Ads say Range Resources is a responsible driller
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Companies drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale have encountered a string of controversies, including lawsuits over royalty payments to landowners, charges of damaging the environment and political wrangling over whether or not to tax the gas they pull out of the ground, and if so, by how much.
In the midst of the hubbub, most natural gas companies have seemed content to keep a low public profile, letting the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group formed in 2008, speak on behalf of them.
They tout their successes to Wall Street, but not to Main Street.
Then there's Range Resources.
In recent weeks, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company has run advertisements on both radio and TV, and posted billboards advertising a new website, www.myrangeresources.com.
The ads are selling the idea that drilling in the Marcellus Shale is good, and Range is doing it right.
The videos on the website show everyday people describing how they have benefited from their relationship with the company.
In one, Ron and Bev Romanetti, a middle-age couple who have leased land to Range, credit such leases with improving lives of farmers.
"All the farmers around that have got gas wells are doing a lot better now," Mr. Romanetti says, and Mrs. Romanetti adds, "Natural gas has been ... a godsend to this area."
In another video, business owner Paul Battista says, "In the last two years, probably 60 percent of our business is natural gas." Mr. Battista's company provides work clothes, hardhats and tools for Range's workers, and he says that in Range, "I've got a customer that appreciates what we do."
So, what led to this campaign?
"I think a lot of people don't know much about our industry or about Range Resources," said Ray Walker, vice president of Range's Marcellus Shale unit.
"The main message that we want to send is that we're committed to being the very best that we can be," he said. "We want to be accountable, transparent and accessible to people."
First Published October 13, 2010 12:00 am
