Officials Consider Gas Drilling at Former School Site


The Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV
10 November 2009
By Annie Dimmick

Drilling rigs could soon have a temporary home on the site of the former Sherrard Elementary School in Sherrard.

The interest in tapping into the Ohio Valley's natural gas resources is growing, and Marshall County school officials are considering drilling on three school sites.

The Board of Education is now accepting proposals to lease oil and gas rights on approximately 156 acres surrounding Sherrard Middle and Hilltop Elementary schools, as well as the former Sherrard Elementary School, all in Sherrard.

According to Marshall County Superintendent Fred Renzella, Chesapeake Energy officials, along with other natural gas drilling companies, have expressed interest in the sites, prompting board members to consider drilling.

Because the proposed project is in the preliminary stages, financial profit projections for the school system are not known, Renzella said. But he did note that the school is expected to receive 14 percent of the profit generated, should drilling take place.

"It's a substantial amount of money," Renzella said.

Marshall County Schools Business Manager Jim Tuel agreed that it's too early to predict earnings, adding that it remains unclear what the companies would pay to lease the rights, and school officials won't have that information until all the bids are received and reviewed.

"If we do get a bid, I don't know how much it will be," Tuel said.

The deadline to submit a bid was Monday.

Renzella said the current situation is similar to that at Oglebay Park, in which Wheeling City Council voted to approve a lease agreement with Chesapeake Appalachia.

In that agreement, Chesapeake has five years to drill on a maximum of three sites in the park.

The same goes for the Marshall County schools sites, as Renzella said whatever company receives the bid - should the board accept it and vote to move forward with drilling - would have three to five years in which to drill.

If no drilling take place after five years, the lease would be renegotiated.

Renzella said should drilling take place, it would occur toward the end of the school year, so as not to disrupt the students.

He said any drilling would take approximately three months to complete.