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PG: Many Local Officials Hold Drilling Leases

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

A well pad on a Tioga County farm


In many Marcellus Shale-rich counties, the local officials setting drilling policies have signed leasing deals, on their private property.
More from the Post-Gazette.

In Washington County, which has seen heavy gas well drilling in recent years, 27 percent of local elected officials have signed drill leases.
Of the 349 elected officials representing 66 municipalities countywide, 94 hold leases that were signed during the past four years, county records show.
There are 15 municipalities in which the majority of council members and supervisors have leases.
Another six municipalities are governed entirely by leaseholders, including mostly rural and sparsely populated areas such as Carroll, Blaine, Donegal, Morris, Green Hills and South Franklin.
In Carroll, near Monongahela, each of the three township supervisors has a gas lease, along with township solicitor Herman Bigi, tax collector Timothy A. Matesich, code enforcement officer Dennis Butler and three of five planning commission members.

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