Energy independence touted
PITTSBURGH — President Donald Trump touted his administration's rollbacks of environmental regulations, lambasted Democrats and praised the natural-gas industry at a shale conference Wednesday afternoon.
Trump served as the keynote speaker for the 2019 Shale Insight Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown. The conference is an industry event for those involved in energy production throughout the Marcellus shale region.
“I was here three years ago; you're much happier now,” Trump said. “And you're much wealthier, and you're providing a lot more energy than you used to, that's for sure.”
Trump rattled off a list of federal environmental regulations that have been weakened or eliminated under his administration.
Under past administrations, he said, “drilling and mining on federal lands was blocked and restricted at every turn.”
Trump said the United States has turned the corner on relying on other countries to fulfill the nation's energy needs.“The United States should never again be at the mercy of a foreign supplier of energy,” he said. “We've ended the war on American energy, and we've ended the economic assault on our wonderful energy workers.”Trump was joined by an entourage of business people and elected officials. From Butler County, both U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-15th, were introduced, although neither spoke.Harold Hamm, chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, introduced the president.“For the first time, folks in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan aren't just being flown over anymore,” Hamm said. “They're being listened to. These are the votes that elected President Trump.”
Trump claimed the Democrats hoping to run against him for president next year want to “completely decimate” the industry.The president named U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-17th, in his speech. Lamb's district includes a small section of southwest Butler County.“He speaks very nice of me. You know why? Because you're in a Trump district,” Trump said.The crowd inside the convention center was largely comprised of gas industry business people.In the hall where Trump spoke, industry members attending the conference sat at round tables in the front with a limited amount of the general public in the back of the room behind a barricade.
A contingent of Butler County officials attended. Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe attended, as did Tom King, an attorney who represents several Butler-area school districts.King came in part, he said, to see his daughter, Emma King Doyle, who serves as principal deputy chief of staff to Mick Mulvaney, acting White House Chief of Staff. Doyle was traveling with the president Wednesday.County Commissioner Leslie Osche attended both to support natural gas drilling in the area and to see Trump. She was invited by David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a group that advocates for gas drilling.“Butler County has been supportive of the shale coalition,” Osche said as she walked through the convention center. “We've been the recipient of a lot of benefits from the gas and shale industry.”Osche's fellow commissioners, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel, were in Harrisburg on Wednesday angling for funding for the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport and grant money for part of Harrisville Road.Osche said she wanted to hear the president talk about gas and energy benefits for the long-term.
“This really is about energy security,” Osche said.Trump last visited the Pittsburgh region in August for a tour of an ethane cracker plant construction site in Beaver County.According to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection gas well inventory data, Butler County has 603 active unconventional gas wells. Marcellus Shale drilling generally is categorized as unconventional.By far, most wells in Butler County are in the southern half of the county, according to DEP gas well maps.In 2018, impact fees from natural-gas drilling brought about $3.1 million to Butler County's government and $5.1 million to various smaller Butler County municipalities, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Coalition. Another $90,000 went to sewer line planning in the county.From 2011 through 2018, impact fees brought the county government about $14.7 million, plus $23.9 million for various smaller county municipalities.By comparison, Butler County's entire 2019 budget is about $166 million. The general fund is about $65 million.
While the president spoke inside, protests and demonstrations took place on the streets outside the center.Three members of Marcellus Outreach Butler, a Butler County-based environmental organization, participated in the protest outside the convention center.Diane Sipe, a member of the organization, said they arrived Wednesday morning at Point State Park, where protesters gathered to march through downtown.“We don't want the gas industry and petrochemical industry colonizing our communities,” Sipe said.The money brought in by gas drilling isn't enough to justify its impacts, she said. She and other Marcellus Outreach Butler members have protested outside the conference annually for the past few years, Sipe said.“This is a boom and bust industry,” Sipe said. “After they're done, they'll leave the community with the harmful impacts and the cleanup. You just have to look at history to know it's true.”
Standing in the center front of the public section were three Republicans from Butler County. The trio — Christine Grenci, Justin Weigle and Elvira Grenci — said they were there to see and support Trump, but weren't that interested in natural gas.“We're not in the business; we just wanted to see him,” Elvira Grenci said.Weigle said they were hoping for “the usual entertainment he produces as a speaker,” adding that “you can always count on that.”They group arrived around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and said they encountered little to no difficulty getting in, aside from waiting in line.Christine Grenci said she's been volunteering for Republicans since the 2000 election. She and Weigle also saw Trump in 2016 at Pittsburgh's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.
