Dean McFarlin: Allegheny county executive navigates complex issue with competing constituencies
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During a special meeting Tuesday, Allegheny County Council overrode County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s veto of a bill to prohibit new natural gas leases in Allegheny County parks, capping a period of tumultuous negotiating and debate around fracking and drilling issues and what is best for the county.
Everyone agrees that parks are a resource worth protecting. How best to do that while also successfully pursuing a variety of economic imperatives facing the county and the region is where the challenge lies. And it’s no small challenge given the complexity of balancing environmental concerns and sustainability with the need to develop and expand the regional economy, particularly in the aftermath of the covid pandemic.
Fitzgerald has astutely grappled with a complex issue of broad concern to numerous constituencies who possess different if not diametrically opposed priorities. Weighing how best to balance those priorities is difficult for any elected official. Navigating the perspectives and passions of articulate constituents on opposites sides of a debate requires leadership and influence skills that are often underappreciated. On issues that require balancing protection of the environment with safeguarding jobs and economic stability in the region, no elected leaders can escape criticism regardless of how skilled they are or what position they take.
At the end of the day, no outcome will avoid the reality that some constituencies will be unhappy. Fitzgerald can own his strong record on environmental sustainability while also advocating for the region to continue its post-covid economic recovery, a task complicated by shifting demographic and business trends.
Even as it continues to rebound, the Pittsburgh region faces significant business infrastructure needs, supply chain disruptions, pressing social challenges, spiking inflation and demographic shifts that can undercut workforce development. In this environment, the county executive has a pressing duty to support job growth, attract new firms and skilled employees to our region, and keep costs under control, including taxes for Allegheny County citizens.
And in southwestern Pennsylvania, it’s impossible to ignore the Marcellus shale and energy industries. The county executive has recognized appropriately that the energy industry has created many good jobs in our region. Shifting to greener energy is clearly important, yet doing so takes time, especially given the economic costs associated with some of the rapid shifts advocated by well-meaning constituencies.
The issue of gas leases in Allegheny County parks is emblematic of a wider debate about how to balance economic growth and development against the need to move toward a greener energy future. Navigating this debate effectively will require patience, perspective and creativity from all sides for progress to be made. It also will require perseverance, long-term vision and an ability to collaborate on the part of all elected officials.
For his part, Fitzgerald can point to improvements in regional air quality, carbon emissions and water quality as well as restored wild lands and growth in clean energy jobs during his tenure in office. That commitment to the environment must remain intact.
In the face of financial pressures, legitimate political disagreements and competing constituency interests, the twin priorities of environmental protection and economic growth and stability must be carefully balanced at each step, for the good of the region. Elected leaders on both sides of this issue fortunately have demonstrated a willingness to make a positive difference for everyone who resides in Allegheny County and beyond.
Dean McFarlin is dean and professor of management at Duquesne University’s Palumbo Donahue School of Business and a nationally recognized expert on leadership, international management and executive influence. He is also an Allegheny County resident.