Authorities promote gas drilling at Green Tree rail yard
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U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, and state Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, are expected to meet with Green Tree officials today as borough leaders try to secure state or federal funds for Marcellus Shale operations at a railroad yard.
The legislators are expected to tour Rook Yard, the Pittsburgh home of Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, at the edge of Mansfield Avenue in Green Tree. It has become a gateway to Marcellus Shale sites in Washington County, according to Dave Montz, borough manager.
Marcellus Shale has been called the biggest natural gas field in the United States -- spanning nearly 61 million underground acres across Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.
Drilling for that gas is a business that could grow to create more than 200,000 jobs, according to a recent Penn State University study.
Sewickley-based trucking company Modern Transportation has been offloading several tons of sand for that business at Rook Yard, which is then sent by rail to Washington County, Mr. Montz said. Business has been so busy at the yard that he described it as a "modern-day gold rush."
Sand is used at shale sites to help keep gas wells open once they have been fractured from drilling.
One of the companies operating out of Washington County is Range Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas company that maintains its Marcellus division out of its Cecil office and announced in April that it was expanding drilling efforts.
The recent increase of activity in Green Tree has engendered a complaint from a person who lives near the yard, Mr. Montz said. He hopes the borough can secure funding to help solve any issues that arise from new traffic and activity in that part of town.
"It's exciting to have big industries meeting in our backyard," he said. "We just want to make sure it's a smooth process for the residents."
First Published June 3, 2010 6:30 am
