Allegheny Co. Council Overrides Exec Rich Fitzgerald's Veto On Public Parks Fracking Ban

By Jamie Wiggan, Special to the Capital-Star, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

July 21, 2022

Allegheny County Council has overridden County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s veto on a bill passed earlier this month banning future fracking projects in public parks.

A packed auditorium erupted in applause on Tuesday as the clerk confirmed the motion’s 12-3 passage into the record. More than 40 people spoke out during a public comments session lasting beyond two hours, with most voicing support for the veto override.

“We deserve places where we can hike, bike, and run without inhaling asthma-inducing air pollutants,” said Amanda Waxman of East Liberty. “We deserve places where we can swim without worrying about toxic runoff. We deserve our public parks fracking-free.”

The underlying bill has seized the public’s attention in recent weeks, as environmental advocates have rallied around the measure now preventing the county from entering into industrial lease agreements on public parks.

Moves to legislate the issue began in the aftermath of a 2014 agreement permitting Texas-based Range Resources to drill under the surface of Deer Lakes Park to extract natural gas in a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or simply “fracking.” Supporters say they wanted assurances this kind of deal wouldn’t be repeated.

Fitzgerald has repeatedly defended the Deer Lakes agreement, insisting during a press conference last week that the park has not been impacted because the drills break ground in neighboring land before cutting into park property 7,000 feet below the surface.

Fitzgerald had sought to drum up support around a new bill he introduced as an alternative framework for regulating fracking under parks, but instead he lost a vote during the intervening weeks, taking the final count firmly above the two-third threshold.

Councilor Bob Macey, D-West Mifflin, said despite his overall support for the fracking industry, repeated contact from his electors convinced him to change his stance.

“I’ve heard from my constituents,” Macey said. “So I’m going to change my position and vote ‘yes.’”

Both Republican Councilmembers, Sam DeMarco, North Fayette, and Suzanne Filiaggi, Franklin Park, sided with Fitzgerald, as did Democrat Nicholas Futules, D-Cheswick. DeMarco blasted the bill as “political theater” which he said speaks of a larger movement to end the natural gas industry in the region.

“It’s pretty obvious this bill isn’t about protecting parks,” DeMarco said. “It is part of a broader strategy to threaten job energy security and prosperity in the region by chipping away at the ability to produce natural gas, whenever and wherever possible.”

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