It was standing room only, with over 800 in attendance. 115 people spoke with comments limited to 90 seconds, so it was 11:30 PM before we finished.

Several other area Delegates attended, but again, no one from the State Senate. Del. Tim Manchin chaired and indicated the Senate was tied up in re-districting meetings, but was there "in spirit"

Industry did pull out the stops, as a lot of people had the "Natural Gas" stickers on their shirts. They got in early, and 22 of the first 24 speakers were from industry. But they also mostly left early, which prompted some complaints from those landowners speaking near the end, but a number from the pro-regulation side also left early, so I am not sure that was a valid complaint.

The pro-regulation side ended up with 64 speakers, the industry reps had 49, and 2 were so unclear, convoluted and confused that I could not tell which side they were on.

My final count for the three hearings is 74 pro-industry, 136 pro-regulation, 10 unclear.

The tally should probably be even higher because most of the pro-industry reps said they supported a clean environment and "reasonable" regulations, but always emphasized jobs, which I interpret as code for "No More Regs" because they always insisted they were already doing a great job.

JBK