May 18, 2018 4 min read

Charlie Melancon has been involved on both sides of the energy/environment equation.

A former congressman from Louisiana, he was a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversaw energy policy and environmental quality. He also is a former secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Melancon, who grew up around energy production, was at Southpointe Thursday morning to talk energy – Pennsylvania energy, specifically – when he imparted a nugget of advice.

“You’re in the oil and gas business now, whether you like it or not. Treat it with respect, embrace it, regulate it, because it can be a beneficial industry.”

Melancon, a U.S. representative from 2005 to 2011, and Carl Marrara, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, comprised a two-person panel discussion at a Washington County Chamber of Commerce breakfast event at the Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe.

Both touted the abundant reserves of natural gas and natural gas liquids in the tri-state – especially Southwestern Pennsylvania. The oil and gas industry, they concurred, could lead to significant job growth and financial gain for the state. They advocated safety and urged energy companies and governments to work as “allies.” They talked cracker plants, and Marrara defended coal.

But what they preached most, perhaps, was the importance of having adequate pipeline infrastructure.

Pennsylvanians are familiar with the Mariner East 1 and Mariner East 2 pipelines. (Mariner 1, which recently came out of emergency shutdown, carries methane and butane from MarkWest in Houston to a refinery in Marcus Hook, near Philadelphia. Mariner 2, which crosses Washington and a number of other counties, is expected to be completed later this summer.)

“To fully realize the full potential of energy, we need a robust infrastructure (of pipelines),” Marrara said. “We have to connect consumers and customers to supply.

“Customers in southeastern Pennsylvania are paying higher prices because they’re getting natural gas from Louisiana because there’s not enough infrastructure to transport it.”

“Without infrastructure, you have nothing,” Melancon said. “I think Pennsylvania, like every state, is having discussions on infrastructure. A pipeline takes the product needed to the place that needs it.”

A healthy oil and gas industry, the ex-congressman said, can pay off in lower utility costs and fruitful employment.

“I live with the industry and see people making good livings,” he said. “They have good jobs, steady jobs.

He and Marrara, however, stressed safety should be paramount. “An environmentalist has a job to do, to keep watch on the industry,” Melancon said. “I don’t want an explosion, I don’t want people killed.”

Marrara, who is based in Harrisburg, said “the safety of pipelines is important.” He acknowledged there have been spills and other bad things have occurred in the industry, but added, “They happen much less often than from a tanker truck or a rail car.”

Later, during a question-and-answer period with the audience, Marrara said he is from Danville in central Pennsylvania – “coal country,” as he put it. And he defended that fossil fuel, saying it is “very vital, very necessary to making iron and steel. You can’t make iron and steel from solar panels or wind turbines. You can’t make steel without coal.”

The subject of the ethane cracker plant that Royal Dutch Shell is building in Potter Township, Beaver County, ultimately came up. This is the first cracker in the United States to be built outside the Gulf Coast in 20 years. A number of people living nearby have complained about health and environmental issues.

Marrara does not anticipate this happening north of here.

“These plants are not new,” he said. “What’s being built is the newest technology being used, the cleanest that can be done.

“This is something new to this part of the country. That’s scary. But a lot of times that one will bring more.”

Both speakers are, indeed, bullish on the natural gas industry. Marrara envisions it to be long-lasting.

“If the Pennsylvania government handles things correctly,” he said, “Pennsylvania will experience a century of economic prosperity.”