Leases landing in Pike

3,255 acres in Lackawaxen, Palmyra and Berlin townships affected

By SANDY LONG

PIKE COUNTY, PA — Approximately 3,255 acres in Pike County are now under lease for the exploration and possible extraction of natural gas and oil. Five leases encompassing that acreage were recently recorded in the Pike County Recorder of Deeds Office, and affect land within Lackawaxen, Palmyra and Berlin townships.

Leases recorded to date have been signed with two companies—Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation and Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC—between March 18 and July 1, 2008.

Pike County Recorder of Deeds Sharon Schroeder said that gas company representatives have been researching the location and ownership of large tracts of land during recent months. Schroeder explained that there can be a considerable lag in time between this initial step and final recording of a lease, and that there could be a number of leases underway that have not yet been submitted to her office. The process is affected by variables such as lease negotiation and the data management services utilized by the county.

Pike County Chief Clerk Gary Orben, who oversees the county’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) office, said that county personnel are in the process of updating Pike’s current GIS maps to include a layer containing lease information.

Lease locations will be identified there, as well as on a large wall map available for review by the public at the GIS/Tax Administration Office in the Pike County Administration Building on Broad Street in Milford.

According to Orben, the county is collecting the lease information for planning and tax assessment purposes.