Gas meeting draws National Council of Churches

By TOM KANE

BEACH LAKE, PA - What does the National Council of Churches (NCC) have to do with the issue of gas drilling in Wayne County?

Just ask Pastor Mark Terwilliger of the Beach Lake Methodist Church, who waxes eloquent about the theological call to Christians to exercise stewardship over the earth. He sees it as a matter for churches all over the country, since gas drilling is becoming a national issue.

“As people of faith, we affirm that creation belongs not to us but to God,” he said at a meeting he called on July 28, inviting clergy, believers of all faiths and residents to discuss what to do about signing gas drilling leases.

Whether to sign a lease or not was an important question that people needed guidance over, he said. Signing a lease appears to be one way that people can retain their land and make a profit.

It was pointed out by a speaker at the meeting that dairy farmers, who are struggling to stay alive financially, see this as a wonderful opportunity that would take them out of insolvency.

Tyler Edgar, associate director of the Climate and Energy Campaign at the NCC in Washington, DC, who attended the meeting, seconded Terwilliger’s concern.

“The Council’s Climate and Energy Campaign focuses on all the environmental problems and possible solutions that we need to face in the current energy crisis,” Edgar said. “It is a subject which preeminently belongs to Christians in our society today.”

“This is a problem that we all must wrestle with together as a community,” Terwilliger said.

Among the 12 people attending, one was a Lutheran pastor, one Episcopalian and several Methodists from the Beach Lake congregation.

Terwilliger cited several passages in Genesis and the Gospels that he thought had relevance. “With the National Council of Churches, we want to develop as clear a statement as we can make to guide us in dealing with this question honestly and compassionately,” he said. “We don’t have the answers, but we want to begin a process of awareness with all the churches in the area if possible.”

Two people in the congregation said they disagreed with the pastor’s handout, which contained an article from The River Reporter that covered a story of property owners in Washington County near Pittsburgh, who had many negative experiences with drilling.

“Why didn’t you have another positive story about drilling,” said a businessman, who is a member of the churches’ congregation. “I know a woman who lives near there who approves of the drilling on her property,” he said. “Nothing has gone wrong and they’re doing it right.”

“I haven’t seen any positive article about drilling anywhere,” Edgar said.

Terwilliger said he did not intend to criticize people who have signed a lease but said that they ought to know the advantages and disadvantages of drilling and what kind of controls they could have over the process on their land.

“We have to think of our children and our grandchildren who will inherit this earth around here,” he said.

Terwillinger said that he will contact neighboring churches and the press to announce the next meeting.