Gas Drilling and the American Way

            Last week, the City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania voted 9-0 to ban gas drilling within its limits, as reported by AP and the New York Times. This story is important for several reasons, some more immediate than others. The most immediate reason the story is important is that gas drillers may have a restricted range of operation if other cities and towns follow the lead of Pittsburgh. The other immediate reason is that concerns over the hazards of the hydro-fracturing process, in which millions of gallons of water mixed with chemicals and sand are injected deep underground to fracture the shale that holds the natural gas, are sufficiently well-known so that they weigh heavily in the balance of decision against the economic incentives of gas drilling, including royalties for land owners and boosted employment in a predominantly rural area. A less apparent reason the story is important is that it tells us that American values of self-determination and citizen involvement are alive and well, whether one agrees with the Council’s action or not. The Council vote was not spontaneous: it was preceded by proposed legislation, which someone wrote, and preceded by public speech, which prompted the legislation. So in Pittsburgh we see that the American way can and does work – the people who live there spoke up, made a decision about their lives and asked their public servants to act on it. The public servants did so, and there you have it – the American way, alive and well.