Protesters Cause Temporary Rig Shutdown in PA

UPDATE:  Three protesters have been arrested, and the road is now open.

From the Pocono Record:
Protesters demonstrating against hydraulic fracturing at a state forest led to a new gas drilling rig temporarily being shut down Sunday. 
EQT Corp. spokeswoman Natalie Cox said the company shut down the rig in Moshannon State Forest in central Pennsylvania at midday. The rig was just being commissioned, and protesters said it had gone up in the last week. 
Cox said the Pittsburgh-based company's primary concern was the well-being of its employees and contractors. 
"The safety of everyone involved is our primary concern, including employees, contractors, police officers and the protesters themselves," Cox said. "Therefore, operations will not resume until we are assured it is safe to do so." 
Gloria Forouzan of Marcellus Protest said 150 demonstrators had blocked an access road for trucks headed to the EQT rig. 
State police are at the site monitoring the situation. No arrests have been made. 
Another protester, 25-year-old Alex Lotorto of Pike County, said two activists were sitting 75 feet in the air on a tree platform that had been connected to a cable stretched across the access road. If a truck or machine were to cross the cable and cut through it, the tree sitters would fall, Lotorto said.
Read the rest of the article here.

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