Gas-lease offers might be low, thanks to a lagging economy, but that's not stopping drillers from proposing them.

Three gas companies are speaking with landowners in Luzerne County, and a fourth – Denver-based Whitmar Exploration Company – is covering leases, according to members of the South West Ross Township Property Group.

“Right now, they're picking all this low-hanging fruit," said Ken Long, a member of the group's executive committee."People are panicking to sign leases … because they want to get this monkey off their back."

The in-depth, confusing and potentially disastrous decisions involved with signing a lease weigh on people, he said, and with offers crashing from one-time highs in the thousands of dollars per acre to Whitmar's current $12.50 per acre, some landowners are eager to get whatever benefit they can and move on.

That, the committee warns, would be a mistake."It's not just going to be for today," said Marge Bogdon, a member of the committee."If you're going to hurt your children or your grandchildren by signing a lease today, that's bad."

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