Workers from Cabot, Williams, Southwestern rally in Pa.
From WYOU Eyewitness News
More than 400 natural gas workers, contractors and their supporters rallied together last Thursday at the Shadowbrook Golf Course in Wyoming County.
“It’s called American energy! We’re going to compete with the world!” Bradford County commissioner Doug McLInko said.
Standing under a large American flag, republican lawmakers from across the northern tier joined natural gas workers from Cabot Oil & Gas, Williams Energy and Southwestern Energy Thursday to send a simple message, they need more pipelines in the ground.
“It’s great to see everyone come together. I mean, it’s all local guys and that’s the biggest thing for us,” Cabot assistant completion superintendent Steve Brominski said.
Using the hashtag #TimetoBuild, this group specifically wants state regulators to issue final permits for the $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project which would begin in Susquehanna County and create roughly 200 miles of new pipeline across the commonwealth.
It would be used to push local natural gas to markets along the East Coast.
Over the last several years, the natural gas industry and slowed or even stalled in northeastern Pennsylvania but now in 2017, companies say it is beginning to pick up once again.
“Everyday Cabot produces two billion cubic feet of natural gas, an unbelievable amount of natural gas, don’t get me wrong but if a pipeline gets built, we’ll take it to three billion cubic feet of natural gas,” George Stark with Cabot Oil & Gas said.
The project isn’t without opposition and controversy.
Earlier this week, a group of Catholic nuns in Lancaster County took its fight against the pipeline to federal court because it could cross their property.
“We felt this is something we were called to do based on our values,” Sister Sara Dwyer with Adorers of the Blood of Christ said.
This rally in Wyoming County was a way to counter the critics and help people understand what they call a blessing right underneath our feet.
