Shale Gas

The number of drill rigs operating in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale may be declining, but production keeps going up. Natural-gas output increased robustly during the first half of this year, according to state Department of Environmental Protection data. And industry observers say the output will continue to rise because so many wells are waiting to be connected to pipelines. Pennsylvania's "unconventional" shale-gas wells - those that unlock gas entrapped in tight rocks like shale, as opposed to conventional wells that tap into concentrations of free-flowing oil or gas - produced 895 billion cubic feet of gas in the first six months of this year, up nearly 42 percent from the previous reporting period, according to an analysis by the Powell Shale Digest, a trade publication based in Fort Worth, Texas.

So how much natural gas is in the Marcellus Shale? The U.S. Geologic Survey on Tuesday estimated the formation contains 84 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas, up from a mere 2 Tcf in 2002. Headlines exploded across the Internet: "Federal report boosts Marcellus Shale estimate. " But on Wednesday another federal agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which just a month ago estimated the shale contained 410 Tcf, announced it was revising its number downward in response to the USGS estimate.

The Community College of Philadelphia's faculty union has called on the college to sever ties with the Marcellus Shale Coalition after the industry trade group pledged $15,000 to the school's new Energy Training Center. The Faculty and Staff Federation's governing council approved a resolution Tuesday opposing the college's association with the industry group after the college announced last month it was establishing a center to prepare students for energy jobs, including some related to the state's shale-gas boom.

In the raging shale-gas debate, there is much disagreement about the economic benefits of drilling. An Ohio State University report released this week argues that industry-funded studies hype the number of jobs created in Ohio from drilling the Utica and Marcellus Shale formations. The 27-page study is already providing ammunition to anti-drilling activists, who believe that the environmental risks of shale gas outweigh the economic benefits. While rival academics can argue about which econometric model is better at predicting the future, a relatively narrow measure of the benefit of shale gas is already affecting our monthly utility bills.

The abundance of natural gas from formations such as Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale may spark a U.S. manufacturing renaissance that could add one million jobs by 2025, according to a report released Wednesday by PwC, the professional services firm, formally PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. PwC says manufacturers could save as much as $11.6 billion a year by 2025 from lower gas prices. Natural gas is used as a fuel source and as a raw material for commodities like plastics and fertilizer.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday fined Chesapeake Energy's pipeline division $19,510 for numerous erosion- and sediment-control violations found last winter at a compressor station in Albany Township, Bradford County. The fine against Appalachia Midstream Services L.L.C. of Horseheads, N.Y., represents about six minutes worth of profit of Chesapeake Energy, the largest Marcellus Shale operator, which last year earned $1.8 billion.     - Andrew Maykuth

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE A Cornell University study is drawing criticism from the Marcellus Shale industry by concluding that methane produced from shale gas has as large a "greenhouse gas footprint" as coal, or larger. The study, led by Robert W. Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology, says methane leaking or venting from Marcellus Shale wells - and during the processing and transportation of natural gas - will contribute "substantially to the greenhouse gas footprint of shale gas" in the next 20 years.

Gas drilling critics gathered by the hundreds for a rally Wednesday outside the Arch Street entrance of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Inside the center, leaders of the Marcellus Shale industry were opening a two-day conference to promote shale-gas development. "We're going to show this industry how strong we are and how unacceptable gas drilling is," said Iris Marie Bloom, founder of Protect Our Waters, who organized the rally. She told the crowd that "we are 65 organizations strong.

The shale-gas bonanza is fueling a hot competition among businesses that want to claim a share of what is promoted as an abundant long-term energy source. T. Boone Pickens is pitching compressed natural gas as a cheap motor-fuel alternative to imported oil. Electricity suppliers want gas to fire up new power plants. Entrepreneurs are exploring ways to convert natural gas into gasoline. And the chemical industry, which buys natural gas as a raw material for plastics, says fuel from resources like Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale could inspire a resurgence of U.S. manufacturing.

A Radnor energy company is proposing to build a 28.8-mile Marcellus Shale gathering pipeline in Susquehanna County along the old right-of-way of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. Penn Virginia Resource Partners L.P. announced Wednesday it has acquired an option to purchase a pipeline easement from the Rail-Trail Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The 24-inch pipeline would run from the New York border through the towns of Thompson and Lanesboro to Union Dale, where it would deliver gas to the Tennessee Pipeline for transport to northeastern states.

Since the Marcellus Shale boom began in 2008, there has been much debate and disagreement over the effect natural gas development would have on Pennsylvania's economy. Gov. Corbett, who found himself in the hot seat last week over his comments on the state's lagging employment rate, has promoted Pennsylvania as a rival to Texas as a regional energy hub. In his budget address this year, he talked about the energy sector creating "hundreds of thousands of new jobs. " Most economists credit the Marcellus Shale development with creating jobs and having a profound economic effect in the rural areas where drilling is taking place.

Pennsylvania State University is seeking to expand its influence on the burgeoning natural gas industry with the creation of what it is calling the "world's premier academic institute" on the fossil fuel. The university announced this month the creation of the Institute for Natural Gas Research, which it says will conduct "independent and rigorous scientific research" on the resource at the center of Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale natural gas boom. But Penn State, which has come under attack for its close ties to the Marcellus Shale industry, is likely to come under increased scrutiny from activists by doubling down on shale gas. The new institute, dubbed INGaR, is a collaboration of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the College of Engineering.

The Community College of Philadelphia's faculty union has called on the college to sever ties with the Marcellus Shale Coalition after the industry trade group pledged $15,000 to the school's new Energy Training Center. The Faculty and Staff Federation's governing council approved a resolution Tuesday opposing the college's association with the industry group after the college announced last month it was establishing a center to prepare students for energy jobs, including some related to the state's shale-gas boom.

The Community College of Philadelphia's faculty union has called on the college to sever ties with the Marcellus Shale Coalition after the industry trade group pledged $15,000 to the school's new Energy Training Center. The Faculty and Staff Federation's governing council approved a resolution Tuesday opposing the college's association with the industry group after the college announced last month it was creating a center to prepare students for energy jobs, including some related to the state's shale-gas boom.

SYCAMORE, Pa. - The towering flares that turn night into day in the Marcellus Shale gaslands are becoming an increasingly rare sight. Natural gas producers are turning to new techniques to capture the gas emitted during the well-completion process. In the past, a well's initial production was typically vented or burned off to allow impurities to clear before the well was tied into a pipeline. Now, more operators are employing reduced-emission completions - a "green completion" - a process in which impurities such as sand, drilling debris, and fluids from hydraulic fracturing are filtered out and the gas is sold, not wasted.

The impact of the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom is about to be felt in a corner of South Jersey. Surveyors have started several months of work in Gloucester County as part of a planned major pipeline expansion project to carry gas from northern Pennsylvania to the country's Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. Dubbed the East Side Expansion project, it is expected to cost $210 million and it had not yet received approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Most of the work would be on right-of-way owned by Columbia Gas Transmission L.L.C., a subsidiary of Houston's NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage, said Chevalier Mayes, a NiSource spokeswoman.

The impact of the Marcellus Shale natural-gas boom is about to be felt in a corner of South Jersey. Surveyors have started several months of work in Gloucester County as part of a planned major pipeline expansion project to carry gas from northern Pennsylvania to the country's Northeast and Mid-Atlantic markets. Dubbed the East Side Expansion project, it is expected to cost $210 million and cover hundreds of miles in its entirety. The project has not yet received approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Two years ago, Denise Dennis delivered a dramatic denunciation of Marcellus Shale natural gas development at a Philadelphia City Council hearing. She equated drilling to the tobacco industry, and said that "Pennsylvanians are the lab rats" for a massive shale gas experiment. The Philadelphia resident had a powerful story: Her family owned a historic 153-acre farm in Susquehanna County, where her ancestors were among the first freed African Americans to settle in Pennsylvania just after the Revolutionary War. She became a potent symbol in the shale gas wars.

PITTSBURGH - Shale gas and oil drilling pose environmental and public health risks, but the extent of those risks is unknown, the Congressional Government Accountability Office says in a new study. The GAO, an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress, reviewed existing scientific reports on shale drilling, and spoke to state regulators, industry experts and environmental groups. Regulators from Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas said state investigations found that the part of the drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has not been identified as a cause of groundwater contamination, the report notes.

ANTI-DEVELOPMENT activists, including "Gasland" filmmaker Josh Fox, congregated in Philadelphia recently to promote a hydraulic-fracturing ban throughout the region. Although these protesters challenge the safety and environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, the fact is, hydraulic fracturing has been used safely for more than 60 years. Advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques have unlocked unprecedented amounts of natural gas. So abundant is natural gas on this continent that PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that shale gas development could add approximately 1 million jobs by 2025, encourage greater investments in U.S. plants and reduce U.S. manufacturers' natural gas expenses by as much as $11.6 billion annually through 2025.