The Butler City Council at its Tuesday meeting discussed the possibility of natural gas drilling within the city and agreed to look into the matter further.

City Councilman Richard Schontz Jr. said he met with the CEO of Turm Oil, an active Marcellus Shale operator based in Penn Township, earlier this week.

The Marcellus Shale is a natural gas-producing shale deposit about a mile beneath the surface of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio, as well as parts of several other states.

Schontz said one Penn Township supervisor said oil drilling there has turned it into a "boom town," giving local restaurants, for example, a much-needed jolt.

Councilwoman Kathy Kline, who recently attended the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission's 10th annual Smart Growth Conference, said a state Department of Environmental Protection official there attributed gas-drilling trepidation to fear of unknowns.

"You don't want to disregard this resource when there may be solutions to the problems that exist," Kline said.

Butler Mayor Maggie Stock also took a nothing ventured, nothing gained outlook on gas drilling in the city.

"I think we have to pursue (researching the possibility). Because if we don't, someone else will," she said.

The conversation mentioned the Memorial Park area, touching on both vertical and horizontal drilling, but no definite plans were made other than researching the matter further.

The city would first have to clear up if it owns mineral, oil and gas rights to its land, which Schontz admitted the council did not know.

He said any company expressing interest in gas drilling would undertake the responsibility of finding out who owns those rights — a process costing several thousand dollars, according to Schontz — and securing them.