General Public
The exploration of Marcellus shale has the potential to affect Pennsylvania communities in a wide variety of ways, including environmental quality, job opportunities, economic development, population change, local taxes, roads, and public services.
There is the very real potential for local winners and losers from natural gas, raising important state and local policy questions about how to ensure that the winners pay their fair share of the costs associated with natural gas.
More importantly, it is vital to recognize that any economic development growth resulting from Marcellus shale will be short-run, since it is a non-renewable natural resource; when the natural gas is gone, it's gone.
This means citizens, local businesses, and local leaders need to be thinking about how to ensure that we remember the long-run consequences of natural gas development, and that the Marcellus shale play leaves Pennsylvania communities better off afterward than they were prior to the exploration.
The Commonwealth already has too many examples of when the long run is forgotten, and is now paying the price as it tries to remediate the negative impacts resulting from acid mine drainage and abandoned coal mines.
Natural Gas Introduction
Drilling Animations
Short video animations showing the drilling process
Geology and Resource Assessment of the Marcellus Shale
Video and slide presentation: Terry Engelder January 26, 2009 Earthtalk Spring Colloquium--series of talks relating to the environmental, economic, social, and political issues related to Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Bed
Natural Gas Development in the Marcellus Shale
audio Tom Murphy 9-6-09
Past, Present, and Future of the Marcellus Play
John H. Pinkerton, CEO Range Resources
Seismic Activity
Tom Murphy Jan 2009: Observations and assessment of seismic activity on local farmland
Tour of a Marcellus Shale Operation
Video: Join Senators Yaw and White as they take viewers on a behind the scenes tour of the drilling process in Lycoming county
Economic and Community Impacts - Publications
Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development on Municipal Governments in Susquehanna and Washington Counties, 2010
Mike Jacobson and Tim Kelsey, July 2011
