Beaver County Commissioners on Tuesday lauded the economic benefits of oil and natural gas in an open letter to both major party presidential candidates.
| Beaver County Times
Beaver County Commissioners lauded the economic benefits of oil and natural gas in an open letter to both major-party presidential candidates.
The commissioners, joined by Butler County and Washington County leadership, signed a letter Tuesday addressed to President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden asking them to support natural gas and manufacturing in any future policy decisions ahead of the November election.
“As elected leaders representing communities across the western Pennsylvania region, we know that political campaigns often highlight our differences on policies and approach and not the areas where we share common ground,” the letter begins. “We want to see a level playing field set for people and businesses to succeed.”
That common ground, according to the letter, is a shared recognition of the natural gas industry’s impact on regional job growth and affordable energy. Natural gas, elevated by the Marcellus and Utica Shale reservoirs, has filled the economic void left by steel and coal, commissioners said. This includes attracting jobs in manufacturing and petrochemicals.
“Trade unions facing the prospect of their halls being emptied by demand for skilled labor have built modern training centers to supply a new generation of workers,” the letter read. “Good paying jobs aren’t a partisan issue. Lower energy bills are good for both Democrats and Republicans.”
The letter also called the abundant supply of natural gas the “backbone of a sustainable energy grid” by helping the region reduce carbon emissions and meet climate goals, adding that $2 billion collected in impact fees over the past decade has supported environmental programs, trail building, infrastructure improvements and conservation.
Natural gas supporters laud the industry’s role in lowering Pennsylvania’s power sector carbon emissions by double digits as it replaces coal, although drillers risk leaking methane, a more potent greenhouse gas, into the air.
As presidential candidates vie for Pennsylvania’s coveted electoral votes, the issue of fracking has been a primetime topic. President Trump throughout his campaign has repeated claims that Biden would eliminate fracking and kill “up to 600,000 Pennsylvania jobs” by doing so. The state’s job statistics identify roughly 20,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry.
Biden has routinely denied Trump’s claims, saying he would ban only new oil and gas permits on federal land. This, he said, would not apply to existing permits or fracking performed on private or state-owned land, where the majority of fracking happens.
The letter comes days after a Progressive Policy Institute poll that found the majority of Pennsylvania and Ohio voters, or 74 percent, oppose an immediate ban on natural gas extraction, although 71 percent of voters said climate change is a “real and very serious problem.” Fifty-five percent of voters polled said the country should use fossil fuels as a bridge to renewable energy sources.
A recent survey conducted by Climate Nexus found 76 percent of Pennsylvanian voters consider climate change to be a serious problem, with nearly half of voters saying it is “very serious.”
More than 70 percent supported the state updating and strengthening regulations to restrict the release of methane from natural gas wells, pipelines and storage facilities.
Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank, commissioned ALG Research to focus on swing state attitudes about energy and climate change last month. Even among liberal-leaning groups, there’s little support for a fracking ban right now, the poll suggests, with most worrying about potential job loss and higher energy costs.
A majority, however, hope the country phases out the use of natural gas in the coming decades and replaces it with renewable energy sources to preserve the environment. This compares to an August CBS poll of Pennsylvanians showing a slight majority of the state opposes fracking — 52 percent of voters were opposed and 48 percent were in favor of it.
Despite Biden’s lead in the poll, voters were nearly equally split on who they trust on energy issues.
