Responding to news that Shell Oil has selected western Pennsylvania as the home for a natural gas plant, Whitehall Borough resident Laura L. Leete wrote a July 14 letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in which she expresses deep concern for the possible negative effects of Marcellus Shale drilling.

"I'm saving the cheers for the Pittsburgh Pirates and not the Marcellus Shale-related industries until some experts can assure me that drilling for natural gas in residential neighborhoods and state parks will not further pollute my already polluted air and water," Leete writes, "that my property value will not be lowered, that the noise level caused by drilling that used to be enforced by local ordinance will not be deafening, and that the majority of the natural gas produced will be sold in this country and not to China."

The topic of Marcellus Shale is especially sensitive to Whitehall residents, as the local South Hills Country Club has leased part of its land to Chesapeake Energy to allow for high-volume slickwater hydraulic fracturing.

It is not believed that any fracturing has taken place at the country club yet.

Read Leete's full letter here.

Thoughts?

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