One-thousand, eight-hundred residents have signed a petition in Tyrone objecting to the proposed Dominion People’s gas request for a price hike.
A letter addressed to Governor Edward Rendell was attached to copies of the signed petition and delivered to the Governor’s office by Representative Jerry Stern recently. It asks the governor for his assistance and attention to those who signed the petition.
The petition was circulated and produced voicing opposition to the natural gas increase and asks regulators at the Public Utility Commission to consider those that didn’t have the opportunity to sign.
“This is a snapshot of the public sentiment on this issue and it is clear that, given the same opportunity, others across the commonwealth would support our position,” said Tyrone resident William Fink, author of the letter to the governor.
According to the brief, many residents who signed the petition are senior citizens on fixed incomes and those whose pensions are just over the monetary line and are unable to receive any assistance for their home heating bills.
The United States relies on domestically produced, natural gas. Presently, natural gas meets approximately one-fourth of the United States’ energy needs and it’s our country’s fastest growing major energy source. Besides home heating, natural gas is the most important source of manufacturing and is used to make a wide range of products including fertilizers, automobiles, steel, plastics and processed food.
The letter to the governor also indicates that residents understand the supply and demand has a direct effect on price, but feels the price should go both ways.
“It is common knowledge that there is an abundant long term supply of natural gas through the use of current production technologies, put simply, readily available production, hampered by the lack of exploratory drilling, has not kept pace for the growing demand for natural gas,” Fink added.
On February 26, 2003, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) said, “Insufficient production is our core problem.”
The petition concludes by saying that this is not the consumer’s fault; however, it is the fault of those we have elected to act in our best interest.
