Title
Motion of the Council of Allegheny County authorizing the Allegheny County Executive to negotiate the sale of any natural gas rights held by the County for property upon which the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport is situated to the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
Body
WHEREAS, the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport is constructed on an accumulation of various parcels of real property, many of which have been acquired by Allegheny County over a period of decades; and
WHEREAS, at least some of those parcels overlay deposits of natural gas suspended in the Marcellus shale deposits; and
WHEREAS, mineral rights relating to some of those parcels may have been purchased by the County at the time the property was purchased; and
WHEREAS, in addition, mineral rights have been obtained by Allegheny County through the eminent domain process in several phases under the Mineral Estates Plan of Acquisition, the most recent of which appears to have been Phase VIII, accomplished in 2005 under the terms of Ordinance 34-05; and
WHEREAS, under the terms of Section 3 of Ordinance 34-05, "the title to be acquired by the County shall be in fee simple absolute," indicating that the rights acquired are owned by the County itself, and not by the Allegheny County Airport Authority; and
WHEREAS, ordinances governing the seizure of other phases of the Mineral Estates Plan of Action, including Ordinance 08-04, which authorized the acquisition of mineral rights in Phase VI, similarly indicate that the mineral rights are acquired by the County and not the Airport Authority; and
WHEREAS, the Airport Authority, which was formed under the terms of the Municipality Authorities Act, is specifically authorized by the Act to exercise the power of eminent domain, 53 P.S. ยง5607(d)(15), thus demonstrating that the Authority could have obtained the mineral rights pursuant to the Mineral Estates Plan of Action had such an outcome been desired, but tha...
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