“Natural gas has been a godsend to this area. It has helped
farmers see a return on all the hard work they have put into their land just to
keep it,” says Bev Romanetti, a Pennsylvania cattle farmer. “I have found that
Range
Resources wants to be
responsible; they want to do the right things, they want to protect our
environment, and they want to do right by us,” remarks Albie Rinehart, a
retired schoolteacher
from Greene County, Pennsylvania.
“I personally know a
lot of the people who work for Range Resources—it’s like dealing with your
neighbors,” states Buzz Meddings, a firefighter from Washington County,
Pennsylvania. Citizens of rural Pennsylvania are the people most affected by
natural gas exploration in the eastern
region of the United
States. They are farmers, firefighters, teachers, single moms, restaurant
owners, and volunteers. They are hardy. They are the salt of the earth. More
important, they are the face of natural gas development in the Keystone State,
and they provide the voices through which the Texasbased energy company Range
Resources communicates its message of good corporate citizenship to the public.
At the company’s public outreach site,
MyRangeResources.com,
everyday people offer video testimonials about the economic and social benefits
that Range brings to local communities, whether in terms of jobs, new
development, or concern for the natural environment. The site, which functions
as part of Range’s communications strategy, is an information clearinghouse for
all things related to natural gas exploration. Since discovering the
second-largest natural gas field in the world in 2004, Range has used open
communication to build trust among the stakeholders
most affected by the
development of natural gas
resources. While
natural gas is recognized as a clean energy solution to America’s energy needs,
citizens still want to know that natural gas exploration is safe for
communities and good for the environment. As explained at MyRangeResources.com,
Range makes safety a central component of its natural gas production. To
extract methane from rock formations deep down in the Earth, engineers guide a
5-inch-diameter
drill straight down more than a mile and then turn it
horizontally to penetrate shale rock thousands of feet in all directions. This
horizontal drilling method is a groundbreaking advancement that allows drillers
to capture far more methane than the old vertical-only method, which requires
many more wells to get a fraction of the output. Once Range’s drill arrives at
its destination 6,500 feet below the Earth’s surface, electric charges produce
cracks in the rock from which methane gas escapes. To enlarge these fractures
for maximum gas recovery, millions of gallons of water and sand are pumped to
the area under extreme pressure, expanding the cracks and freeing even more gas
to flow back up to the well head at the surface. For environmental safety,
Range houses its drill in a 24-inch-diameter casing comprised of five layers of
steel and concrete, isolating the entire production process from contact with
surrounding land and water. In its desire to leave as small an environmental
footprint as possible, Range has pioneered a way to recycle the millions of
gallons of water used in the drilling process. “One thing we’ve done from an
environmental point of view is we now recycle 100 percent of our water in our
development areas in Pennsylvania. In fact, we’re recycling nearly all of our
fluid, which is a real breakthrough for the industry,” says Jeffrey Ventura,
president and CEO of Range Resources. “Back when we began that process, a lot
of people felt that it couldn’t be done, that it was physically impossible. Lo
and behold, not only did we do it successfully, but now we’re doing it
large-scale.” Ventura, the leader credited with Range’s decision to explore the
Marcellus Shale gas formation in Pennsylvania, says water recycling is a major
innovation in natural gas production. “Just like the Marcellus Shale
was a breakthrough,”
Ventura says, “on the environmental
side, water recycling
was a real breakthrough.” To keep stakeholders informed about safety, Range has
also led the industry in the disclosure of core production processes,
especially the use of liquids for drilling and fracturing. “In the middle of
2010, there was a lot of concern nationwide about what’s in frack fluid, and
Range was the first company in the
industry to say
exactly what’s in our frack fluid,” Ventura
says. “We post it on our website and we supply it to the state for every
Marcellus Shale well that we’re drilling. It’s 99.9 percent water, and the 0.1
percent are common everyday household chemicals.” Range’s open communication
with the public has earned the respect of environmental groups as well as the
U.S.
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Leading 5
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which in 2012
announced that natural gas production was safe for drinking water at its test
site in Dimock Township, Pennsylvania. Consumers who want to keep informed on
the latest safety news can also visit RangeResponsibility.com, a new
information hub for the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts. The
site, which features an up-to-date Corporate Social Responsibility Report, is
part of the company’s goal to “be good stewards for shareholders while doing
the same thing for the environment and the communities where we live and work.”
The online communications effort is bolstered by daily Twitter updates and
monthly videos posted on YouTube. Safety, open communication, and leadership—
these are the qualities that have made Range Resources a vanguard of America’s
natural gas boom and a pioneer of sustainable energy development. “I’m proud of
what our technical team has done on the environmental side and the
communications side,” says Ventura of his company’s contribution to America’s
clean energy future.
3. How might Range’s leadership, communication, and values
affect employees’ organizational commitment? Explain.
