Mt. Pleasant to Range: Let's Meet With Mediator

said he was driving home from Harrisburg Wednesday when his cell phone blew up with text messages from friends and constituents who attended Range Resources’ public hearing in Hickory.

“I wasn’t happy about what I was hearing,” he said. “It’s gotten to the point where we’re abandoning facts and letting emotions and fear drive this. And anytime that happens the outcome can’t be good.”

White, D-Cecil, said the key to mitigating a potential lawsuit by the Southpointe-based oil and natural gas company against Mt. Pleasant Township—or discontinued operations there—is to put the issue before a neutral third party.

—both discussing difficulties the company is having with township officials over its pending ordinance governing Marcellus Shale drilling operations. But one of them also indicated the company was considering either discontinuing operations there or filing a lawsuit against the township.

That letter also announced the public hearing that was held at the Hickory Fire Hall Wednesday— by spokesman Jim Cannon, who explained that issues relating to bunk housing and unspecified, "challengeable" aspects of the township's pending conditional-use ordinance were the sticking points.

But White said that kind of forum isn't likely to spur a peaceful resolution.

“Nothing is going to be accomplished from pitting neighbor against neighbor,” he said Friday. "If there are reasonable, fact-based differences of opinion, they need to be discussed and debated before that neutral third party and not a fire hall filled with angry residents.”

So after reaching out to John Smith, who serves as Mt. Pleasant’s special counsel for Marcellus Shale-related issues, the two approached the board, and White met Thursday with supervisors Larry Grimm and Bill Dinsmore.

The executive session, called to discuss pending legal issues, lasted about an hour, White said.

On Friday, White said the township issued a letter to Range Resources formally asking it to consider sitting down with township officials and a mediator—retired Third Circuit Federal Judge Donald Ziegler, who also served as an Allegheny Court of Common Pleas judge.

Zieglar agreed to serve as mediator, White said. The township is being asked to submit a deposit in the amount of $5,000 for his services—and the letter asks that Range consider paying for half that cost.

White said the process, which he stressed is “not judicial, not binding,” is expected to be completed within 60 days.

The letter also indicates that the township agreed not to take action on the condition-use ordinance before the meetings with the mediator have been concluded.

He said that while some might balk at the $5,000 price tag, fighting a lawsuit would cost much, much more.

“That’s not a theoretical threat anymore,” White said. “Range Resources has come out and blatantly said to Mt. Pleasant Towship, ‘We will sue you.’”

Neither Smith nor township Manager Mary Ann Stevenson could immediately be reached for comment late Friday afternoon.

Reached late Friday, Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella said it was "too early" to comment specifically on the letter, because he had not yet received a copy.

"But in concept we're happy to discuss it," he said.

He added that actions taken by the supervisors to date have forced the company to alter its two-year plan. While the 15 wells planned for three pads in Mt. Pleasant Township are expected to proceed, Pitzarella said the company is unsure how it will proceed after that.

"Our actions are a business decision. We have to make decisions to continue operating effectively as a business," he said. "That said, while it is a business decision, Mt. Pleasant is the birthplace of the most significant energy discovery in our lifetime. We have a special bond with the people of Mt. Pleasant Township, and we want to continue that relationship."