Blink

“They called us out on the street for a gunfight, and we were ready.”

Daniel Roupp, Cogan House Township Supervisor

Photo by Christopher Koppes

Talk about a showdown. The little township of Cogan House, Pennsylvania (population 974) faced off against the giant gas-drilling company Range Resources, and Range blinked. It all started when Range began drilling near Cogan House in April. The township welcomed Range and its jobs, but the town’s gravel road, which previously saw maybe 10 vehicles a day, was now handling 200 tractor-trailers per day. The road was deteriorating quickly, and rainwater runoff was flowing into environmentally sensitive streams. Cogan House asked Range for help maintaining the road, but Range turned a deaf ear. The state stepped in and ordered the township to close the road to trucks over six tons. It tried. It posted signs and erected barricades, but Range drivers ignored the signs and drove through the barricades. So the Cogan House Township supervisor, a former lumberjack, did the only thing he could. He fired up his chainsaw and felled six trees along the road, blocking all traffic. This got Range’s attention. The company has started repairing the road, the trees have been cleared, the trucks are rolling again, and all is right in the little township of Cogan House.

Read more → Amy Worden, Small town takes on big gas firm over road repairs, The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 30, 2011.