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Farmers Want Well Pad Plugged

MORELAND TOWNSHIP — A couple in Lycoming County says they made a mistake when they signed a contract allowing a gas company from Texas to drill on their p...

MORELAND TOWNSHIP -- A couple in Lycoming County says they made a mistake when they signed a contract allowing a gas company from Texas to drill on their property. They say the well pad is not being used and has become an eyesore. Now they want it gone.

Lewis and Marian Harman say they signed a five-year contract with Range Resources, agreeing that the company could rent the land and extract gas. The couple says the company found gas under their property but never extracted it from the well pad.

Now that five years is up, the Harmans say they want the well pad gone, but they aren't sure how to do it.

A big dirt lot is in the middle of acres of farmland in Moreland Township near Hughesville.

“It can't be farmed and it's just sitting there, doing nothing with it," said Marian Harman.

A well pad owned by Range Resources, a gas company from Texas, takes up about 10 acres of land on Lewis and Marian Harman's farm. The couple says the pad was built after they signed a five-year contract with the gas company about six years ago.

"We signed up for five years for them to drill gas, if possible, and they drilled. There was gas there," said Harman.

Harman says a pipeline was never put in to extract the gas. The gas company has been paying the Harmans to rent the land. Now that the contract is up, the Harmans want the well pad gone.

"It's just kind of an eyesore when you can't do anything with it," said Harman.

“As long as they pay their rent, I'm tied up," said Lewis Harman.

Farmers tell Newswatch 16 there are thousands of feet of natural gas pipeline running underneath their farms and that it is a good investment for the entire community.

"Makes the economy grow for Pennsylvanians,” said Glen Temple, Moreland Township.

A gas company extracts gas from a well pad on Glen Temple's property. He thinks there are too many gas wells and not enough pipelines to pump it out.

"They are looking at where can we get rid of all the gas at. Consumers. Do we have enough consumers," said Temple.

"Never signed up with them, I wish I never had,” said Harman.

The Harmans say they've tried to get answers from Range Resources. Newswatch 16 did contact the company several times. No one has gotten back to us with a comment yet.

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