Douglas County property owners probably won’t benefit from drilling for coal bed methane gas in northeast Kansas.

While about 250 leases were filed in neighboring Jefferson County during a one-week period in March alone, no leases have been filed in Douglas County during the past year, said Kay Pesnell, Douglas County register of deeds.

Tim Carr, head of energy research at the Kansas Geological Survey, said that probably was because energy companies wanted to avoid urban counties.

“What scares people away from Douglas is that we’re a little more urban,” he said. “Companies don’t want to deal with people who have their five-acre homesites and risk getting complaints.”

Delia Heston, Jefferson County register of deeds, said a number of leases had been filed in Jefferson, Doniphan, Atchison and Jackson counties, which are northeast of Lawrence.