More Than 400 Turn Out for Range Resources Meeting

Jim Cannon said there were plenty of misconceptions going into Wednesday’s public meeting about Range Resources’ future intentions in Mt. Pleasant Township.

First off: The two letters sent to area residents, the company spokesman said, were intended to provide stakeholders with information about difficulties with township officials—and that media reports suggesting that it was a “divide-and-conquer” tactic were “just silly.”

Second: That the letters, one of which was sent to about 300 leaseholders and business owners and referred to possible legal action against the township, were not intended to be threatening in nature.

“It wasn’t in a threatening manor, believe me folks,” Cannon told the more than 400 people who crammed into the Hickory Fire Hall to listen to the presentation. “We don’t want to challenge anybody here. All we want is middle ground and we can’t seem to get there.”

Cannon then explained the difficulties with officials that were alluded to in the correspondence, saying that one was the prohibition of bunk housing because of outdated language in a zoning ordinance.

He said that while construction trailers and mobile homes are permitted in the township, the bunk housing provided by drilling companies falls somewhere in the middle and is not permitted.

Cannon explained that as more Pennsylvania workers are hired as rig hands instead of those from out of state, the need to have trailers for those employees has become less of an issue. They now can travel from work to their local homes.

But supervisors who work 24-hours a day for two-week stretches, he said, need to be able to be on site to ensure safety and consistency at the drill site.

“A lot of this boils down to common sense,” Cannon said. “But this is a safety issue.”

The other is the township’s pending oil and gas drilling ordinance, which would make it a conditional rather than permitted use.

He explained that Range is opposed to the conditional-use process because it prevents the company from being able to efficiently plan drilling operations.

“At some point, that conditional-use process can drag on and drag on and drag on,” Cannon said. “This has absolutely nothing to do with favorable treatment. The difference has to do with timing. We need to be able to plan. With conditional use, we can’t. We don’t know when we’re going to get approval. It could be two weeks. It could be six months.”

He also mentioned a recent lawsuit filed by a drilling company against nearby North Bethlehem Township over its conditional-use ordinance.

Cannon said that company officials had called township officials months ago to speak with them about language in the ordinance—60 to 70 percent of which is illegal, he said.

“We just wanted to, you know, give them a heads up,” he said, adding that the phone calls were never returned.

Cannon suggested that there also were portions of Mt. Pleasant’s draft ordinance that are challengeable because they “supersede state and federal law.”

He did not go into specifics.

When the meeting was opened up to the audience for questions, hands shot up throughout the packed fire hall—but Cecil Township resident Mary Dalbo didn’t care.

Dalbo stood up repeatedly, blasting supervisors for interfering with the drilling company’s plans.

“There ain’t no supervisor gonna tell me what to do with my property,” she yelled, with audience members cheering the notion with claps and yelps of agreement.

One man then asked who he could get in touch with at Range to have questions answered—telling Cannon that he called the office more than 20 times, leaving voice mails with several people.

None of the correspondence was returned, he said.

Another man then raised his hand and identified himself as a leaseholder, telling those in attendance that while he appreciated the information and clarification Range provided, he cautioned people to understand there might be more to the issue on the township’s side.

“We have to keep in mind this is your side of the story,” he said.

Many people also asked Cannon what they could do to help, with audience members yelling for people to call their supervisors or vote them out of office. One woman asked him if a petition would help.

“We don’t need them, we need Range,” Dalbo then interrupted—an outburst again met with applause.

But Cannon said whatever would be done was up to them.

He then reiterated: The company only has so many options, and while legal action and the possibility of discontinuing drilling operations in Mt. Pleasant are on the table, they aren’t preferable.

“Somehow it got out that Range Resources needs Mt. Pleasant more than Mt. Pleasant needs us. Fair enough,” Cannon said, adding that the company could easily move to other areas to begin drilling there—which would keep the company “busy for years.”

Again: He said the company wants to continue its relationship with Mt. Pleasant, and hopes to be able to drill several new wells soon. But at the end of the day, Cannon said it’s all business.

“None of this is personal,” he said. “Some people have taken this as a personal affront, and that saddens me.”