Landowners, Local Leaders Say Fracturing Is Safe, Will Create Jobs, Economic Opportunity

Mike White of the Twin Tiers Landowners Coalition: “Marcellus will be huge. I don’t think people understand how big economically this will be for the area. From what I can see, it’s the single biggest thing that’s ever happened to this area, ever – certainly in our lifetime.” (1/23/10)

Robert Moore of Broome Co., NY: “Natural gas exploration using horizontal wells and a process called hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’, is safe and the economic development benefit would be great. The jobs would be astronomical. Without it, we’re done.” (1/25/10)

Randall Slimak of Chemung Co., NY: “I support natural gas exploration. It’s a source of jobs and revenue.” (1/25/10)

Marie Lusins of the Unatego Area Landowners Assoc.: “People who don’t want drilling don’t have the facts on how safe it is. There never has been one instance in New York of fracking fluid contaminating someone’s water.” (1/26/10)

Steven Palamatier of Chemung Co., NY: “If they don’t pass this law [allowing Marcellus development to take place in New York] hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost to Pennsylvania.” (1/25/10)

Joe Axtell of Broome Co., NY: “In our area, there used to be tons of dairy farmers. Now, they can’t pay their taxes, and you can count the number of farms on one hand. This would help them, help the state.” (1/25/10)

Douglas Lee of Sullivan Co., NY: “It would be the biggest thing, bigger than casinos. The jobs and money could solve economic problems.” (1/26/10)

NY Assemblyman William Parment (D-North Harmony): “It’s proven and safe.” (1/26/10)

Hydraulic Fracturing “Could Fundamentally Reshape the Whole World Gas Market”

AFP: “If several years ago not a single organisation known to us was forecasting the rapid growth of gas extraction in the United States, today practically all companies are discussing the prospects of shale gas extraction, which could fundamentally reshape the whole world gas market. … The improvements [in extraction techniques] have opened up reserves of gas embedded in shale rock that were previously too costly to extract, leading energy companies to snap up drilling rights in unlikely places such as New York state.” (1/26/10)

Bloomberg: “The sort of technology improvements you as a consumer see in the iPod are also happening in the oil and gas industry to help production,” said Nansen Saleri, chief executive officer at advisory firm Quantum Reservoir Impact in Houston. “It’s a different picture than people were projecting five years ago.” (1/22/10)

Those Who Actually Study This Technology – Not Just Blog About It – Recognize its Safety

PSU Geoscience Prof. and Marcellus Shale Expert Terry Engelder: “The Marcellus Shale lies more than a mile beneath the earth. That’s the equivalent of ‘seven Empire State buildings stacked end on end’ between the shale and the surface. … There is so much rock between where the fractures are taking place and the surface that chances of anything down there disturbing the surface is geographically as close to zero as you can possibly get.” (1/25/10)

Independent Petroleum Association of America: “Industry’s case is well presented at the website, Energy in Depth, sponsored by the Independent Petroleum Association of America. You’ll find there a regulatory timeline, IPAA’s Open Letter to Congress, and some interesting animations which depict the process of drilling and completing a well.” (1/23/10)

Industry Expert: “Lowry, like most who support the practice, argued that ‘fracking’ has never been credibly tied to water pollution. Yet his company – which opened an office in Binghamton – had to shut down that office about a year ago because of a drilling moratorium imposed by the state. ‘It’s about rights being taken away – rights of the people. These people – the landowners – stand to gain something from this, and environmentalists are trying to take away these people’s rights.’” (1/25/10)

Creating Jobs, Economic Activity and Even Saving Schools

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Some experts estimate that development of the natural gas contained in the shale — a geological formation that stretches from West Virginia and eastern Ohio through Western Pennsylvania to the New York state border — could result in a $14 billion boost to Pennsylvania’s economy this year and create more than 176,000 new jobs by 2020.” (1/24/10)

NY’s News 10 Now: “The gas drilling industry hasn’t just helped the fate of the school, it’s also had a positive economic impact on the community. … The community says they’re ready to reap the benefits. ‘Especially with the Marcellus Shale play, we’re really focusing now on showing how Blossburg is a great place to live,’ said Nickerson. ‘I’m sure there’s always somebody somewhere that’s going to find something wrong, but again, the economy, it’s going to be just great for this area.” (1/26/10)

Marcellus Shale Coalition: “[The economic impact] doesn’t stop with the natural gas companies. There are law firms, accounting firms, small town grocers and dry cleaners all starting to realize — in the areas where this is happening — that there is business to be had and economic opportunities throughout the supply chain.” (1/24/10)

PA’s WJAC-TV: “Halliburton is planning to add jobs at its facility in Indiana County. … Officials didn’t have an exact count of how many jobs are available. People packed the Indiana County PA Careerlink office Thursday to learn about the jobs. Halliburton is involved in servicing of gas wells, including Marcellus shale gas wells. Company officials said a wide variety of jobs are available, including jobs for equipment operators. They’re planning several more job fairs in February and March.” (1/21/10)

Newspapers Back Safe, Responsible Shale Gas Production

Houston Chronicle: “When coupled with discoveries of huge new reserves of natural gas across Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, and in Colorado and Pennsylvania and West Virginia, this latest projected Gulf find makes natural gas a truly abundant fuel for this country. … Domestically produced natural gas, whether from Gulf waters or Texas shale — or for that matter from coal-rich Pennsylvania and West Virginia — can help make that bridge a sturdy and clean one.” (Editorial, 1/12/10)

Washington Examiner: “Key to unlocking energy resources like the Marcellus Shale deposit is a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Drillers inject fluid — 99.5 percent of which is water — into wells to create horizontal fractures, which enable recovery of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and billions of barrels of oil that would otherwise be inaccessible. Hydraulic fracturing has been widely used for 60 years, especially in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. But now, as energy companies greatly expand the use of hydraulic fracturing in other areas of the nation, environmental extremists see an opportunity to mount a new national scare campaign. … studies by multiple reputable organizations, including the EPA in 2004, concluded that hydraulic fracturing poses no danger to drinking water after being used more than 1.1 million times in the U.S.” (Editorial, 1/20/10)

Top Energy Leaders in Washington Weigh-In

Congressman Cliff Stearns (FL): “Since the 1940s, hydraulic fracturing has helped to produce more than 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the United States. … Hydraulic fracturing is essential to produce more of the oil and natural gas that the U.S. will consume in the next decades ahead. … Without [fracturing] most of our country’s abundant natural gas resources cannot be produced.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman John Shadegg (AZ): “A vast majority of our domestic supply is accessible only through hydraulic fracturing, a technique that has been used to extract gasoline or oil for more than 50 years. The EPA itself found, quote, “no confirmed cases that are linked to fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells or subsequent underground movement of fracturing.” … EPA did not find confirmed evidence that drinking water wells have been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing. … If we ban hydraulic fracturing, either outright or through the unintended consequences of legislation we pass, then all of these numbers that we have been talking about ?? the 100?year supply, the reasonable price that you just talked about ?? you would tell me are gone.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman Gene Green (TX): “With recent advances in technology to extract more natural gas from unconventional gas resources, such as extended reach, horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing, we can unlock America’s 100 years’ supply of natural gas. This hydrofracking, U.S.?developed technology, is being exported to Europe and China.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman Fred Upton (MI): “The oil and natural gas industry supports more than 9 million American jobs and adds more than $1 trillion to the national economy. I hope I don’t need to remind our colleagues about the state of our economy, that unemployment is still in double digits nationally and 15 percent in Michigan. … Without that hydraulic fracturing, you wouldn’t be able to get, what, 20 percent, maybe out of these fields?” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman Mike Doyle (PA): “Last year alone Pennsylvania could attribute nearly 50,000 jobs to environmentally safe natural gas production.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman Greg Walden (WA): “It looks to me like if we can invest in our own resources using new technologies in environmentally safe ways, we can generate revenues to the government and create jobs in our hometowns. (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman John Sullivan (OK): “One of the reasons we have gotten so much of that [energy] is because of the drilling techniques, the horizontal drilling and the hydraulic fracking. I read a report, and you guys would know more, but I hear like 60 to 80 percent of the wells drilled in the next 10 years are going to have to use hydraulic fracking, so I think it is horrible, it would be detrimental to this country if they outlaw that practice.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)

Congressman Steve Scalise (LA): “So this really has nothing to do with safety. It is about a policy decision we are going to make, and do we really want to utilize the resource that this country has and the ability that we have to make our country independent of especially Middle Eastern oil, countries that don’t necessarily want to do good things with the money that they are getting to our country.” (Energy & Commerce Committee remarks, 1/20/10)