BIG GAS FIELD IS ALLURING

It could be the biggest bundle of them all.

About 6,000 feet beneath the ground in a broad area of four states - area that includes Potter and Cameron counties - is a mostly untapped reservoir of natural gas that could swell U.S. reserves.

The gas can be found in the thick, black Marcellus Shale. Energy companies are considering whether the prospects of a multi-billion dollar payoff are worth the major investment they would have to make to tap it.

Penn State researchers say it could contain as much as 50 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

One of the major players in Pennsylvania, Range Resources Corp. of Texas, sees vast potential in the Marcellus. However, a spokesman for Range, which already has about 4,700 wells statewide, said it's too early to determine if the economics would favor a full-scale rush on the gas.

Range and other producers are considering whether the available technology can consistently release the gas from a layer of rock so old, located more than a mile underground. They could choose to use water pressure to create new openings, allowing the gas to flow into areas where it is more easily tapped.