Jun. 27--CUMBERLAND -- A Garrett County resident said her neighbors appear to be thinking only of money as they eagerly sign leases to energy companies wanting to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.

Barbara Pritts of Deer Park said she and her family, which owns about 160 acres, made the decision not to allow drilling on their land to protect her "wonderful water."

"It's scary," she said. "These people in the northern end of the county (who are signing leases). I said, 'wait, before you do this ... you should be informed what can happen to your land later.' Yet, they went ahead and signed up."

Not Pritts. The third-generation to live on the family farm and a real estate agent, Pritts said she's concerned about water quality, availability and the future ability of her neighbors to get along with each other.

"Isn't (water) the most valuable quality we have in the world," Pritts asked. "I think they just aren't informed. Money. Everyone wants money."

Pritts pointed to several newspaper articles from northeastern Pennsylvania, where drilling into the Marcellus Shale has been conducted, that show there's too much risk involved to allow drilling.

"I think we need to wait till science has come up with another way of getting it out of there," Pritts said. "You don't know what's going to happen."

She said it takes about 3 million gallons of water to drill a single well. That's true, said Lou D'Amico, executive director of Independent Oil and Gas Association, said Tuesday at a Marcellus Shale forum in Frostburg but much of that water -- up to 75 percent is recycled. The majority of a single 3-million gallon draw is used several times, he said.

Pritts mentioned the chemicals drillers put into the ground. D'Amico, too, mentioned that 90 percent of what's put into the ground is water. Another 9.95 percent is sand and the remaining 0.05 percent is a mixture of chemicals that act as lubricating agents.

The Times-Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., reported in March that drilling by Cabot Oil &â??Gas Corp. caused natural gas to enter at least nine homes. The state's Department of Environmental Protection said the company violated DEP standards by way of an "unpermitted discharge of natural gas" into state waters and failing to prevent the discharge. The company said the agency jumped to conclusions.

The situation serves as an example, Pritts said, of too much being unknown about the consequences of drilling. Garrett County resident Delmar Yoder, who has spearheaded the organization of some 400 landowners comprising more than 30,000 acres over the Marcellus Shale, said his primary concern is getting the best deal possible.

"The gas companies are going to look out for the gas companies,"â??Yoder said. "The farmers have to look out for the farmers."

Early proposals showed gas companies offering $25 per acre plus 12.5 percent royalties, the minimum allowed by law, Yoder said. In December, nearly a year after Yoder began the organized effort, one gas company's offer was $1,150 per acre and 16 percent royalties.

"You gotta watch that you get the right kind of contract,"â??he said.

As for environmental concerns, including water quality and capacity, he said tests are conducted before and after drilling and if there's a problem, it's the energy company's job to fix it. He said instances like the ones Pritts pointed out are rare.

"It's not very often that anything like that happens,"â??Yoder said. "They work with the person where they want to drill. So far, we have found them to be very open. They don't want to make any hard feelings."

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.

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