In 2005, Pennsylvania issued four permits for companies to drill into the Marcellus Shale. This year, it will issue more than 2,300—a nearly 600 percent increase in just five years. Much of this rush is being fueled by billions of dollars from the world's largest energy companies and foreign nations.

Since 2008, a number of mega-deals have been announced by major energy companies around the globe that have paid a premium to capitalize on the abundant natural gas resources in the Marcellus, with the most notable being a $41 billion deal by Exxon Mobil to acquire XTO Energy, which has approximately 280,000 acres under lease in the Marcellus Shale region.

Other multi-billion deals have by announced by international corporations, including Norwegian energy giant StatoilHydro's nearly $3.4 billion deal with Chesapeake Energy; a $4.7 billion deal by Europe's largest energy company, Royal Dutch Shell to buy East Resources; and a $1 billion joint venture among the U.K.'s BG Group and EXCO Resources. Coal giant Consol Energy also paid $3.5 billion to acquire the natural gas business of Dominion Resources in the Appalachian region.

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Executive Summary of the Report:

A faction of the natural gas industry has invested more than $747 million as part of a 10-year lobbying and political spending campaign to persuade federal authorities to ignore the dangers of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” a rapidly expanding but poorly regulated method of tapping gas reserves. Fracking involves injecting a mix of sand, chemicals, and water into a well at high pressure in order to break up underground rock formations and free up natural gas.  Pollution may occur underground, with fracking chemicals or methane directly contaminating aquifers and drinking wells, or above ground, as streams or tributaries are polluted by spills or improper wastewater disposal. Nationwide, more than 1,000 complaints of water contamination due to fracking have already been reported.  

 Natural gas obtained from fracking and horizontal drilling in shale deposits – a combination  which produces massive amounts of toxic wastewater – will rise from 16 percent of all U.S. natural gas production in 2009 to 45 percent by 2035, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.  Despite the pollution risks, the industry has argued that regulatory exemptions for fracking are needed to give America the opportunity to tap vast reserves of natural gas that have been previously unobtainable, generate millions of new jobs, reduce energy costs for the American consumer, and dramatically reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. This is an impressive list—suggesting a “cure-all” for some of America’s biggest domestic and foreign challenges.

http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/DEEP%20DRILLING%20DEEP%20POCKETS%20NOV%202011.PDF

Pennsylvania State University’s economic report on gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale

The Pennsylvania State University has permitted two of its former professors to use its research reputation to give authority to a blatant piece of gas industry propaganda. The university’s apparent endorsement of this industry-sponsored paper has allowed the gas industry to gain national recognition for it. Using their extensive public relations network, this work has likely become the most recognized academic paper ever published with the Penn State logo on its cover. Given the wide distribution it has received, the university should, at very least, be embarrassed by its low quality.