Fracking: What drilling royalties have meant for one Pa. farmer
About a dozen years ago, Van Blarcom and
150 other landowners formed a coalition with 15,000 acres and signed
their first gas lease, making this rural township one of the most
drilled in Bradford County.
About seven years ago, the coalition renegotiated for more money and more protections.
Virtually
all of the Van Blarcom family's 500 acres has been leased to a
subsidiary of Canada-based Talisman Energy Inc. The family collects 15
percent royalties from nine wellheads scattered over its land.
The
money has made it much easier to invest in the farm. Van Blarcom, 63,
says Sugar Branch Farms has more than doubled its cattle head to 560
through a purchase this year. The family partners are renting a milking
center 11 miles from their home base, and they plan to buy it.
"We borrowed a little bit of money, but not nearly as much as we would have needed," Van Blarcom said.
The family also has bought heifers, built additions and purchased new equipment and machinery.
On a cold, rainy day in March, Van Blarcom's men were remodeling a 150-year-old red barn to hold more livestock.
Van
Blarcom, a lifelong farmer, wore muddy rubber boots, tan denim
coveralls and a white ball cap. In a barn built in 2009, brown, black
and spotted cows munched on feed the family grows.
A
son-in-law has long worked on the farm, and Van Blarcom's son returned
home three years ago to join the business. This spring, a second
son-in-law came on board.
"They want
it to grow and prosper," Van Blarcom said. "And like a lot of
businesses, if you aren't growing, you are going backwards."
Gas leases
The
family's experience with the gas company, its construction crews and
gas field workers has been mostly positive, Van Blarcom said.
"Any problems we've had, they've been willing to work with us to get them repaired or taken care of," he said.
When drilling rigs were under development, truck traffic on a narrow country road leading to his farm was horrendous.
"You
had dump trucks, water trucks, equipment trucks," he said, "and we
literally had a hundred trucks a day to go up this dirt road."
The drivers were courteous, he said, "but there were just too many."
The drivers were courteous, he said, "but there were just too many."
Constructing
a well can take two or three months. Fracking a well can last another
month. Both phases require a lot of trucks and trailers.
But
the traffic has eased considerably, Van Blarcom said. The gas industry
has installed gathering lines to transport the gas and pipes to
distribute water to drilling sites for fracking operations.
Some of his farming neighbors with gas leases have retired, and Van Blarcom has bought their land.
He acknowledged life is more comfortable with the lease payments.
"I don't let people make me feel guilty because of this money," he said.
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