Keystone Energy Forum

Marcellus Shale

Pennsylvania is sitting on a buried treasure called the Marcellus Shale formation.  This resource holds, at its core, the potential for more than 200,000 new Pennsylvania jobs during the next 10 years, and $1.8 billion in state and local tax revenues from 2010 through the first half of 2012.

If fully developed, the Marcellus Shale could become the second largest natural gas field in the world only behind fields in Qatar and Iran.  Its recoverable reserves are estimated at more than 489 trillion cubic feet of clean-burning natural gas.

BENEFITS OF THE MARCELLUS SHALE

Access to the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation would boost Pennsylvania’s economy and improve America’s energy security by providing access to a critical domestic energy source.

According to two studies on the Marcellus Shale Formation, the United States, and specifically Pennsylvania would significantly benefit from development in this area:

• Marcellus Shale production has already grown considerably, adding 72,000 jobs in Pennsylvania since 2009.
• Development could mean $24 billion in total economic value to the region, which would positively impact all sectors of the economy including the service, construction, manufacturing, health care, and education industries.
• Development could create more than 200,000 new Pennsylvania jobs during the next 10 years.
• More than $1.8 billion in state and local tax revenues could be generated during the next 18 months.
• Increased energy security for America by development of domestic energy resources to meet America’s growing energy demand.

These benefits can be achieved if Pennsylvanians can continue to access resources in the Marcellus Shale Formation, and without the penalties of high energy taxes and other regulations that would stymie development.  These predictions were also made from the same economic model used by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor to study and predict “green” job creation, therefore there is no bias toward the gas industry.

Read more:

• PennState Public Broadcasting "Explore Shale"
• Keystone Energy Forum Downloadable Fact Sheets
• PA Department of Labor and Industry Marcellus Shale Fast Facts
• PA Department of Community and Economic Development Marcellus Fact Sheet
• Citizens' Guide to Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania
• The Economic Impacts of the Marcellus Shale: Implications for New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
• MarcellusGas.Org (Consolidated maps, data and statistics on Marcellus Shale.  Membership fee may be required.  The Keystone Energy Forum is not affiliated with nor endorses this site.)