Local Government

Community Impacts

Local government officials need to understand that Marcellus shale development may have significant impacts on their community. Exploration of the Marcellus shale will bring large amounts of money from the leasing of land, construction, trucking, commerce, and housing development.

• Some residents will have to more money to spend, but will they spend it in the community and region, or go somewhere else if there aren’t local places for them to spend their money?
  
• New opportunities for business development should increase that will require infrastructure investments in roads, water and sewer facilities.
  
• Housing will be needed for gas and related workers, but will it be of the temporary variety? Or is the plan to build long-term residential areas that will be attractive to gas industry workers and their families?
  
• There will also be new service, public safety, and other expenses imposed on local governments that may not be matched with tax revenues derived from natural gas drilling or leasing activities.

Many local governments will need to greatly expand and upgrade their comprehensive community planning efforts. The fast pace of gas drilling--and all of its related activities--means planning has to be done on a continuous, daily basis. Every new well drilled changes the community a little bit.

Once-a-month meetings of the planning commission can’t keep up with the change. New thinking about how to plan for gas exploration must also exist.

The following publications and presentations were designed to help local governments address these issues.