Marcellus Shale Coalition

PA Marcellus - Marcellus Shale Committee

(Editor’s Note: 18 Oct 2023. This is what responsible energy policy is up against. The impressive claims of well-paying jobs and economic benefits of extreme shale extraction have been disproved. Industry front groups such as this one, have continued to contrive a rosier picture than the reports cited here confirm. The risks and harms of climate change still need to be seen as evidence based analysis since our collective health is at stake, and gamblers have ruled the roost. Neil Zusman)

Gas utilities are funding front groups and mobilizing their trade associations to push back against policies that threaten its business model, including local bans on gas hookups in new housing, efforts to encourage the construction of all-electric homes, and energy conservation appliance standards. The front groups and trade associations attempt to influence government officials, regulators, and the public.
Front groups and trade associations funded by gas utilities fight electrification policies

[Opportunities? Follow this link to jobs in PA, Commonwealth Workforce Development System (CWDS). Are you a carpenter or mason? Want a job for 23k a year? Frac Operator 1 would earn 24,960/year in Greensburg, PA. That’s what I found when I looked for a Gas Drilling job. 4/19/10. (Neil Zusman, 2010-04-23.) and SourceWatch.]

The Marcellus Shale Committee is not a committee of citizens concerned about the negative consequences of massively expanded efforts to drill for natural gas across the northeastern U.S.; it is an industry front group for oil and gas industry companies created in 2008 to promote “the responsible development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale geological formation in Pennsylvania and the enhancement of the Commonwealth’s economy that can be realized by this clean-burning energy source.”

Committee Members

On its website, the Marcellus Shale Committee lists its’ members.

See also: The Pennsylvania Economy League completed an economic evaluation of oil and gas activity in November 2008, studying the comprehensive impact generated by an industry poised for growth. PDF from Northern Tier Regional Planning & Development Commission.

See also: Mauro, Frank, et al. “Exaggerating the employment impacts of shale drilling: how and why.” Multi-state Shale Research Collaborative, Harrisburg, PA (2013).

See also: Jon Hurdle. Industry condemns the report, while advocates cite growing climate fears. 13 May 2022. NPR.

See also: Stephen Khan. The false promise of fracking and local jobs. 27 Jan 2015. The Conversation.

See also: Susan Tebben. Study: Shale gas boom ‘failed to deliver’ prosperity for Appalachia. 24 Aug 2023. Ohio Capital Journal.

See also: Sean O’Leary. Frackalachia Update. Peak Natural Gas and the Economic Implications for Appalachia. Aug 2023. Ohio River Valley Institute. Also in PDF format.

Yesterday, James Powers, the state’s Homeland Security director acknowledged in an interview with the Harrisburg Patriot-News that someone was monitoring the “Web traffic” of anti-drilling groups. Powers would not say whether the monitoring was done by state employees or by the consulting firm, but said the state was not tracking groups.
Pa. Governor Apologizes for Tracking Enviro Extremists, but Questions Remain – ProPublica