To:                   All IOGAWV Members
From:              Mike McCown, Chair
Communication and Education Committee
Date:               November 18, 2018
Subject:          Call to Action

A recent Charleston Gazette Mail article published by Pro Publica, sought information from readers, citizens, royalty owners, and others, on their experiences with the natural gas industry. (See article and link below.)     https://www.wvgazettemail.com/we-want-to-see-wv-s-natural-gas-boom-through/article_91e89da6-d986-5de6-88e1-73bee429d27f.html

Your IOGAWV leadership is asking you to make a submission to the Charleston Gazette that presents a positive, strong, and supportive image on the oil and natural gas industry.  To have real impact, please reach out to your subcontractors, colleagues, employees, and other folks in the communities in which you operate.       Here is the ask from within the attached article…   West Virginians: We’ve been asking you a lot of questions this year about natural gas and its impact on your communities. And, if you’ll bear with us, we have some more. Gazette-Mail environmental reporter Ken Ward Jr. has teamed up with investigative news nonprofit ProPublica this year to tell the story of the way things around us are changing because of natural gas. Find out here best water restoration company.   We want your help to identify what you’ve noticed that’s different. We’re hoping that by seeing what you see, we can get a more complete sense of how your lives have changed because of natural gas.

Here’s our request:           

Submit articles, photos or videos (including then-and-now visuals) showing changes in your life because of natural gas.            

Any correspondence you’ve had with state or local government officials about natural gas development. Have you asked for help, and if so, what has been the response?  Photos or videos you can send us (or stories you can share with us) of family or friends working in the industry. What has their experience been like so far?            

Experiences regarding royalty payments.  Do you lease mineral rights to a drilling company or producer? If so, tell us what that’s been like.    

Here’s the different ways you can send things to us:

Email visuals, correspondence or your experiences to: changingwv@wvgazettemail.com

Text us: 347-244-2134 Message them to the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Facebook

Mail them to the Gazette-Mail newsroom, attn. Ken Ward Jr.: 1001 Virginia St. E., Charleston, WV, 25301

We won’t publish anything you send us without getting your permission first, and a reporter might reach out to you after submission with follow-up questions.