Pro-Drilling Group Plans Town Hall Meetings in West Virginia

Energize WV

WVmetronews.com is reporting the following news article information:

The non-profit group, Energize West Virginia, formed to promote the natural gas industry, has been holding a series of town hall meetings around the state. The first was held in Morgantown back in July. Since then, the group has met with concerned residents in Moundsville, Bridgeport and Sistersville.

In October, Energize West Virginia will hold public meetings in Kingwood on the 16th and in Harrisville on the 23rd.

Kim Lawrence, with Energize West Virginia, says the goal is to get the word out to the public about natural gas drilling “It gives people an opportunity to learn more about the natural gas industry, to find out what’s happening specifically with the Marcellus shale,” Lawrence said. “And we spend the lion’s share of the meeting letting people ask us questions.”

And they have quite a few on their minds. “People still want to know how we protect water when we drill for Marcellus gas. They also want to know about job creation. They want some assurances that local people are getting jobs,” Lawrence said. “They also want to know how leases work. People who show up at our town hall meetings own property and are interested in having a company come drill on their property.”

Lawrence says sometimes they also have to set the record straight. “There’s a lot of misinformation/disinformation and that’s one of the reasons we wanted to do these town hall meetings,” she said. “We felt as though we really needed to come out and give people factual information.”

The last town hall meeting will take place on November 8th in Weirton. Lawrence says afterwards they’ll gather all the information they’ve collected from the seven meetings and put it to use. “We really try to listen and find out what people want to know and then find sources of media and other ways so we can give them the information they want.”

The web-site is www.energizewv.com where the Board of Directors is listed as:

Board Members
Lloyd Jackson, President, Jackson Gas Company;
Dave Spigelmyer, Secretary, Chesapeake Energy
Charlie Burd, IOGA-WV
Kyle Mork, Treasurer, Energy Corporation of America
Corky DeMarco, WVONGA
Maribeth Anderson , Chesapeake Energy
Marc Halbritter (Legal Counsel), Dominion Transmission
Dave Drennon, HG Energy
Kim Lawrence, Executive Director
Marc Monteleone, Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love  
Bob Orndorff, Dominion Transmission  
Kent Wright, CONSOL Energy