Marcellus Shale symposium held at SRU

   Pennsylvania is sitting on the second largest natural gas field in the world, according to Dan Billman, a petroleum geologist and owner of Billman Geologic Consultants.

   Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania hosted a symposium on mining this field on Friday, April 22. 

The natural gas field covers southern New York, eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia—with the bulk of it under Pa. The natural gas is held in the Marcellus Shale, a black shale rock between 350 million to 400 million years old, and mining this shale has been a highly controversial subject, Billman said. Proponents for the mining cite the economic gain it promises for Pa., but those opposed to it argue that the damage to the environment is too high of a cost.

The part of the natural gas field that lies under Pa. is estimated to hold $1.46 trillion in recoverable gas which is nearly triple the amount of the state's current economy of $499 billion, according to Dr. Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics at Penn State University.

Kelsey then added how, on average, landowners who allow wells to be drilled on their land could make $2 million per well. Along with the economic gains for landowners, Kelsey said the mining would create a lot of jobs, with the majority of the jobs not requiring a four-year degree. While Kelsey said he sees the possible economic gains, he also understands why people are hesitant to embrace the mining.

"It's very young," he said. "And we still don't know all of the risks yet."

Kelsey went on to warn about the dangers of having an economy based off of a nonrenewable resource like natural gas. He said that the biggest problem is that when the natural gas is gone, it's gone and the base of your economy goes with it. 

Slippery Rock has a substantial Marcellus Shale deposit about 8,500 feet deep, according to Dr. Patrick Burkhart, an environmental geology professor at SRU. Burkhart said that while he feels very passionately about the possible environmental repercussions, he sees the need for drilling in Slippery Rock and supports it.

"Landowners will be handsomely compensated for companies leasing their mineral rights," he said. "And we'll have lower natural gas prices."

Burkhart said the only concern he has with the drilling is the ability of the local government to set up and enforce regulations. 

On top of economic worries about what will happen when all of the natural gas is gone, there are serious concerns about the environmental impact, according to Diane Arnold, a retired educator and a Marcellus Outreach Butler member. Marcellus Outreach Butler is an organization created by concerned citizens to inform the people of Butler County about the dangers of this drilling.

"People need to know about this," Arnold said. "It's here. There's already around 50 wells in Butler County—and it's going to be a lot more when this is all said and done."

There have been issues in Bradford County, Pa. and Dimock, Pa. where this drilling has taken place, Arnold said. In Bradford County, thousands of gallons of fracking fluid, a water based liquid with some sand and other chemicals, leaked into a local trout stream. The Department of Environmental Protection took water samples and is waiting on the results to see what kind of impact this could have on the stream. In Dimock, 19 people lost their water when a well contaminated their water source.