RALLYING CRY
Petition urges county executive to end his support of shale gas and petrochemical development, but he cites benefits
A dozen environmental and community organizations have called on Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to end his support for the shale gas drilling and petrochemical industries and pledge not to allow drilling or fracking under any more county parks.
Following a loud but peaceful Monday afternoon rally by 30 people in front of the City-County Building, Downtown, a dozen marched to Mr. Fitzgerald’s office next door in the Allegheny County Courthouse to deliver a petition — signed by 360 individuals and 75 organizations — stating that his embrace of those industries has put the health and safety of county residents at risk.
The goal here, said Maren Cooke, founder of the local environmental organization Putting Down Roots and an organizer of the event, is to get Allegheny County to move away from encouraging development of — and reliance on — fossil fuels.
“The letter lays out the science against continued use of fossil fuels. We know more today than two years ago about the impacts on children’s health, climate change, pollution and job creation,” Ms. Cooke said. “We’re asking Rich Fitzgerald to withdraw his support of those industries. We can do better for the region than that.”
She said the Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC ethane “cracker” plant under construction in Monaca, Beaver County, will annually emit up to 522 tons of volatile organic compounds, 30 tons of hazardous air pollutants and 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide — about half as much as the city of Pittsburgh — and have “a huge climate impact.”
Anaïs Peterson, infrastructure and petrochemical organizer for Earthworks, a national
environmental organization, said she’s been speaking out against allowing shale gas development under county parks since 2014, when Mr. Fitzgerald supported drilling under Deer Lakes Park, the 1,200-acre greenspace in Frazer and West Deer townships.
“I’ve had many talks with him, and he’s just pro-fracking and pro-development,” Ms. Peterson said. “We raised these questions with him seven years ago. When the air and water are contaminated, what will you tell us? Is the money worth it?”
Mr. Fitzgerald’s chief of staff, Jennifer Liptak, accepted the letter/petition from Ms. Cooke, who asked that Mr. Fitzgerald respond by the end of the day. Ms. Liptak said she couldn’t promise that.
In a phone interview later Monday afternoon, Mr. Fitzgerald did not back away from his previous pro-petro chemical and shale gas advocacy.
He said, “Marcellus Shale gas development has totally revitalized the region’s economy,” and Shell has invested $7 billion in the cracker plant, and billions more has been invested in pipeline infrastructure projects.
“We’ve seen a 70% reduction in home heating costs,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “For the poor and vulnerable, nothing else, not health care, not transportation, not housing, one of the essentials, comes close. The benefits have been tremendous.”
He also said that Deer Lakes Park has benefited from revenue from the gas wells there, which operate under more restrictive regulations than other wells not on county property. Playgrounds and lakes are much improved, he said.
Mr. Fitzgerald also was quick to note that over the past 10 years of his administration the county has made myriad strides toward a better, healthier environment, citing reduced soot levels and first-time federal air quality compliance, support for disincentives for single use plastics, two park operations with net-zero carbon emissions, and purchase and use of electric buses on the most congested urban routes.
Although multiple speakers at the rally called him a “longtime cheerleader“for the gas and petrochemical industries, Mr. Fitzgerald said he is one of the few public officials who support a gas extraction tax, also known as a severance tax, on the shale gas industry, and believes in tough enforcement and big fines if gas drilling and fracking companies violate environmental regulations.
“I believe in climate change, and advocate very much in favor of getting off fossil fuels,” he said. “But we need to do it strategically.”
But Mark Dixon, an activist and filmmaker, said the county executive can’t be a climate leader if he “takes his cues from U.S. Steel, the frackers and drillers and petrochemical industry.”
Dianne Peterson, a member of several anti-plastics organizations including Pittsburghers Against Single Use Plastic, also said the county has been slow to disengage from fossil-fuel support. She showed rally participants a photograph of her son’s soccer game on a field in Fox Chapel with Range Resources’ Miller well pad in Indiana Township poking above the green forested background.
“Fracking for energy is not sustainable, and fracking for plastics is not a pretty sight,” Ms. Peterson said. “Toxic chemicals are being released into the air and water as part of the standard operating procedures of those industries. The fossil-fuel age needs to die before we do.”
Organizations sponsoring the Monday rally included Putting Down Roots, 350 Pittsburgh, Ohio Valley Environmental Resistance, Allegheny County Clean Air Now, Clean Air Council, Communities First Sewickley Valley, Allegheny CleanWays, Center for Coalfield Justice, FracTraker Alliance, and Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania.