Penn State Geography Wants Your Help Mapping Natural Gas Infrastructure

Do you want to know where natural gas and petrochemical infrastructure is located in your community? Are you concerned about the cumulative air emissions of fracking? Are you interested in tracking environmental violations of natural gas infrastructure in your community? Or are you simply curious about the natural gas and petrochemical industries in Appalachia? If so, we invite you to help test interactive mapping tools designed to address these questions.

A research team of geographers at Penn State is seeking feedback from Pennsylvania residents to test mapping tools we developed and make them more useful and accessible for Pennsylvania residents affected by natural gas and petrochemical development.

What does participation involve?

Participants will be asked to:

• Use an interactive mapping tool to explore emissions and violations data associated with different components of Pennsylvania's natural gas and petrochemical infrastructure
• Review a Story Map about the Appalachian natural gas and petrochemical industry
• Complete a brief survey about what you learned
• The study will take approximately 2 hours

No prior experience with mapping tools is needed.

Why Participate?

By participating in the study, participants will:

• Learn more about the various natural gas and petrochemical infrastructures built around Pennsylvania and their environmental impacts
• Help the research team to better understand the accuracy and possible gaps in publicly available datasets
• Share your knowledge on how best to map and visualize energy infrastructure data to inform the public

Who can participate?

You are eligible if you:

• Are over 18 years old
• Are willing and able to participate in a two-hour session in person (the research team is willing to travel throughout the state of Pennsylvania)

Study Details

• The study will be held in person at a community space near you, such as a library or university building
• Two-hour participation sessions will be available throughout summer and early fall 2026; the research team will contact you to identify a specific date
• Participants will be provided with light refreshments and a $25 Panera gift card in compensation for their time.
• Participant identities and feedback will be anonymized and kept strictly confidential.

Interested in participating?

To sign up for a time slot and complete a short eligibility survey, please follow this link. For any questions about the study, please contact Dr. Jennifer Baka at jeb525@psu.edu.

* Study approved by Penn State's Office of Research Protections (STUDY00019679). For questions on research protections contact the IRB at 814-865-1775 or irb-orp@psu.edu. UBR EMS 24-29.