CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After learning that drilling four natural gas wells on airport property could bring in $16,000 or more in monthly royalties with minimal environmental risk, Yeager Airport’s governing board voted on Wednesday to seek drilling lease proposals from natural gas producers.

Representatives of Reserve Oil and Gas recently gave a presentation to an airport board committee formed to consider natural gas lease possibilities for Yeager. Committee members were told that by drilling four wells in the Huron Shale formation 2,000 to 4,000 feet below airport land, enough gas could potentially be produced to generate an estimated $4,000 per well per month in royalties.

Gas production in Huron Shale would not require the high-volume water fracking needed to produce gas in deeper Marcellus formations, said Priscilla Haden, one of the committee members. Drill rigs recovering gas from the shallower Huron Shale also would require smaller footprints than operations tapping into Marcellus formations.

Any drilling within Yeager’s 750-acre perimeter would likely occur on flat land along the Elk River side of the airport, according to airport director Rick Atkinson.  Two gas pipelines cross the airport’s property, with Reserve Oil and Gas owning the rights to use one of them.

“I was convinced they [Reserve] had a safe, environmentally good plan,” said Haden, adding that she couldn’t see a disadvantage in pursuing gas lease plans for the airport.

Atkinson said Reserve has drilled 70 wells in Kanawha County, some of them a short distance from the Charleston airport.

Federal Aviation Administration policies require airports to seek bid proposals before entering lease agreements with natural gas producers, Atkinson said.  The Yeager board voted Wednesday to obtain legal assistance in drafting a request for proposals from natural gas producers for the right to drill in Huron Shale on airport property.

In other developments, the recent opening of Yeager’s new 500-foot main runway addition has not been without its bumps — or one bump, to be precise.

Pilots using the new runway segment on their departure rollouts report experiencing a bump at the point where the pavement for the new section joins the old runway.

Board member Keith Wood, the state of West Virginia’s chief executive pilot, said the bump is significant enough to make his passengers wonder if an object has been struck or if a mechanical problem has been encountered. Wood says he now advises passengers to expect the bump before beginning his takeoff runs.

The bump is caused by the new runway extension, which has a 1 percent elevation grade, meeting the old pavement, with a 3 percent grade.

While the bump does not constitute a safety issue, Atkinson said, “It’s something you can really feel if you’re rolling over it at 80 knots on tires that are inflated to 200 pounds per square inch.”

Atkinson and representatives of the construction company that built the extension are scheduled to meet Thursday to come up with a plan for smoothing out the bump.

The runway could be milled down an inch and be brought back to grade gradually over 100 or 150 feet of runway. That should solve the problem, Atkinson said. The work would be done at night and probably last no more than one week, he said.

In other construction activity, the Charleston airport’s elevated pedestrian walkway that will carry passengers from the parking building to the terminal is expected to be complete by mid-May. A secure-area café adjacent to the airport’s gift shop is expected to be complete by mid-June.