The Elbridge Town Board Wednesday night tabled a lease offer by New York Shale Gas for two 30-acre plots of land owned by the town.
The gas and oil company approached the town to lease the mineral rights to the property and presented to the board in January.
Elbridge Town Supervisor Ken Bush asked the board for comments on the NYSG offer, for which the town would be paid a one-time $1,500 lease bonus, at a rate of $25 per acre, and could stand to reap 12 percent of the profit made from gas drilled from the land. The lease would be a 10-year agreement.
NYSG representatives and contracted landmen have been present for months in Elbridge, acquiring mineral rights from property owners in the hopes of drilling for natural gas this year.
It is unknown whether a profitable amount of natural gas can be harvested in the area.
For more about the NYSG company’s intentions in Elbridge, see this week’s The Advocate.