Drilling rigs, damaged roads

Damascus ponders post and bond ordinance

By TOM KANE

DAMASCUS, PA - Your roads are going to be shot to hell. Get ready for it, is the word from officials in the western Pennsylvania town of Hickorywhere natural gas drilling has occurred.

And one such way to get ready to insure against serious damage to roads by heavy drilling equipment is to have a post and bond ordinance. If the township has such a program, gas drilling companies must post a bond for road repair at the beginning of the process.

“That’s going to be a problem for us,” said Jeff Dexter, the chairman of the Damascus Township board. The township doesn’t have a post and bond ordinance. “It’s going to cost a lot of money [to create one] because an engineering study of township roads must be conducted before setting weight restrictions.”

Engineering studies are expensive since they deal with factors other than weight restrictions. The material content of the road construction and traffic patterns used by trucks must be considered. Existing road damage, drainage capabilities and traffic must also be documented.

But even with a post and bond program, Dexter said the compensation from drilling companies will not be adequate.

“All the post and bond program will allow a township to demand from a hauler is $6,000 per linear mile for unpaved roads, which is what our roads largely are,” Dexter said. “That’s just not enough. We are hoping that the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) will lobby Harrisburg to make that amount higher.”

A letter from PSATS Assistant Executive Director Elam Herr sent to the House Transportation Committee on May 30 requested that, due to the sudden rise in road maintenance costs, committee members consider raising the amount limits of bonds from haulers.

Dexter said that PSATS will hold a training session for officials and staff on how to develop an ideal post and bond program. Without a post and bond program, the only way a township can recover the cost of repairing roads is by suing the haulers that caused the damage.

The gas drilling companies have indicated that they have no problem paying for road damage they cause if the program is administered fairly.