STEUBENVILLE -Jefferson County commissioners Thursday heard a complaint about a township road damaged while moving a gas drilling rig.
Salem Township Trustee Terry Bell said Chesapeake Energy contacted him about moving a drilling rig onto a site off Salem Township Road 221 without first making improvements to the road.
Bell said the road is gravel, with about six homes.
He complained a road use agreement signed by Chesapeake states the drilling company first make improvements to a road before drilling equipment is moved to a site.
"They (Chesapeake) blatantly said our agreement is worthless," he said.
County Engineer James Branagan said the road use agreement needs to be tweaked so the language in the road use agreement is clear that improvements must be made to a township or county road prior to drilling operations beginning.
Bell said the heavy trucks bringing in equipment to the drilling site has damaged the road, especially with the rainy weather.
Branagan said Chesapeake has hired a contractor to fix the road .
"It (the road) is bad but they are trying to maintain it," Branagan said .
"We're still learning," Branagan said of the updating needed language for the road use agreement. "We'll monitor it and see what works and make adjustments," Branagan said.
The state is proposing a road use agreement for drilling locations throughout the state.
County Commissioner Tom Gentile said the proposal is now in the hands of the state attorney general's office.
See Friday's edition for more details.
