Wayne eyes gas task force

By SANDY LONG

WAYNE COUNTY, PA — As natural gas exploration continues to evolve in Wayne County, the first steps are being taken to form a gas task force.

According to Mary Beth Wood, executive director of the Wayne Economic Development Corporation (WEDCO), the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, Workforce Wayne and WEDCO jointly hosted a meeting in late September with representatives from government, business, education, community and economic development organizations, as well as from the gas industry, to begin a “strategic dialogue” on the industry in Wayne County.

WEDCO is a non-profit economic development corporation comprised of businesses in partnership with state, county and municipal government.

“We have used this partnership approach with great success with the Workforce Wayne [a nonprofit organization working toward a workforce delivery system through developing career opportunities, strengthening skills and supporting life-long learning] initiative and feel it has merit in our approach to the gas industry,” said Wood.

The initial meeting was held, in part, to determine whether or not the county should form a task force. “The consensus was that we should, and we are now, investigating how this is done in other areas,” said Wood.

Wood described the initial meeting as being grounded in sustainability. “The collective assets of our people (health and well being, talents and skills, etc.), the economy and environment are not mutually exclusive,” said Wood. “We will facilitate this process from the perspective that all three are interrelated and important.”

A smaller working group was established to begin gathering information and will meet in the near future, said Wood, who expects to reconvene the larger group in November to present the working group’s findings.

The initial meetings are not currently open to the public or press, according to Wood. “That is just because we are doing fact finding and not establishing any policies,” she said. “I expect the extent and method of public input will be part of our fact finding.”

As for future composition of the task force, Wood said it is too early to know. “Once we have information on the governance, structure and formation of existing taskforces, we will be better able to answer that,” she said. “For example, in other areas, the county government has formed the taskforce by resolution. Our job right now is just to assemble the facts and facilitate the process.”

For more information contact Wood at mbw@wedcorp.org or 570/253-2537.