Posted by on October 3rd, 2010

Original Story

“Here’s a city that, up until, say, the ’50s was the world center of the steel industry, and it was also known for the quality of life issues that were the downside of that,” said Mr. Price. Residents “don’t want to see the city industrialized again with drilling in neighborhood parks and cemeteries and back yards.”

Some in the gas industry said such statements are scare tactics.

“There is not one drilling company, anywhere, that has any desire to drill in the city of Pittsburgh,” said Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources. The few-score Pittsburgh properties that gas firms have under contract were …leased mistakenly…..”

All a mistake? The pens fell across the papers unintentionally spelling out names of land owners and industry folks? If that kind of thing can happen, who’s spreading scare tactics?

But speaking of scare tactics, the gas drillers have already threatened to sue Pittsburgh if it bans drilling. So, if “There is not one drilling company, anywhere, that has any desire to drill in the city of Pittsburgh,” which door leads out of the Twilight Zone that Range Resources and other drilling corporations want us to live in?

Ben Price

Additional Resources