Aug 31, 2013 1 min read

State Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth, said he will introduce legislation to open up additional state forest lands for natural gas exploration to raise revenue to repair thousands of structurally deficient bridges in the state.

The proposal would direct the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to take bids over the next three years on 300,000 of the state’s 800,000 acres of available forest land that contain natural gas. The bids for gas exploration leases, which would raise $1.05 billion in the first three years, would be augmented by royalty fees of 16 percent on marketable gas produced. The proceeds would be placed into a restricted account in the Motor License Fund to be used for repair of weight-restricted bridges. Saccone estimated that his proposal would permit the annual repair of 350 to 450 structurally deficient state bridges and an additional 150 local bridges.