IN THE LAST WEEK
Pittsburgh was a microcosm last week of the divisivness of the 2016 presidential election when Republican nominee Donald Trump returned to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.
Inside, he was cheered by hundreds of natural gas executives at the Shale Insight conference when he promised to abolish regulations on gas drilling and pipeline construction while opening up offshore areas and federal lands to drilling.
Outside, there were no cheers, just jeers for the GOP nominee and his positions on, well, everything. The protests by state Democrats, unions and like-minded groups continued outside the convention center throughout the morning, shifting to outside the Duquesne Club, where Mr. Trump attended a fundraiser.
Several protesters tried to enter the club itself but were turned away. One man was arrested for defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. More than 40 officers in riot gear secured the building's entrance. Protesters chanted, “Let us in!” Mounted police officers pushed other protesters off the sidewalk.
Mr. Trump left. Protesters left. Divisivness remained.
The chasm of political opinions extends to Pennsylvania's new fiveyear forest management plan, which bans new oil and gas leasing and drilling in state forests and parks where the state controls subsurface mineral rights, and for the first time addresses climate change impacts. Not surprisingly, the oil and gas drilling industry is opposed.
The 234-page plan by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources supports the public lands drilling moratorium ordered by Gov. Tom Wolf in January. “We don't think it's wise to do additional gas leasing on state forest and park lands now,” said Seth Cassel, division chief of the department's Forest Resource Planning Section.
Of the 2.2 million acres of stateowned forest land, 1.55 million acres remain unleased for oil and gas drilling with a little more than 812,000 of those unleased in shale gas development areas.
On Capitol Hill, it was a grilling, not drilling, that took center stage at a House Oversight Committee hearing. On the hot seat was Heather
Bresch, Mylan CEO, who faced the ire of Democrats and Republicans alike over the price of the company’s EpiPens. The cost of the emergency allergy treatment, for which Mylan has a monopoly, has skyrocketed from $100 for a twopack to over $600 in recent years, outraging the public.
The lawmakers slammed the drug maker for jacking up the price to fuel “exorbitant profits” and awarding its top executives out-sized pay.
Ms. Bresch, who had a nearly $19 million pay package last year, defended her company, saying Mylan had worked hard to make the EpiPen available to more people. She said the company doesn't make as much profit on EpiPens as many believe. The lawmakers were unmoved.