Fitzgerald defends decision to veto Allegheny County parks fracking ban bill

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald called a news conference Wednesday to further explain his decision to veto a bill to prohibit new natural-gas leases in county parks.

Fitzgerald and said that the language in the bill is unfairly critical of all fracking companies. He said not all fracking companies are bad actors on environmental issues.

“These companies all get painted with broad brush. If we did that around things like gender or ethnicity or sexual orientation or race, that’s not the way we do things,” said Fitzgerald.

Fracking has been linked in some studies to water contamination and other health effects for nearby residents. The practice of injecting water deep underground to extract natural gas has drawn the scorn of environmentalists, but has been praised by regional leaders and business groups because they say it has strengthened Southwestern Pennsylvania’s economy.

Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena, D-Carnegie, said he will schedule a special meeting to attempt to override Fitzgerald’s veto.

Fitzgerald spoke about a newly introduced bill that he supports that would add further regulations to the fracking lease process in the county. This bill would ban industrial leases on the surface of county park land, but allow subsurface leases as long as they follow a list of water-quality and air-quality standards.

He praised past legislation allowing fracking near Deer Lakes Park, and reiterated that this agreement didn’t bring any equipment onto the surface of the park. He said the agreement leased out the rights of 7,000 feet under Deer Lakes Park. Fitzgerald commended the $7 million in revenue and infrastructure improvements this brought to Deer Lakes Park. None of the other eight county parks have any current industrial leasing agreements.

“Even during that production, nothing came on to county park land,” Fitzgerald said. “Nothing was disruptive to people, whether they were using the lakes, walking the trails and playing on the playgrounds.”

Related:

• Allegheny County Council passes park fracking ban, Fitzgerald vows to veto

• Bill to ban fracking in Allegheny County parks gets additional support
• Large raises for Allegheny County's top staffers raise timing questions



The potential replacement bill is cosponsored by Democratic Councilmen Nick Futules, DeWitt Walton and Bob Macey. Walton voted for the park fracking ban. If his vote were to flip, council would still have the 10 votes necessary to override Fitzgerald’s veto, but couldn’t stand any additional defections since a supermajority is necessary to override the veto.

Fitzgerald said he supports the surface-level fracking ban bill because it brings local, affected municipalities into the process. He said West Deer and Frazer both wanted the county to participate in allowing natural-gas leasing near Deer Lakes Park. Fitzgerald said any municipality that is affected by future natural-gas leasing opportunities should have a say. This would also give municipalities veto power over individual leases, if they don’t support them.

Fitzgerald also questioned the legality of the park fracking ban bill he vetoed. He said the ban, if the veto override is successful, could be repealed if council votes to approve individual leases on county parkland.

However, even Fitzgerald acknowledged that the current make-up of council is unlikely to support any natural-gas leases at or near county parks.

County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, D-North Side, said every bill passed can be repealed in the future. She called it disingenuous of Fitzgerald to frame the fracking ban this way.

“Using that as an argument against this bill is equal to saying we should never pass anything ever, because it could sometime in the future be repealed,” Hallam said. “As someone who has been elected in county government for over 20 years, he knows better.”

Fitzgerald is in the last 18 months of his tenure. He is term limited and he will leave office after 2023.