NORWICH – Chenango County lawmakers passed two resolutions Monday that would make extracting natural gas from county-owned properties potentially more profitable.

Supervisors unanimously requested that New York State enact legislation allowing the county to lease rights to extract and transport natural gas for more than five years and to lease subsurface rights for the extraction of the gas and/or installation of transmission pipelines under Cook Park in Greene.

A local law currently limits leases to terms not exceeding five years. New York State law limits the authority of a municipality to alienate park land by sale or lease.