A deep well drill head and gas line.

In an effort to allay public concerns over possible deep well drilling in Pennsylvania state forests, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has made some modifications to its earlier proposal to lease drilling rights to gas reserves beneath state forest lands.

These revisions came about in part from responses DCNR received during a public comment period that lasted from April 25 to June 15 and drew nearly 5,000 comments.

These changes include:

— increasing the minimum distance between wells from one well in 40 acres to one well for each 640 acres,

— allowing no surface activity on a state forest wild or natural area, including bans on seismic exploration, pipelines or road construction, (Wild and natural areas are special areas set aside to protect unique features of the state's major forest communities.)

— increasing the bond requirements to require companies to secure a $25,000 lease bond as well as a $5,000 to $100,000 plugging bond depending on the depth of the well, (Lease bonds provide a guarantee of sorts, if the drilling company doesn't uphold the terms of the lease, the state can submit a claim against the bond.)

— requiring a $20 million drilling/well control insurance policy for wells anticipated to reach 10,000 feet deep or deeper,

— drilling sites, access roads and transmission lines must be approved by the DCNR district forester,

— increasing protection of dark sky areas, by requiring the use of fully shielded lighting. (Dark sky areas are places where manmade lighting is carefully controlled in order to preserve the night sky.)

An area after being cleared for drilling.

Since drilling such deep wells is expensive, with costs per well ranging from $3 to $5 million, DCNR believes over-drilling is unlikely. Drilling rigs will stay on site usually from 60 to 90 days before being fitted with a drill head and hooked up to a transmission line.