Pittsburgh councilman wants to protect city against drilling
Pittsburgh councilman wants to protect city against drilling
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
City Councilman Doug Shields shows a map where land has been leased for drilling.
Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields this morning unveiled a bill to ban natural gas extraction in the city, saying he won't let the city return to its steel-era days as a center of pollution.
Mr. Shields said he knows the bill, if passed, would draw a legal challenge from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group. But he said at a news conference he wants to assert the city's sovereign authority to protect itself from a potentially harmful industry and preserve the environmental advances made since the smoky-city era.
"You want that back?" he said of the pollution.
Ben Price, who helped draft the bill as projects director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Franklin County, said the city's right to protect residents from the hazards of drilling should trump any state claim of authority over drilling matters.
"Rights precede the state," he said. "Rights precede government. Rights precede state statues and are superior to them."
Mr. Shields plans to introduce the bill Sept. 7. He criticized Mayor Luke Ravenstahl for opposing a ban and wondered which neighborhood the mayor considers suitable for drilling.
In response to Mr. Shields' bill, Kathryn Klaber, president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, issued a statement saying the industry has a lot to offer.
"At a time when Pittsburghers are feeling uncertain about the current state and future direction of our economy, policymakers and our elected officials should recognize that all economic opportunities should be considered in full," she said. "The shale gas industry has brought to my hometown new jobs, an expansion of our tax base, and environmental stewardship and a safety culture that pervades our daily work.
"The effort announced today by Councilman Shields furthers none of these tremendous benefits to Pittsburgh residents and taxpayers."
Joe Smydo: jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.