South Fayette Manager May Take Gas Drilling Job

The man­ager of an Allegheny County town­ship engaged in a major legal bat­tle with Range Resources is step­ping down…to pos­si­bly take a job in the nat­ural gas  industry.

The Post-Gazette reports.

Mike Hoy, the South Fayette man­ager for nearly 11 years, announced Mon­day night that he is resign­ing from the town­ship, effec­tive Nov. 11.

The Pitts­burgh Post-Gazette received reports after the meet­ing that Mr. Hoy is plan­ning to take a job at Mark­West Lib­erty, the nat­ural gas pro­cess­ing firm. In an email Wednes­day, he wrote, “I have not offi­cially accepted any employ­ment at this time.”

His depar­ture comes amid the township’s bat­tle over Mar­cel­lus Shale devel­op­ment and the legal chal­lenge by gas firm Range Resources of the municipality’s nat­ural gas drilling reg­u­la­tions. Mark­West is a strate­gic part­ner with Range Resources.

Mr. Hoy could become the sec­ond town­ship admin­is­tra­tor to resign this year to take a job with Mark­West Lib­erty, an affil­i­ate of drilling firms Range Resources and Chesa­peake Energy that processes and trans­ports nat­ural gas extracted from the Mar­cel­lus Shale.