Columnist Paul Carpenter’s most recent attack (“A tale of two legislators: the gas-drilling drama”) on the thousands of hardworking men and women that make up Pennsylvania’s shale industry was offensive and deeply ill-informed.

Mr. Carpenter’s patronizing words — which seek to belittle the countless locally based small businesses and labor organizations that are hiring more Pennsylvanians thanks to tightly-regulated shale development — erodes our public discourse, which should be focused on facts, science and common respect.

Your readers should consider the following:

  • It’s a not a “claim” that shale supports tens of thousands of good-paying jobs — it’s a fact. Countless economic studies, from the state Department of Labor & Industry, to the federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics, to many other independent reports, including from IHS Global, confirm these benefits. And whether one supports shale development or not, how can one cheer against opportunity being created for Pennsylvanians?
  • Cavalierly referring to Pennsylvania’s growing shale workforce as “Texas and Oklahoma gas industry aristocrats” is a gross and willful misunderstanding of the basic facts laid out above. Again, shale is creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs — right here in Pennsylvania, especially for organized labor and in manufacturing — at a time when jobs are needed most. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since the recession began in 2008. Is that a bad thing?
  • The inflammatory claim that Pennsylvania is “suffering from the exploitation and destruction of their environment” is based on hyperbole rather than facts and science. President Obama, his top energy officials and scores of environmental regulators across the nation continue to underscore the fact that it is a false choice to suggest that we can produce more natural gas and grow jobs or protect our environment. We are achieving both.

Last, but not least, while Mr. Carpenter refers to Pennsylvania natural gas producers as a “drilling cartel,” please know this: The United States has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil and gas producer, which has weakened OPEC’s stranglehold on our nation’s energy security and eliminated the threat of a natural gas cartel run by unfriendly nations.

Dave Spigelmyer
President
Marcellus Shale Coalition

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