Sometimes during mediation, jobs can become a contentious issue.  That is the case in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, where the board of supervisors is considering additional regulations that would affect the gas well drilling industry.  Under the proposed new rules, well drilling would cease to be a "permitted use" that must comply only with state regulations; firms that wish to drill would have to seek local approval for each well from both the planning commission and the board of supervisors.

Gas well drilling firm Range Resources, the largest such firm in the county, is already experiencing inconvenience and extra costs due to a local ordinance that keeps them from erecting temporary worker housing on project sites.  Range Resources and the board of supervisors are slated to begin mediation this month to discuss the new regulations being proposed, which among other things will seek to cut down truck traffic to and from well sites.

The Need for Mediation: Jobs and Revenue Could be Lost

Mount Pleasant residents have already received a letter from Range Resources expressing the company's position that it will seek well sites in "more cooperative communities" if the township's supervisors continue in their present vein.  This would mean a loss of both jobs and royalties from Mount Pleasant, a prospect that has encouraged local residents to step forward at Tuesday's public meeting, asking the supervisors to adjust the new ordinance in a way that would satisfy Range Resources. It awaits to be seen what employment mediation discussions will follow.