lease agreement by clicking here.

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Tract 2041 includes 41 acres of the Susquehanna River in Susquehanna County. It was leased to SWN Production Company LLC effective Nov. 24, 2020. See the full lease agreement by clicking here.

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Tract 2005 includes a total of 1,092 acres of the Susquehanna River in Wyoming and Bradford counties. It was leased to Chesapeake Appalachia LLC effective March 14, 2014. See the full lease agreement by clicking here.

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Tract 1021 includes a total of 1,538 acres of the Susquehanna River in Bradford County. I was leased to Cheasapeake Appalachia LLC effective May 3, 2010. See the full lease agreement by clicking here.

Among those purposes are conservation activities of the DCNR, funding projects through the Environmental Stewardship Fund and by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for cleaning up contaminated properties, according to Proctor.

“These all include things like gypsy moth spraying, reforestation projects such as planting more trees and other conservation-based efforts,” she said. Unfortunately, she added, a former administration moved some money from the oil and gas trust to general funds, which was later deemed unconstitutional, but those funds have yet to be returned.

While the DCNR sets up and executes the under-river leases, the DEP is the state agency that has regulatory control, according to Colleen Connolly, Communications Relations Coordinator for DEP’s Northeast regional office.

“The DEP relies on specific ‘permit conditions’ contained in individual permits the department issues to gas drilling companies to drill under waterways, such as the Susquehanna River, and not necessarily generic guidelines,” she said. 

Ultimately, Proctor suggested that the fact that there are no known negative impacts of fracking under the river via these leases dating back now over a decade is something people should consider a success.

“There have been no devastating impacts, nothing showing up in the news, it is basically a nothing-to-see-here thing. When there are stray gas issues in other areas, they come up on everyone’s radars immediately,” she said. “We don’t see things like a lot of bubbling in the river, where people are asking why is that stream bubbling? Is it naturally occurring methane or is it from the gas industry? The track record for these sort of leases has been clean to date.”

For more info about the state's oil and gas program and subsequent leases and policies, visit www.dcnr.pa.gov/Geology/GeologicEconomicResources/OilAndGas/Pages/default.aspx