NEW CASTLE —
So is Lawrence County about to undergo a massive economic boom courtesy of natural gas drilling?
Are property owners soon to enjoy wealth beyond imagination? Are jobs about to go begging for workers to fill them?
Or is the community going to be pockmarked with drilling sites, as corporations pillage the environment for their own gain, leaving the region in economic and ecological shambles? Are we to be exploited by outsiders who siphon our wealth and destroy our resources and infrastructure?
You can read a lot about the prospective future of Pennsylvania in light of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Depending on the perspective, the interests and the concerns of those behind the words, that future will be either wonderful or disastrous.
But from what I see, the future remains pretty much as it always does — uncertain.
Here’s what we do know: Relatively recent advances in drilling techniques allow for access to deep sources of fossil fuel that were previously beyond human reach. Around the nation, areas of shale rock — soft, brittle layers of sedimentary material — have been discovered to hold deposits of either natural gas or oil.
Drilling rigs can reach these levels and then inject fluids into the shale to fracture it, making the fuel accessible. It has opened new sources of gas, and one result is a drop in the price of this fuel in the marketplace.
Under much of Pennsylvania is a layer of shale named Marcellus. The shale has been tapped around the commonwealth, and people are making money from it. In some places, environmental and safety problems have arisen.
Not all shale is created equal. Nature has distributed the gas unevenly. In some parts of the state, drillers have discovered “sweet spots” of high concentration. In other areas, there is little gas and the incentive to drill is limited.
Here in Lawrence County, we are on the edge of the Marcellus Shale layer. So far, there has been no rush to drill here. A couple of wells have been drilled and a few others are planned this year.
And unless significant quantities of fuel are discovered in the county, that’s not likely to change.
Property owners around the county have signed oil and gas leases for thousands of dollars per acre, with promises of much more to come if a well produces. But a lease does not make drilling inevitable. Companies have an incentive to gain rights to property, if for no other reason than to ensure competitors do not.
Drilling into deep shale layers poses a financial risk for companies that do it. It’s an expensive process, and wells can come up dry or produce poorly. This is why you are seeing much of the shale drilling activity focused on proven areas in the commonwealth.
In discussing shale, it’s important to remember there is a second layer that underlies Pennsylvania called the Utica Shale. It runs deeper than the Marcellus and many tout it as another source of fossil fuel wealth.
But the contents of the Utica Shale remain largely speculative. What lies under Lawrence County is so far unknown.
In short, the full economic benefits of shale drilling for Lawrence County are unclear. The same holds true with the environmental impact.
There are legitimate reasons for optimism and concern on both fronts. However, the future of shale drilling in this community must be viewed a work in progress.
Mitchel Olszak
Related Photos
-
Mitchel Olszak, Dear Reader
Discussion
Mitchel Olszak: Marcellus Shale in county remains a mystery
- Mitchel Olszak
-
-
Mitchel Olszak: Snooping threat to the free press
In “All the President’s Men,” reporter Bob Woodward conducts late-night meetings with a source in a parking garage. That source, Deep Throat (later revealed to be high-ranking FBI official Mark Felt), was worried that he would be exposed as a tipster in the Watergate scandal.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Toomey takes a chance on guns
How does a conservative Republican senator representing a state with a Democratic majority protect himself politically? One way is to take positions that tend to straddle the nation’s ideological fence.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Terrorists strive to create fear
The finish line of a road race serves as the division between one world and another. Ahead of the finish line, there is structure and discipline, with attention paid to the runners as they cross over. Spectators are kept back, mainly to avoid interfering with the participants — and perhaps to keep them from being trampled.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Kelly, allies battle arms treaty
Supporters of the right to bear arms have a champion in Congressman Mike Kelly. The federal lawmaker, whose district includes most of Lawrence County, has been making waves with his criticism of the Obama administration and its support for the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
-
Mitchel Olszak: I like beer, so I’m watching our state closely
I like beer. More to the point, I like good beer. In my younger days, just about any swill would do. But with the passage of time, sophistication and exposure to the possibilities, my interests in beer have sharpened and matured.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Political lessons from distant past hold value today
If you want to gain an appreciation for great thinkers, read some of history’s major political philosophies. Here you will find the works of Plato, Machiavelli, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, St. Augustine and many others. They explored difficult social issues and offered serious insight.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Do the emotional centers of the brain guide our politics?
People who hold specific political points of view like to think their positions are based on serious analysis. They view their given ideologies as careful conclusions reached through assessing the world around them and examining how things work. Thus, liberals and conservatives both manage to claim the intellectual and ethical high ground.
-
Mitchel Olszak: Will GOP survive current divisions?
Somebody asked me the other day if I thought the Republican Party was about to split apart. I said no. It was an assessment based on history. Creating a new political party in America is a challenging process. They occasionally crop up, but they don’t last.
-
Mitchel Olszak: History as a matter of chance
History is full of pivotal moments. What if Socrates had decided against drinking that hemlock? What if Gutenberg hadn’t developed his printing press? What if Washington’s army failed to survive the winter at Valley Forge? What if Edison gave up on inventing the light bulb?
-
Mitchel Olszak: Pennsylvanians shouldn’t be fooled by electoral hijinks
Back in the 2000 presidential election, Americans received a civics lesson of sorts. Much of it involved obscure terms such as hanging and dimpled chads, as well as butterfly ballots. All of this, of course, came courtesy of Florida, whose clumsy election efforts produced an extended period of uncertainty in the presidential contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
- More Mitchel Olszak Headlines
-
