High Flies the Falcon: HF Helping to Create Jobs from Pennsylvania to Poland
What does Pennsylvania and Poland have in common other than a love for polka, a taste for haluski, and a propensity for Babushkas? Well, the responsible development of clean-burning natural gas from shale formations – enabled by hydraulic fracturing – is helping to create jobs. Thousands of them.
In fact, Dow Jones reports this today under the headline “Polish Shale Sector Needs Hands”:
If Poland is to develop its reserves of shale gas, the material that has created an energy bonanza in the U.S., one of its biggest obstacles is likely to be securing a qualified labor force, industry participants say. “There are about 1,000 shale jobs in Poland right now, but there will be 50,000 to 100,000 in the next 10 years,” says Jakub Kostecki, chief executive of New Gas Contracting, a Warsaw-based recruiting firm.
Poland has recoverable shale-gas resources of 5.3 trillion cubic meters, equal to more than 300 years of the country’s annual natural-gas consumption, the US Department of Energy says in a report.
Business is picking up, but Geofizyka Torun is facing increasing competition as rival companies set up shop in Poland, bringing their own equipment to do seismic testing and hiring young professionals, says Sylwia Kowalska, a human-resources director at the company. But Geofizyka Torun offers to pay for its employees’ lodgings and provides them with English classes, she says. “We’re seeing employees who left coming back,” Ms. Kowalska says. “They miss Poland.” She estimates that in May the company hired at least 70% more people than a year ago.
Responsible American natural gas production in Pennsylvania continues to be an economic catalyst for small businesses and those looking for work. This from today’s Sunbury (PA) Daily Item:
Dennis Hain believes in learning a trade, then being able to find a job in that trade. As director of SUN Area Technical Institute, he sees the school’s pilot program with Pennsylvania College of Technology as fitting the bill by preparing students to work in the natural gas industry. … “I can tell you I’ve never received as many phone calls from businesses asking for students. We don’t have enough to fill the positions.”
If working for a natural gas company is an ethical issue for some, for others it’s a means to a good paycheck and benefits that they wouldn’t have otherwise without leaving the state. “A high school diploma and a real good work ethic are about what you need to get hired in an entry-level job up there,” said Tracy Brundage, assistant vice president of workforce and economic development at Penn College. She noted that a good driving record and clean background also are important.
Take it a step further with more education, and a student can make a solid career with a salary two or three times what he or she would make in another industry, plus good benefits.
And in a weekend editorial, the Altoona (PA) Mirror underscores the important fact that “the Marcellus industry has pumped needed dollars into rural areas of our state.” This all, of course, helps explain why Gallup’s Chief Economist Dennis Jacobe recently said “One thing the U.S. could do to stimulate job growth going forward would be to place more emphasis on expanding the nation’s energy and commodity sectors.”
Dem. Pa. House Policy Chief Sinks to New Low in Debate Over American Energy Production
According to his website, Pennsylvania state Representative Mike Sturla’s (D-96) — as the House’s Democratic Policy Chairman — “is instrumental in crafting the caucus’ policy agenda.” This is a very unsettling notion, considering the coarse rhetoric he offered yesterday about the region’s natural gas industry. Mr. Sturla’s commitment to new, massive taxes on responsible, clean-burning, job-creating American natural gas development cannot be questioned.
And while reasonable minds may disagree about natural gas tax policy and the associated economic impacts that such proposals may carry, Mr. Sturla – a key legislative leader in Pennsylvania – stooped to a new low yesterday about Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry, which has helped put more than 140,000 folks to work at a time when our national economy remains anemic.
As reported by the Harrisburg, Pa.-based news outlet Capitolwire (“Walker says forestland royalties key to solving state’s economic problems”) today, Mr. Sturla – in several emails to reporter Pete DeCoursey – lodges a host of unsubstantiated claims about the natural gas industry, including that its responsible for spreading “venereal disease.”
This direct quote – via email – from Mr. Sturla, as reported by Capitolwire:
“Also, aside from building roads so their trucks can get to drill sites and doing a little stream work to mitigate damage from their road building, exactly what are all those things the drillers are doing for the local communities? Patronizing the bars at night? Driving up the cost of rental housing? Spreading sexually transmitted disease amongst the womenfolk? Causing school districts to ask local governments to ban truck traffic on local roads during school bus pick up and drop off times so kids don’t get killed? Upgrading emergency preparedness equipment to handle a well blow out? Running compressor stations that have decibel levels equal to a jet engine?…Really community oriented stuff…”
Disparaging usage of ‘womenfolk’ aside (it’s 2011 by the way, good representative), Mr. Sturla’s comments are downright arrogant, inflammatory and, above all else, patently false.
While there’s not – and will likely never be any Marcellus Shale development in Mr. Sturla’s district – he should be aware of the impact that our industry is in fact having throughout communities across the region. As much it may pain Mr. Sturla, he – and others interested – should take a good, hard look at a series of recent news reports about the “really community oriented stuff” that our industry is responsible for:
- “Natural-gas supply is a sparkplug for state”: Raymond J. Bologna has a 1,300-foot-high coal pile and tried for more than 20 years to build a power plant to burn it. The economy’s collapse killed his last good chance to make it happen, but he hopes that natural gas — the new economic sparkplug — can revive his project. Bologna wants to build two power plants at his site in Robinson, Washington County, one fueled by the waste coal piled there and another fueled by gas from the region’s deep shale formations. “We’re here to create jobs and create value,” Bologna said, promising an annual payroll of $6 million to $7 million and nearly 70 employees. “It looks like the Marcellus shale is going to get us there.” … Industries such as steel and glass should benefit from having a cheap fuel source nearby. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 8/14/11)
- “Gas drilling industry reaching out to communities via county fairs”: Oil and gas sponsorships account for about one-third of the Greene County Fair’s total budget this year, said Debbie Stephenson, the fair’s secretary/treasurer. That extra money has come in handy as state funding drops. In 2005, state funding for fairs was $4.6 million. Last year, it was $1.2 million. … The first Marcellus wells were drilled in 2004, and about two years later, energy firms started county fair outreach, said Eric Cowden, community outreach manager for the Marcellus Shale Coalition lobbying group. “As traditional [as] summer fairs are for Pennsylvania, it has become that kind of tradition for these energy companies,” he said. “It’s part of their makeup now.” … Outreach at such community-oriented gatherings is a way to combat some of the industry’s negative press, said Rod Winters, director of land at the Energy Corporation of America and the purchaser Thursday night of an 8-month-old lamb named Magnum. … Magnum’s owner, 10-year-old Hayden Demniak, easily came up with a list of the ways that energy firms have helped his elementary school in Cumberland Township: an improved walking track, a new nature trail, science demonstrations and the sponsorship of a healthy eating program. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/14/11)
- “Report: Pittsburgh, Surrounding Region at Center of New Energy Economy”: Shale gas could offset imported oil and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs for region. Pittsburgh and a surrounding region that includes West Virginia and parts of Ohio may be at the epicenter of the nation’s new energy economy. The region’s proximity to shale gas reserves, coupled with its access to a assets such in education, research and investment, point to significant economic opportunities, according to the report “Regional Pittsburgh: The New Energy Economy,” issued in June by the Center for Industrial Research Applications at West Virginia University. “Regional Pittsburgh” finds itself in a unique position, one that has not been available for more than a century, report authors James E. Smith and Emily Pertl assert. … The use of natural gas will allow the region to reinvest its energy expenditures back into the region, rebuilding its manufacturing base and employing and re-employing a large segment of its current and future labor force, Smith and Pertl wrote. (WOWK-TV, 8/16/11)
Note to Mr. Sturla: Facts and science must serve as the foundation for our dialogue — not hyperbole, bald-faced lies and scare tactics.
New Study Underscores Enormous Potential Economic Benefits From NY’s Marcellus Shale
Earlier this week, New York’s state House doubled down on its bad bet of a year ago and sought to extend by another year the state’s moratorium on the use of fracturing technology — at least the kind requiring enough water to access the Marcellus. Such a proposal seeks to only further put out of reach the potentially widespread economic benefits – tens of thousands of jobs, millions in revenue – associated with shale gas production for New York State.
A recent New York Post editorial captures the contours of this debate:
“The longer fracking is verboten in New York, the longer the upstate region loses out on a promising economic boost. Indeed, new drilling operations alone could create thousands of jobs for the economically ailing area.”
Further, and perhaps even more clearly, these facts and economic potentials are echoed in a Manhattan Institute report issued this week. The report analyzed the economic and environmental impacts of shale gas development in New York State as based upon Pennsylvania’s Marcellus activity. The study indicated that a moratorium on drilling provides little environmental benefit while imposing large scale economic cost.
Data was generated on a per-well basis to create an “economic-environmental benefit-cost ratio for a typical Marcellus shale gas well.” The study further notes the importance of understanding the downstream positive externalities of natural gas potentials as an alternative to coal and oil energy generation.
Here are several key findings:
- An end to the moratorium would spur over $11.4 billion in economic output.
- The typical Marcellus shale gas well generates about $4 million in economic benefits.
- Some 15,000 to 18,000 jobs could be created in the Southern Tier and Western New York, regions which lost a combined 48,000 payroll jobs between 2000 and 2010.*
- Another 75,000 to 90,000 jobs could be created if the area of exploration and drilling were expanded to include the Utica shale and southeastern New York, including the New York City watershed. (This assumes a regulatory regime that protects the water supply but permits drilling to continue.)
- Localities and the state stand to reap $1.4 billion in tax revenues if the moratorium is allowed to expire.
The authors also determine that “Clearly, the economic benefits of shale gas drilling far outweigh the environmental costs.” And it’s true, hydraulic fracturing has never impacted groundwater. And despite claims, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson – our nation’s top environmental watchdog – told Congress this recently when asked about fracturing:
“I’m not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water.”
Misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the science and facts surrounding shale gas production has diluted the potential of hydraulic fracturing for New York’s energy and economic future. And New Yorkers need only to look Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where natural gas development is being done in an environmentally responsible way.
Yesterday, under the headline “Gas drilling makes millionaires in Marshall County”, West Virginia Public Broadcasting notes the positive economic benefit drilling has brought into the homes of its residents, as well as its small businesses and community:
Some residents in Marshall County are becoming rich off Marcellus shale drilling. The gas drilling boom is creating an economic upswing throughout the community. Despite the recession, Marshall County is doing better than most counties in the state. It is now the #2 coal producing county in West Virginia. It’s also become a big draw for gas companies looking to tap the natural gas in Marcellus Shale deep underground.
Marshall County Commissioner Donald Mason said this means big money for some residents. “We have seen several people in our county become instant millionaires with the signing of the leases and some of them are already producing. There are rumors that some people are getting as much as $60,000 a month from their gas wells,” Mason said.
And the money from those lease checks is trickling into the community.
Back at Auto Choice in Moundsville, John Hunnel said he’s seen the Northern Panhandle area suffer from a loss in manufacturing jobs like glass and steel over the years. He said the Marcellus shale drilling activity has him feeling pretty optimistic about the future. “Anytime you have different jobs coming in to the area it does help. It brings other businesses along with it which is good, but I think this whole area is going to change dramatically within the next probably 5 to 10 years for sure,” said Hunnel.
Modern shale gas development is a labor-intensive task, for sure, requiring continual man power and thereby generating continued and much-needed employment opportunities. According the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, there are 141,000 Marcellus related jobs in the Commonwealth, with an average Marcellus wage of $69,996.
New York’s ongoing de facto moratorium – as well as the one passed by the General Assembly – will only continue to stifle the desperately needed economic potential of shale gas production for the state. The economic benefits are too great to be ignored.
As the Manhattan Institute study lays out, “Our analysis of Marcellus development in Pennsylvania suggests that environmentally safe development is possible in New York. Our study finds the net economic and environmental benefits from shale gas development to be considerable, suggesting that the current moratorium is far costlier than its proponents, or even its opponents, realize.”
ICYMI: Sen. Casey implicates Marcellus wells in McKean Co., incident – facts tell a different story
On March 28, 2011, U.S. Senator Robert Casey (D-Pa.) wrote a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu requesting federal assistance in the investigation of gas migration issues in McKean County, Pa. Although Sen. Casey acknowledged at that time that very little was known about the cause of those issues, that lack of evidence didn’t stop the senator from suggesting that “extensive new deep drilling activities” were at least partially to blame for the incidents in the area.
Well, less than two weeks after Sen. Casey wrote his letter to federal regulators, he got an answer to the question he was asking – but not from the agency he wrote to, and not necessarily the one he was hoping to get. In a press release issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) last week, the agency reports that its investigation into gas-migration issues in McKean County turned up plenty of evidence suggesting that those issues were caused by three abandoned wells – not a single one of them having a single thing to do with the Marcellus. According to DEP, one of these abandoned wells was drilled in 1881; the other two nearly 90 years ago.
From DEP’s April 8, 2011 Press Release:
- “The Department of Environmental Protection has ordered a resident of Bradford Township, McKean County, to plug three abandoned non-Marcellus wells…”
- “On April 1, DEP issued a notice of violation to George for his failure to plug the abandoned wells. Rogers 9 was drilled in 1881 and the other two abandoned wells were drilled nearly 90 years ago.”
Albany Times Union Editorial: “Informed public policy won’t come from silencing diverse views”
- FLASHBACK: Energy In Depth March 14 ICYMI: “NY State’s Top Geologist: ‘No Cases in Which [Hydraulic Fracturing] Has Led to Groundwater Contamination’”
A bad lesson in censorship
Albany Times Union, Editorial
Monday, April 4, 2011
- “Shutting down an informed voice is absolutely the wrong thing for the government to do, and for environmentalists to support, if only in their failure to denounce it.”
One might reasonably assume that the state’s top staff geologist would have some relevant thoughts about drilling for natural gas. But good luck finding out what’s on Langhorne B. Smith Jr.’s mind, now that the state has muzzled him.
If only irony were an alternative energy source. Here’s the state Education Department — an agency responsible for fostering knowledge — barring Mr. Smith from talking to reporters after his comments on gas drilling caused a backlash among environmentalists — who normally are the first to cry out when politics takes precedence over science.
We don’t particularly agree with Mr. Smith on a few key points, either. But shutting down an informed voice is absolutely the wrong thing for the government to do, and for environmentalists to support, if only in their failure to denounce it.
As the Times Union’s James M. Odato found, Mr. Smith has been forbidden to talk to reporters since he spoke out on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial process of extracting natural gas that the energy industry wants to employ in the vast Marcellus Shale formation that lies under six states.
We and many others have expressed concern about potential problems, including drinking water contamination. No permits have been issued in New York while the state Department of Environmental Conservation works on regulations and the federal Environmental Protection Agency studies the practice of hydrofracking.
Mr. Smith in an interview last month spoke positively of the Marcellus Shale’s natural gas as a “huge gift” and characterized reports of water contamination as exaggerated and distorted.
He called for vigorous oversight of hydrofracking by the DEC and said natural gas could help relieve global warming and reliance on dirtier-burning fuels like coal.
Hydrofracking opponents, such as Environmental Advocates, the Sierra Club and United for Action, objected, with some suggesting that Mr. Smith’s opinion is tainted because of his private work as an energy industry consultant.
The blowback apparently has made the Education Department uncomfortable enough to cite a protocol that requires employees to check with the agency’s communications office before talking to reporters, or face “appropriate administrative action.” The agency said it’s looking into Mr. Smith’s private work, too.
We’ve been down this unfortunate road before. The state’s former wildlife biologist, Ward Stone, endured official intimidation, including a threat of transfer, for his dogged pursuit of pollution. He was an important voice on issues like the state’s own now-defunct trash incinerator in downtown Albany, where his tests found evidence of pollution in residential neighborhoods. Environmentalists protested the state’s attempts to silence him.
Not here, though. They’re content to let a scientist they disagree with be gagged.
They should join us instead in calling on Education Commissioner David Steiner and the Board of Regents to relax their stifling policies and let public employees contribute to important public discussions without checking with official handlers. This debate should be all about finding the truth, not winning even at the cost of it.
THE ISSUE:
The state Education Department bars a knowledgeable employee from talking about gas drilling.
THE STAKES:
Informed public policy won’t come from silencing diverse views.
NOTE: Click HERE to view this editorial online.
READ MORE
- Environmental Defense Fund: “Our natural gas supplies would plummet precipitously without hydraulic fracturing”
- What They’re Saying: Engineering Experts, Economists Confirm Fracturing’s Clear Record of Environmental Safety
- Top Nat’l Energy Expert on Forbes.com: Hydraulic fracturing critical to “developing jobs, clean sources of energy”
- Just The Facts: University of Pitt. Prof. Sets the Record Straight on Hydraulic Fracturing
- Just The Facts: Energy Experts, Top Forbes Energy Reporter Debunk “Preposterous” Hydraulic Fracturing Claims
Faced with state takeover of city pension fund, Pittsburgh City Council opts for massive increase in parking-meter fees – while spending time and money on bizarre crusade against Marcellus
Keep Reading »
EID Reinforces the Imperative to Continue to “Let states handle fracking” Effectively
As the debate over responsible oil and natural gas development continues, particularly as it relates to the 60 year old process called hydraulic fracturing – the critical technology used more than 1.1 million times nationally in energy-producing states without ever impacting groundwater – Energy In Depth remains at the tip of the spear. In a Casper Star-Tribune letter to the editor today, EID’s executive director Lee Fuller writes this under the headline “Let states handle fracking”:
Tom Doll, supervisor of Wyoming’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, understands that hydraulic fracturing is an effective, environmentally sound and critical energy production technology. “The Commission has regulated hydraulic fracturing since 1954,” Mr. Doll, a petroleum engineer, has said. “Contrary to what has recently been in the press, the Commission has no documented cases of hydraulic fracturing negatively impacting ground water.”
What does Mr. Doll think about a one-size-fits all Washington, D.C., takeover of hydraulic fracturing currently being pursued by some in Congress? “We feel that we should administer our rules and regulate [fracturing] and we don’t need the help of the federal government in this regard,” Doll says, adding that states are “doing a good job.”
Wyoming, and a host of other energy-producing states, are doing a good job of regulating fracturing. Fracturing has been used to stimulate oil and natural gas production in more than 1.1 million wells since it came into commercial use in 1949 and it has never impacted or contaminated groundwater. The EPA, top state environmental regulators and a host of independent academics and energy experts have also confirmed this fact.
Mr. Fuller’s comments follow similar comments from the top energy production watchdog in North Dakota. This from the Minot Daily Times over the weekend:
“The Industrial Commission and the Department of Mineral Resources have made it no secret that we don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing. This is a way for the average citizen of North Dakota, if they feel that way or if they feel the opposite way, to voice their opinions to EPA,” Lynn Helms [director of the Department of Mineral Resources] said.
You see, individual states are best positioned and situated to regulate fracturing, as state regulators have the best ‘know-how’ of local and regional geology. And energy-producing states are taking commonsense steps to ensure that this process is tightly and effectively regulated. This from the Associated Press under the headline “Arkanasas board set to create rule on fracking”
Commission Director Larry Bengal says under the Arkansas rule, the operator would report the specific names and concentrations of the chemicals used during fracking. That information would be on the commission’s website. The rule also would require operators to provide information before starting the fracking process to prove that well casings can withstand pressure and won’t leak.
The hydraulic fracturing process uses millions of gallons of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, which are pumped at high pressure thousands of feet underground to create fissures in the rock — known as shale — and release the gas. According to the Oil and Gas Commission’s website, 99.5 percent of fracking fluid is sand and water. But small amounts of chemicals also are used to reduce bacteria buildup in the well, reduce friction and prevent corrosion.
This is a story of American ingenuity, driven by technological advancements. The results? Expanded access to reliable supplies of homegrown oil and natural gas and tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs at a time when they’re most needed. Here’s what they’re saying:
- Bakken used as model for other oil plays. Associated Press. “Know-how gained from North Dakota’s once-perplexing Bakken shale formation is being used to exploit other onerous oil plays across the globe. Pushed by high crude prices, companies in just four years have nearly perfected technology to tap oil trapped in a thin layer of dense rock nearly two miles beneath the surface in western North Dakota. Unlocking the Bakken using advanced horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques has propelled the state from the nation’s ninth-largest oil producer in 2006 to its fourth-largest today. A record number of rigs are piercing the state’s oil patch.
- New firm opens, plans to employ 140 people. Williamsport Sun-Gazette. “Meadville-based Universal Well Services Inc., a natural gas and oil well services company, has opened a new facility on Arch Street and has plans to hire 140 people within the next 12 months. Already on staff here are 70 employees, according to Bob Garland, senior technical adviser at Universal’s corporate office. The company brought some employees from its existing facilities, but most of the individuals hired here are locals, he said. “We are attempting to hire locals as much as we can because that is important,” Garland said.
- Marcellus Shale Brings Promise Of New Jobs To Region. WPXI-TV. “Experts are predicting the Marcellus Shale industry will be around in western Pennsylvania for at least the next 50 years and thousands of people will be needed to work here. On Friday, educators met at Waynesburg University to figure out how to give students the education they need to get those jobs. “We are talking to the superintendents of schools and counselors about an energy education looks like,” said Barbara Kirby of Waynesburg University. … The Marcellus Shale is booming. … A recent Penn State University study shows the impact of Marcellus drilling jobs in Pennsylvania. The numbers have increased every year and will reach an estimated 107,000 jobs in 2010.
- DeSoto library pays off bond two years early. Shreveport Times. “The Library Board of Control recently authorized the payoff of a 2002 property tax that funded construction of new library branch buildings in Pelican and Stonewall. Paying the slightly more than $1 million left in the bond issue saved taxpayers $410,000 in interest. The bonds officially will be paid Nov. 15. “We have saved a lot of money,” board President Katherine Freeman said. Construction is under way on a new branch location in Logansport. But it’s being paid with cash on hand. The library board, like other governing entities in the parish, has the extra money because of the development connected to the Haynesville Shale.
From Toronto to Richmond, EID’s Gettin’ the Facts Out
Formed two years ago to separate fact from fiction about our nation’s oil and natural gas industry – particularly as it relates to the tightly regulated 60 year-old energy stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – Energy In Depth has established itself as a reliable resource for folks interested in learning more about this process, for academics and for the media.
Our work takes us to small towns, state capitals and rural communities. We go where the debate is, but more importantly, we seek to educate and engage policymakers, the press and the public on the facts about responsible energy exploration and production here in the United States — and in Canada.
This week, we had the opportunity to participate in two events: one at the University of Toronto; the other closer to home in Richmond, Va.
Yes, EID has officially gone global. We’ve even translated Gasland Debunked into French for those in parts of Canada seeking to understand the facts about this tightly-regulated technology that has been used to stimulated oil and natural gas production in the United States for more than 60 years without ever impacted groundwater.
In Toronto, we participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s water be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas?” Here’s a photo from that event (EID’s Chris Tucker, second from the right):
And at the Governor’s Conference on Energy in Richmond, EID spoke about fracture stimulation’s long and clear record of environmental safety on a panel entitled “Expanding Natural Gas – Supplies and Opportunities.”
These forums offered EID the opportunity to share the work we do, separate fact from fiction about fracturing and tell the incredible story of job creation, economic develop, and increased energy security that the shale gas revolution continues to make possible.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how American-made energy production technologies, like hydraulic fracturing, are benefiting consumers and our economy:
- US drilling technology helped save Chilean miners. Houston Chronicle, Op-Ed. “This inspiring story highlights the fact that when it comes to drilling and exploration, the United States is still the gold standard. Companies around the world contract industry leaders like Hart to drill for oil, natural gas, and — as was the case in the war zones of Afghanistan – even water. The U.S. drilling industry’s continually improving safety and environmental standards set the bar for operations worldwide. Though revered abroad, the industry’s amazing track record is overshadowed at home by relentless vilification by slick politicians and green lobbies.
- Auditor: Mansfield in good financial standing. Shreveport Times. “The city’s net assets increased by $1.7 million, or 32.4 percent, in 2009 compared to 17.8 percent the previous year, putting it in good financial standing, an auditor told the mayor and aldermen Monday. The change is primarily due to increased sales tax revenue of $765,834 and increases in grants and contributions, Bill Weatherford said. … Activity related to the Haynesville Shale is credited with bumping up revenue streams.
- Rail executive sees synergies between shale and trains. Scranton Times-Tribune. “If natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is going to prevail, it needs rail. That was the message from transportation officials Thursday night during a gathering at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. Todd Hunter, director of marketing for the North Shore Railroad, explained to members of the NEPA Logistics Club that gas companies are so far from their suppliers – and they are consuming commodities such as sand and pipe in such quantities – that rail service is going to be crucial. “Without rail, shale fails,” he said, quoting Lycoming County transportation planner Mark Murawski.
- Winter could put freeze on most heating costs. Reading Eagle. “[UGI’s Joseph] Swope said gas prices are falling because of increased supply, including recent production from the Marcellus shale formation. “There had traditionally been a tight balance between supply and demand,” Swope said. “Now we have a local supply that is weatherproof.” Swope said that even though Marcellus shale is just beginning to produce natural gas, it might be having a psychological effect on the local natural gas market. Real or perceived, Marcellus shale and decreased demand due to the ongoing recession have combined to drive down natural gas prices for UGI customers, he said.
Backyard Brawl: WVU, Pitt Profs. Confirm Hydraulic Fracturing’s Environmental Safety Record
AP: “The number of millionaires in ND rose by more than 40 percent in one year alone”, thanks to fracturing
Last week, PA’s DEP secretary, John Hanger, once again confirmed the fact that hydraulic fracturing has never impacted groundwater, a fact that a host of PADEP officials continue to reinforce. And last night, in a KDKA-TV segment, Sec. Hanger once again confirmed that fact that fracturing – a tightly regulated, 60 year-old technology used to stimulate oil and natural gas production – has never contaminated groundwater, which is what top EPA officials told a U.S. Senate panel this year.
And earlier this week, Radisav Vidic – a University of Pittsburgh professor with a Ph.D. in environmental engineering – told the Wheeling News Register that he has “not seen any evidence that fracturing itself poses a danger to the environment. The process has been around since the 1950s.”
Not to be outdone, though, West Virginia University’s Donald Lyons, an engineering professor, writes about the economic potentials of responsible Marcellus Shale development, fracturing’s long and clear record of safety, and the devastating impact that the FRAC Act could have on job creation and domestic energy production in a Charleston Gazette op-ed this week entitled “Natural gas means more jobs”:
Underlying West Virginia is the Marcellus Shale, which is another great source of natural gas. Last year, shale-gas drilling in the Marcellus provided 57,000 new jobs — mainly here in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An economic study estimated that drilling throughout the Marcellus Shale, which extends from Kentucky to upstate New York, could create 280,000 new jobs and add $6 billion in tax revenues over the next decade.
State agencies do a commendable job of overseeing the process of hydraulic fracturing, a technology that has been used for decades to produce oil and natural gas, to assure the process is done safely and without a negative impact on the environment.
Opponents of shale-gas drilling … want regulatory oversight to be shifted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is conducting a study of hydraulic fracturing practices at the direction of Congress. But adding one more layer of bureaucratic red tape will stall natural gas production by raising drilling costs by as much as $100,000 per well, without making shale-gas production any safer than it already is. This could force most of the independent companies that account for the bulk of natural gas production to shut down their operations. In that event, gas production would drop 45 percent within five years, according to an industry study, and thousands of jobs would be lost. Shale gas production should be increased, not decreased.
So what does the public think about this historic opportunity? Well, according to a Lycoming College poll released yesterday, folks in the communities where Marcellus production is underway overwhelmingly support this activity and believe strongly – nearly 80 percent – that “the creation of many jobs was very likely.”
But hydraulic fracturing is not just helping to create thousands of good-paying jobs, stable supplies of homegrown energy for consumers, and much-needed economic activity in the Rust Belt exclusively. In North Dakota, through the responsible development the Bakken Shale’s abundant, job-creating oil reserves, small towns are expected to “double in the next 5 years,” according to a WDAY news report this week. This from their dispatch under the headline “Workers needed to fill thousands of jobs in western North Dakota”:
Williston’s Economic Development Executive Director Tom Rolfstad says the surge out west is not an oil boom, but an oil industry, saying it isn’t going away anytime soon. He expects Williston and other western towns in the Bakken Shale to double in the next 5 years. It’ll leave them in need of everything from oil workers, to doctors, bakers, and waitresses.
It’s a problem much of the country would like to have. Tom Rolfstad is pleading for workers.
“We need a lot of help! How are we going to grow this fast?” He says he needs thousands of people. It’s part of the “Invest in the West to Fund the Rest” campaign. Rolfstad and other economic development leaders are trying to get more North Dakota workers out west to fill about 3-thousand jobs.
The Associated Press also reports on the incredible amount of economic opportunity, job creation and prosperity that fracturing is helping to make possible for North Dakotans:
In recent years, oil companies have been extracting oil from the Bakken shale deposit, the largest such formation ever surveyed in the United States by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The number of millionaires in North Dakota rose by more than 40 percent in one year alone, to 388 in 2006.
