• “Natural gas offers not only an alternative to foreign oil but also the creation of thousands of jobs”

  • “The discovery of how to tap the gas in the Marcellus shale presents an almost incredible opportunity”

  • “Marcellus Shale drilling [has] revitalized dying towns and kept the unemployment rate below the national average”

“Marcellus shale can transform this state’s chemical industry”: Generations of West Virginians benefited from the state’s chemical industry in its heyday. The wealth it created and the stability it provided changed tens of thousands of lives. If state policymakers play their policy cards right, the American Chemistry Council believes West Virginia’s chemical industry can thrive once again. The discovery of how to tap the gas in the Marcellus shale presents an almost incredible opportunity. … If West Virginia attracted a $1.5 billion to $2 billion investment in a “cracker” to make ethylene from the ethane in the gas, as much as a $3.2 billion investment in chemical plants in West Virginia could follow. That would result in 12,000 permanent West Virginia jobs and more than $729 million in annual wages. It also would move the state from 23rd largest chemical producer in the nation to the 13th largest. It would produce $95 million a year in state revenue. All this would solve a lot of problems — including West Virginians’ status as 49th in the nation in per capita income. (Charleston Daily Mail Editorial, 9/21/11)

“Diverse cast asks Obama not to stand in way of natural gas”: Bankers, bowling centers and energy industry groups today found common ground, uniting to implore the Obama administration not to impose new hurdles to hydraulic fracturing techniques used to extract natural gas from shale formations across the U.S. In a letter to President Barack Obama, a diverse assortment of 119 organizations stressed that low-cost shale gas is a boon for consumers, manufacturers and others who depend on the fossil fuel. … “There is huge potential to expand (natural gas) development, which can strengthen our nation’s economic recovery and put people back to work. Without hydraulic fracturing, that potential will not be realized, and we will not enjoy the tremendous economic and job creation benefits our nation’s abundant supplies of natural gas can provide.” (FuelFix/Houston Chronicle, 9/20/11)

“Shale gas boosts US manufacturing”: The shale gas boom that has transformed the fortunes of energy companies is also giving US manufacturing a shot in the arm. The price of natural gas in the US has been cut in half from three years ago after new drilling techniques uncorked extra output. In Asia, where markets are pegged to oil prices, gas costs three times more. The supply trend has begun to reverse the fortunes of energy-hungry US industries. Factories mothballed as prices broke records in the past decade have begun to reopen and some manufacturers are breaking ground on new plants. (Financial Times, 9/19/11)

Marcellus has “potential to become the ‘foundation’ of American energy,” says AGA president: With the discovery of vast quantities of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region, which stretches from upstate New York south into Kentucky, Mr. McCurdy said the fuel has the potential to become the “foundation” of American energy. Critics contend hydraulic fracturing – the use of water, sand and chemicals to free gas in the Marcellus Shale – is a threat to water supplies and will pollute nearby waterways. … At the state level, however, that short-term thinking is being replaced by the realization that natural gas offers not only an alternative to foreign oil but also the creation of thousands of jobs. In states such as Pennsylvania, where Marcellus Shale drilling revitalized dying towns and kept the unemployment rate below the national average, the political dynamic is beginning to change, Mr. McCurdy said. (Washington Times, 9/20/11)

Daniel Yergin says Marcellus development is “transformative”: “Shale gas really has been a revolution that’s happened extremely rapidly,” Yergin says. “Up until 2008, it really wasn’t recognized and then it just took off, and it’s gone from being virtually none of our natural gas production to about 30 percent of our total natural gas production.” … “Shale gas has created hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the last five years in the United States. It’s brought $1 billion of revenue into the state government of Pennsylvania,” Yergin says. “It does have a transformative impact.” (NPR, 9/20/11)

Fmr. Pa. Congressman: “Pennsylvania’s resurgent energy industry can lead America”: America’s oil and natural gas industry is woven deep into our nation’s fabric. And today, as the responsible development of the natural gas-rich Marcellus formation expands, Pennsylvania is once again emerging as a leader in providing the country with affordable and reliable homegrown energy resources. … In my lifetime, this is the first real opportunity our nation has been afforded to seriously reduce our foreign dependence, while putting hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work producing clean, green, American natural gas. (Washington Examiner Op-Ed, 9/20/11)

“Ohio shale gas worth billions of dollars and 200000 jobs”: Ohio’s natural gas and oil reserves are a multibillion-dollar bonanza that could create more than 204,500 jobs in just four years, an industry group said Tuesday The economic impact study, released on the eve of Gov. John Kasich’s energy summit, attributed the jobs to leasing, royalties, exploration, drilling, production and pipeline construction to produce gas and petroleum from Utica shale, a rock buried more than a mile and a half underground. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 9/21/11)

“W.Va. seen as big winner in shale gas development”: The natural gas-rich Marcellus shale is about to usher in “a golden age in chemical manufacturing in the United States,” and West Virginia is poised to be a big winner, said Cal Dooley, president and chief executive officer of the American Chemical Council. The low cost of producing natural gas and related byproducts from the Marcellus shale promises to make the United States second only to the Persian Gulf in terms of the cost of feedstock for the chemical industry, Dooley said. … “We’re poised to have a new golden age in chemical manufacturing in the United States if we have the right regulatory policies that allow us to maximize production of shale gas and the conversion of that gas into other products,” he said. (Charleston Daily Mail, 9/20/11)

NY Landowner: “Coventry pipeline could benefit region”: [Marcellus is] local energy. It’s cheaper and cleaner than currently imported fuels. It’s sustainable for many decades to come. It creates and saves local jobs. … Aside from keeping American dollars at home to buy American energy, we will have an efficient, clean(er), reliable energy source underpinning our economy. This will bring good-paying, productive jobs and tax revenues to our nation, our state and our communities. (Daily Start Op-Ed, 9/18/11)