As a resident of District 17 represented by U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, I’m troubled by his continued support of Joe Biden for president when he’s clearly against the shale industry here in Pennsylvania. I’m a natural gas industry employee, and we are an energy family in Lamb’s district. To hear him support Biden’s proposal for “no new fracking” is a show of nonsupport for my industry.
The shale industry employs 100,000-plus in Western Pennsylvania, providing us with family- sustaining jobs and opportunity. Fracturing the shale, a process that only takes a few days in the entire well-drilling process, gives us clean-burning natural gas that is driving the reduction in air pollution throughout the United States.
Lamb and Biden’s call for no new fracking is in a real sense a ban of the process and would result in massive job losses in Pennsylvania. I cannot vote for a candidate whose actions could leave my family without jobs and see the United States forced to use foreign oil and gas again.
Lamb’s Republican opponent, Sean Parnell, says this won’t happen on his watch. I cannot and will not let it, and will be voting for Parnell in District 17 in the November general election.
Douglas Berkley
Cranberry