Bartolotta, Borello talk future of oil & gas industry in District 46 one week before election day
Bartolotta, Borello talk future of oil & gas industry in District 46 one week before election day
Nearly 4,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Washington County since 2007. More than 3,500 have popped up in Greene County since 2003.
That’s why both PA District 46 Senate candidates, Republican Camera Bartolotta and Independent Jodi Borello, recognize its importance to voters in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Washington County ranked third in the commonwealth in Barrel of Oil Equivalent (BOE) production as of 10 months ago.
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Borello, a Washington County native, told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that consistency is what District 46 families have relied on for years.
"Families here are desperate to have a life-sustaining, non-boom-or-bust industry in this district," she said.
Bartolotta, the current District 46 senator and incumbent candidate, said she continues to fight a state carbon tax proposal that dates to the administration of former PA Governor Tom Wolf.
She believes that’s stunted the growth of oil and gas.
"When you have that threat, you're not going to get multi, multi-million dollars or billions of dollars’ worth of investment to produce more energy in Pennsylvania," she said. "We haven't had new investment and new energy production in Pennsylvania for six and a half years because of that."
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Despite what has been said about her on the campaign trail, Borello said she is far from opposed to the industry.
However, she is interested in looking into the safety and health aspects of the jobs.
"I am not anti-gas or anti-coal mining. It would be devastating if our region lost those employees," the independent candidate said. "I want to make sure that both workers and residents are protected."
As Borello seeks her first term, and Bartolotta her fourth, they both have oil and gas on their minds before and after Election Day.
"We need to produce more energy just for everyday life," Bartolotta said.
"We're going to have rolling brownouts, rolling blackouts if we don't put more energy on our grid and make it more reliable."
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