Previous coverage:

- Nov. 7: CGT "flat out lying," resident declares

- Nov. 15: CGT plans to clarify requests for seismic testing

- Jan. 5: Residents hope for answers on utility's surveying

LITTLE ORLEANS — Columbia Gas Transmission representatives apologized, over and over again, about the way they handled outreach efforts to land owners in eastern Allegany County and the utility company’s plans to conduct seismic activity on certain properties.

“We recently realized we should have been out here a long time ago,” said Mike Roberts, area operations manager for CGT in the Western Maryland area. “We should have been here sooner. We weren’t. We made a mistake.”

After more than two hours of questions by many of the more than 70 stakeholders on Wednesday filling up the conference room at Town Hill Bed and Breakfast — and the best answers CGT officials could provide — some property owners still weren’t satisfied. One man threatened to rip up the permit form he had signed, the one that granted CGT the rights to enter his property.

The company and property owners remained at odds over the interpretation of Maryland’s “right of entry” statute. Roberts said CGT’s legal team, which was not present Wednesday, believed law was on its side to conduct the activity.

He noted while CGT hoped an agreement could be reached, individual cases are “going to have to be a battle of the experts,” likely through attorneys.

Despite CGT’s best efforts, “I still want out of this thing,” said Artemas, Pa., resident David Bittinger.

CGT already has begun hazard surveying — identifying wells, homes and waterways — on properties the company holds signed permits for and, as soon as March, plans to conduct seismic activities in order to create a three-dimensional image of the Artemas Storage Field, which covers Bedford County, Pa., and eastern Allegany County.

The goal, Roberts said, is to improve the existing storage field and find ways to get the natural gas stored in the field in and out of the ground quicker.

“What this might lead to is nothing,” Roberts said. “The data ... may tell us there is no opportunity to enhance” the existing storage field.

The possibility also exists that data could support one, maybe two or maybe three wells that could be dug to conduct more efficient operations, Roberts said. If so, the permission to construct those wells is a second, different process than the permission property owners grant CGT to conduct the seismic activity.

Nicki Kenny, who owns property along Old Cumberland Road, said the initial efforts by CGT to contact property owners were ghastly. She answered her door to a CGT representative on a Sunday afternoon, with no advance notice. She was told to sign the permit form.

“I don’t have a lot of faith in what you’re telling me,” Kenny told CGT officials. “The trust isn’t there. I think you needed to do a much better job a long time ago. I’m a little angry about it.”

Roberts again acknowledged the company “messed up.”

Cindy Donaldson, director of regulatory and government affairs, said CGT still needs more than half the permit forms returned among 47 private property owners and state government. While the company wanted to start over in terms of public relations image, the permits already signed were binding, she said.

Delegate LeRoy Myers, who spearheaded the effort to bring the meeting to Allegany County, said people “have a lot of pride in Allegany County ... they did not want a piece of paper sent in the mail saying ‘send this in ... or else.’”

Sen. George Edwards counseled landowners to hire good property rights attorneys before signing anything.

CGT said it would be responsible for any property damage it caused during the activity, which will last between seven and 10 days on a single property and about three months in all.

Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.