From Bismarck, to Oklahoma City, to Dunkirk: News Outlets Highlight the Economic Benefits Associated With Fracking
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | 0 Comments
Over the weekend, regional news outlets highlighted the host of positive economic benefits associated with the environmentally-sound, well-regulated energy production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
In an in-depth look at fracking – a process that has been around for more than 60 years – South Dakota’s KFYR-TV, under the headline “Energy Insider: Hydraulic Fracturing,” reports this:
A drill rig just south of McGregor will be tapping into oil that’s been known about for decades.
“Everybody knows where it’s at. We’ve known it for a long time,” said Russell Atkins, Area Supervisor for Continental Resources.
But economically, it is just starting to make sense to go after the oil in the Bakken Formation.
That’s because recent developments in horizontal drilling technologies make it easier to drain a larger area underground.
“Instead of just having one well bore that intersects eight to nine feet of rock, you’re intersecting thousands of feet of rock,” said Atkins.
To view this KFYR-TV video, click HERE.
Middletown, New York’s Times Herald-Record evaluated the benefits that safe, well-regulated energy production, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, hold in store for its region. The paper reports this on yesterday’s page:
Unemployment – which hovers around 8 percent in both Sullivan and Susquehanna counties – should drop because of “the dramatic increases in development over the next five years,” according to a Workforce Needs Assessment Study, by the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center.
By the end of this year, gas drilling will create between 1,300 and 2,100 jobs in Pennsylvania’s northern tier. Estimated wages for those jobs were unavailable.”
And energy experts are making sure the facts are being heard, too. Brad Gill, who serves as the executive director of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGANY), passes along the following quote in an Evening Observer article from yesterday:
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) estimates the positive economic impact of 300 Marcellus Shale wells to easily reach or exceed $1.4 billion. Broken down, the wells are projected to provide $108 million to landowners, $19 million in real property tax relief for municipalities, $32 million in state tax revenue, and provide hundreds of new jobs.
“The Marcellus Shale, a geological formation in New York and contiguous states, may well prove to be one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the nation’s history,” said Brad Gill, executive director of IOGA of NY and geologist by trade. “Over the past year, we have witnessed a financial meltdown of not only New York, but of the global marketplace. Now, we have a chance to pull New York – especially the Southern Tier – out of this slump and put New Yorkers back to work.”
And David Hager, executive vice president of exploration and development for the Oklahoman-based Devon Energy, writes this in today’s Oklahoman:
By unlocking the shale, we have opened vast new natural gas supplies that were beyond our reach a decade ago. This would be exciting news at any time, but at a time in history when we are worried about energy independence and clean energy, this new development is better than a ninth-inning homer to win the Series.
The fact is that shale is a proven success story. The Barnett Shale, which Berman targets with his skepticism, has grown from almost nothing 10 years ago to the largest producing gas field in the United States. Today, the Barnett’s annual production is enough to heat 20 million homes for a year.
Because of shale, natural gas production in the United States has been on the increase in recent years, reversing a prolonged trend downward. And, these wells are expected to produce for 40 or 50 years.
