An open letter to the Allegheny County Council

April 8, 2024

An open letter to the Allegheny County Council:

Two weeks ago, after months of closed-door conversations, Bucks County sued companies that produce reliable and affordable energy for damages related to global climate change. While it's the first government in Pennsylvania to file such a lawsuit, activists behind the litigation hope that it "won't be the last." And they are headed west in hopes of convincing municipalities in the energy-producing part of the Commonwealth to join this destructive litigation campaign.

On April 10th, your council will hear a presentation from the Center for Climate Integrity, an organization that has been pushing these lawsuits nationwide. Rather than providing a one-sided platform for out of state interests, we urge you to commit to an open, robust, transparent process that prioritizes input from in-state stakeholders, including Pennsylvania workers, manufacturers, and consumers.

Fundamentally, the activists don't care about impacts on Pennsylvanians; the state is just one stop on their nation-wide road show. Last year, these activists brazenly admitted that a lawsuit in the Commonwealth would be the "cherry on top" of their efforts. Councilmembers: don't be another shiny prize in their trophy case.

It doesn't take a lawyer to know that filing a lawsuit will not solve climate change. It won't prevent natural disasters or rehabilitate old infrastructure. It will, however, drive up the cost of energy for Pennsylvanians, waste taxpayer dollars, and demonize an industry that is a crucial economic driver for our state.

At the simplest level, this kind of lawsuit is nonsensical. Oil and gas companies make modern life - and the operations of the county itself - possible. They are the economic engine behind many of the county's cornerstone public and private development projects. Take, for instance, the ongoing $1.1 billion renovation project at Pittsburgh International Airport. As the county government knows well, the state-of-the-art renovation project is being financed through royalties and revenues from natural gas production. Rich Fitzgerald,the former Allegheny County Executive, went so far as to say that the deals with natural gas producers "saved the airport."

On the other side of the county, drilling beneath Deer Lakes Park in Tarentum has generated $15 million and counting for infrastructure and park improvements, all with no surface activity or disturbances to the park.

It's the companies providing these significant county benefits that activists wish to sue into bankruptcy.

Energy availability - specifically, the consistent and affordable energy supply we've gotten used to - isn't the only thing on the line. In 2021, direct and indirect jobs in the oil and gas industry supplied 5.6 percent of Pennsylvania's total employment. The industry's actual economic impact is much more far-reaching. Half a million Pennsylvanians are employed by the state's manufacturing industry, which depends on natural gas - much of it sourced from the state's own shale basins - to produce durable and consumable goods of every kind.

Take a look at what has happened in the wake of these suits. California, for instance, has suffered a rapid and acute job flight. Where lawsuits go, workers leave - except, perhaps, trial lawyers. And even in the courtroom, this litigation has not found success. Instead, similar cases pushed by the same activists have dragged out for years in state courthouses, imposing heavy costs on county governments and monopolizing critical resources for seeking justice.

Pinning the blame of global climate change on one or thirty American companies is not just bad for business, it's a slippery slope. If any court gives credence to these lawsuits, what will stop activists and trial attorneys from ticking down the list and going after the next industry they deem culpable? Climate change requires a more thoughtful response from our elected leaders than the blame game and a cash grab.

These aren't abstract concerns. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake, and an even greater sum in wages, sales, and tax revenue.

Members of the council: you have an opportunity not to just ensure a fair and transparent process; but, more importantly, to make it known across the state that ideological lawfare will not gain any more ground in Pennsylvania. We urge you to make the right choice for your constituents.

Sincerely,

Jezree Friend
Vice President, Manufacturer & Business Association

David N. Taylor
President & CEO, Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association

Jeff Nobers
Executive Director, Pittsburgh Works Together

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