• “Natural gas drilling leases saving farms … “It let us build a heifer barn” for female cattle that have not produced calves, owner Paul Manning said of a lease covering 147 acres of his North Abington Twp. farm. … Improvements, such as the $240,000 investment in the heifer barn in 2008, would have been unlikely without the gas lease, Mr. Manning said. … The region’s emerging Marcellus Shale natural gas industry…helps provide economic security for some farmers. … “Farmers have said that receiving the lease payments has allowed them to stay on the farm and without that, they would not have been able to survive economically,” said Timothy Kelsey, Ph.D., an agricultural economist at Penn State University.” (Scranton Times-Tribune, 5/10/10)
  • “The Golden Egg In The Shale … With thousands of new jobs created and being created around the state through Marcellus Shale drilling and exploration sites going 8,000 feet underground, in what is a nascent state industry, “the severance tax idea makes no sense,” Ms. Klaber said. Ideas pending in state budget discussions would tap the industry for about $160 million to $180 million in the first year.”(Philadelphia Bulletin, 5/7/10)
  • “Gas drilling opportunity comes into full focus … A post-program survey indicated there were 400 positions that the companies were looking to fill. There will be thousands of positions in the future as the industry builds. … We need to let the industry do its work, which will result in probably thousands of jobs, producing payroll tax revenue and economic churn. It will produce a jolt in the real estate and housing market, which will benefit untold numbers of people here. And dozens of other areas of the economy will be impacted positively in a thousand ways daily.” (Williamsport Sun-Gazette Editorial, 5/9/10)
  • “Bradford County leads Pa. in job growth … Bradford County added 2,000 jobs — mainly in the natural gas drilling industry — in the past year and led Pennsylvania in net job growth, according to a press release from the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission and Workforce Investment Board. … “I believe much of this growth has to be related to the Marcellus Shale exploration in our area,” Frank Thompson, of the planning and development commission, said in a prepared statement. “Our five-county (Bradford, Tioga, Susquehanna, Sullivan and Wyoming) area gained 3,200 jobs in a one-year period, an unbelievable feat for such a rural area, especially considering what the rest of the counties are going through.” … Tioga County, Pa., gained 800 jobs, the third-best improvement of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties.” (Elmira Star-Gazette, 5/6/10)
  • “New steel jobs touted … “Our country was literally built using Valley steel,” [Governor Ted] Strickland said. “What we are celebrating today is good news for the Valley.” … The new factory, located in the former Sharon Tube facility on Parkway Drive, produces steel-tube connections used in natural-gas exploration. The company will invest $10 million in the project, which will employ 50 people initially and eventually 120. … “The Marcellus Shale is one of America’s national treasures,” Galitzine said. … “This [plant] will help develop the Marcellus Shale into one of the biggest natural gas sources in the world,” he said. “These jobs will be here as long as the Marcellus Shale is here.” (Youngstown Vindicator, 5/8/10)
  • “Brookfield Welcomes Steel Manufacturer, Jobs … Dozens of well-paying, steel jobs are being createdin Trumbull County. Soon, more than 100 local workers will produce up to 100,000 tons of threaded pipe a year. … “So there will be another line just like this on that side, and another line just like this on this side, and we will start production with 50 people, and ramp up to 120.” Galitzine said. … “The number one national security issue we have in the country is energy independence, and to think right here in Ohio and Pennsylvania, we’re going to be able to get natural gas out, and lose our dependence on foreign oil is a huge thing,” [U.S. Rep. Tim] Ryan said.” (WYTV, 5/7/10)
  • “The Marcellus Shale is going to have a huge impact on Western Pennsylvania,” Mr. King said about gas drilling along the 95,000-square-mile formation that stretches over several states. “I don’t think the public is very engaged in what the Marcellus Shale may mean to Western Pennsylvania.” (Pittsburg Post-Gazette,5/10/10)
  • “Shale Gas Will Rock the World … Why ship dollars abroad where they can destabilize global financial markets—and then hit us back in lost jobs and savings—when we can develop the [clean-burning shale gas] resources we have here in our own country?” (Wall Street Journal, 5/10/10)
  • “While the long hours may be perceived as a drawback, many of the drilling jobs can pay as much as $100,000 per year with overtime. … To be sure, the labor department’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis is projecting tremendous job growth in the industry over the next several years. … According to the center’s “Marcellus Shale Industry Snapshot,” released in April, employment in those six areas is expected to rise 439 percent in the ten years between 2006 to 2016, with the biggest increase coming in the crude petroleum and natural gas extraction industry, which is expected to jump 123 percent and employ nearly 4,300 people by 2016.” (Washington Observer-Reporter, 5/9/10)