• “There is an industry offering a beacon of hope, and it could soon serve as the tipping point that gets America back to work: natural gas”
  • President Clinton: “America needs to end its ‘ambivalence’ about natural gas”
  • “Shale could be responsible for the resurgence of the U.S. as an economic superpower”

Canonsburg, Pa. – Economically and environmentally, clean-burning natural gas is building a stronger, more secure America. This week, that fact became even clearer as leaders from former President Clinton to New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg underscored the benefits of job-creating natural gas. At the same time, communities and consumers throughout the region continued to realize the promise of shale gas development. Following are some recent highlights of the positive benefits inherent to clean, American natural gas.

U.S. LEADERS SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE AMERICAN NATURAL GAS DEVELOPMENT

  • President Bill Clinton: “America Needs to End its ‘Ambivalence’ About Natural Gas”: America needs to end its “ambivalence” about natural gas and more specifically the hydraulic fracturing process used to crack underground rock formations and release the gas inside, he said. “We’re going to take that out of the ground. It’s obviously happening,” he said. (E&E News, 2/29/12)
  • Mayor Bloomberg Gives Shale Gas a “Thumbs Up”: New York Mayor Michael “Bloomberg gave [hydraulic fracturing] a thumbs up.” … “We have to get that gas out of the ground,” Bloomberg said. … “With appropriate safeguards, I think fracking is something that on balance is better for this,” the mayor said. (NY Daily News, 2/29/12)
  • Obama Admin. Sees “The Multiple Benefits” of Natural Gas: President [Obama] noted [in his State of the Union address] the multiple benefits of fracking (including job creation) and rejected the notion that the procedure amounts to having “to choose between our environment and our economy.” So, the administration sees fracking as an economically beneficial and, yes, safe option on America’s complete energy menu. (NY Post editorial, 2/26/12)

AMERICAN NATURAL GAS = AMERICAN JOBS

  • Ohio Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union Has “Full Employment” Thanks to Shale: Butch Taylor with Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 396 out of Boardman talked about going from 40 percent unemployment in his union just two years ago to zero unemployment today. All thanks to [shale gas] companies preparing for what’s to come. “We have full employment. No layoffs at this time in sight, going on strong. And we had almost 440 members of our trade from all over the country working into the Mahoning Valley Region,” Taylor said. (WFMJ-TV, 2/27/12)
  • “Baker Hughes to Hire 700 People in Massillon, Invest $64 Million to Serve Shale Gas Industry”: Baker Hughes, one of the nation’s leading oilfield services companies, plans to build a 700-job regional headquarters in Massillon. The Massillon office would serve as the company’s base for providing services to shale gas exploration companies in Ohio, Pennsylvania and surrounding states. (Plain Dealer, 2/27/12)
  • Marcellus Multiplier “Means More Than Drilling Jobs”: Largely because of energy sector growth, including drilling for gas in Marcellus shale, life is changing for people in Washington County. Its job growth ranked in the top five nationally when federal statistics trackers compared the first and second quarters of 2011 to the year prior. … The drilling boom came at the right time, during an economic downtown, said Emil Veal, vice president at Stephenson Equipment Inc. in Washington County. “It has taken over our business — a lot more than the construction we’re used to doing,” Veal said. “We would have been in serious trouble if not for that.” (Tribune-Review, 2/26/12)
  • Another Business “Looking to Hire More Workers” Thanks to the Marcellus: Forum Energy Technologies started to become active April 2011. [Plant manager David] Schultz said, at that time he was the 11th person hired. Monday morning, Schultz said the 56th person began working at the Clearfield site. … “There is a good work force that is out here. There is a good labored workforce with welders and assemblers, and this place is a perfect location for building equipment for Marcellus and Utica Shale.” … Schultz said that Forum Energy Technologies is hoping to add another 35 employees to the Clearfield site by Memorial Day. He added that he hopes by Christmas they are at around 100 employees. (WJAC-TV, 2/27/12)
  • Marcellus Shale Jobs “Hot” in Western Pa.: The boom in the Marcellus shale industry has created thousands of jobs. … Gas producer Talisman Energy Inc. in Cranberry said it would add as many as 165 jobs. Halliburton Inc. of Houston, Texas, said it would create 865 jobs in Pennsylvania. Weatherwood International, which provides gas field services from offices in Leetsdale, Canonsburg and Elderton, announced it would create about 200 jobs. (Tribune-Review, 2/26/12)

AMERICAN NATURAL GAS = CONSUMER SAVINGS

  • “UGI to Cut Gas Prices by 4.3%, Credits Increased [Marcellus] Gas Production”: Natural gas prices for UGI customers are dropping again, and will soon reach a price more than 40 percent lower than four years ago. The company announced Wednesday it plans on cutting residential gas prices by about 4.3 percent. The price cut is directly related to market declines as a result of increased natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale. (Patriot-News, 2/29/12)

  • “UGI Customers to See Drop in Monthly Bills”: As gasoline pump prices climb, consumers can find relief in falling natural gas bills. UGI Penn Natural Gas said the decrease that goes into effect today will result in a 4.5 percent decline in the average customers’ monthly bill to $94.42 per month for someone using 8.9 Mcf, thousand cubic feet of gas monthly. … The decline in natural rates over the last four years has been substantial. The current rate is less than half what it was in 2008. UGI spokesman Joe Swope said UGI’s 570,000 customers are paying $300 million less for natural gas annually than they had in 2008. The reason for the dramatic decline is the abundance of natural gas from newly developed reserves from rock formations such as the Marcellus Shale underlying much of Pennsylvania. (Citizens Voice, 3/1/12)
  • More Affordable Natural Gas Rates for Philadelphia Consumers: The Philadelphia Gas Works    said Thursday it has lowered the amount its customers pay for gas. The city-owned utility said its residential customers will pay $1.40 per 100 cubic feet of natural gas, a 6.6 percent decrease from the $1.51 per 100 cubic feet they had been paying. … PGW anticipates the rates will remain stable because of an abundance of natural gas on the market. (Philadelphia Business Journal, 3/1/12)
  • Consumer Natural Gas “Prices Lowest in a Decade”: Effective March 13, [Dominion East Ohio Gas’] rate will be $3.45 per 1,000 cubic feet – 23 cents per Mcf lower than the February price and the lowest since May 2002. … [Columbia Gas of Ohio] had other good news for consumers this week. The company said it would sharply lower budget bill amounts immediately by about 35 percent on average. Columbia customers using an average amount of gas will see their monthly bills fall from $82 to about $53, said the company. (Plain Dealer, 3/1/12)
  • Marcellus Shale Creating “Additional Savings” for Pa. Families: While the cost of gas to fuel your car continues to rise, the cost of natural gas to heat your home is going down. UGI Utilities Inc. announced Wednesday that the price it pays to buy natural gas is going down, so by law, the Reading-based utility is passing the savings on to its customers. … With that decrease, UGI said the average monthly bill for customers will be more than 40% lower than it was four years ago. “Continued lower natural gas prices, supported by the introduction of Marcellus Shale gas into the market, has helped create additional savings that we are pleased to be able to pass on to our customers,” said [UGI’s] Vicki O. Ebner. (WFMZ-TV, 2/29/12)

  • “Low Natural Gas Prices Bring Good News in Electric Bills”: Residential electricity prices in Pennsylvania and New Jersey continue to move downward, thanks to the low cost of natural gas. PPL Electric Utilities this week became the latest utility to reduce its default generation charge. The Allentown company said its electricity supply fee, which is adjusted quarterly, will decrease nearly 11 percent March 1. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/24/12)
  • “Abundance of Natural Gas We’re Seeing a Result of Marcellus Shale”: With gas prices giving you more pain at the pump and grocery bills getting greedier for your wallet, you might be relieved to hear at least one staple is bucking the trend. PPL is offering lower rates starting March 1, giving customers a seven percent drop in electric costs. That means a little discretion at home can bring big savings on your monthly bill. … Low natural gas rates are also to thank, helped in part by Marcellus Shale drilling. “A lot of it is the abundance of natural gas we’re seeing as a result of Marcellus Shale,” Jennifer Kocher [of the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Committee] said. (WHTM-TV, 2/27/12)

NATURAL GAS DRIVING U.S. ECONOMIC RECOVERY, STRENGTHENING SECURITY

  • “Resurgence of U.S. as an Economic Superpower” Driven by Shale Gas: It’s a remarkable process. … Shale energy could be responsible for the resurgence of the United States as an economic superpower, with cheap local energy underpinning the second coming of its manufacturing industry as well as helping to balance its twin deficits – the current account and federal budget. (Business Spectator, 2/29/12)
  • Hess Corp. CEO: Shale Gas a “Real Game Changer”: U.S. energy policy for natural gas should focus on shale gas, which is a real game changer. Five years ago, shale gas accounted for approximately five percent of U.S. natural gas production; today it makes up almost 30 percent. Natural gas provides a significant competitive cost advantage for the United States in terms of cost per unit, which is several times lower than it is in other countries. It also has environmental advantages, with half the carbon footprint of coal, and helps our nation’s energy security as supplies are forecast to last for the next 100 years. (Harvard Business Review, 2/29/12)
  • Landowner on Why NY Must Move Forward with Responsible Natural Gas Development: What once was an area of economic stagnation, with slow or no growth, has become a center of dynamic — some would say booming — activity. Motels and hotels are filled. Restaurants are not only filled with hungry workers, they also prepare thousands of meals and deliver them to the drilling pads. Auto dealers, repair shops and service stations are doing a brisk business. … Landowners are enjoying the freedom to buy the necessary farm machinery they need to maintain their land. Homeowners can now afford to repair and modernize their homes and pay their annual taxes. The parents and grandparents who never dreamed of sending their children or grandchildren to college can now do so with income from gas leases or royalties. The communities are seeing increased revenue stream in, in the form of taxes. Rural roads…are being rebuilt by the gas companies. (Press & Sun Bulletin, 2/28/12)
  • “Natural Gas: The Industry That Could Save America”: Make no mistake about it: the American economy is in the throes of the longest, most protracted recovery since the Great Depression. But there is an industry offering a beacon of hope, and it could soon serve as the tipping point that gets America back to work: natural gas. (Daily Finance, 2/24/12)
  • Natural Gas the “One Reason U.S. Economy is Recovering”: There is one reason the U.S. economy is recovering: Low gas prices. Natural gas, that is. … Domestic supply has increased radically because of the increased use of hydraulic fracturing. According to the EIA, gas from fracking went from 1.0 trillion cubic feet in 2006 to 4.8 trillion cubic feet in 2010. … The cheap price has been a boon to many industries, like plastics, fertilizers, chemicals and other things derived from natural gas. … This, more than anything else, is responsible for the return of so much manufacturing to the U.S. Manufacturing employment rose by 225,000 jobs last year, sustaining gains for the first time since 1997. (CBS News, 2/24/12)
  • Misericordia University President: “Shale Holds Promise for Pa., the Country”: Natural gas is clean-burning and can provide power for electrical generators, bus and truck fleets and, eventually, automobiles. … Natural gas about 5,000 feet beneath much of our region…can help the country become less dependent on foreign oil. These pockets of natural gas also offer economic development opportunities that have not been seen in our region for years. … Small businesses are springing up throughout the Northeast to serve not only the gas industry directly, but also the many needs that a growing regional economy requires. … Northeastern Pennsylvania can provide a source of energy that is not only cleaner, but also provides some domestic security for more than 300 million Americans. (Times-Leader, 2/26/12)
  • NY Times Columnist Joe Nocera: At this point, shale gas…makes up more than 30 percent of the country’s natural gas supply, up from 2 percent in 2001 — a figure that is sure to keep rising. Fracking’s enemies can stamp their feet all they want, but that gas is too important to leave it in the ground. Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, understands this as well as anyone. Last summer, he was a member of a small federal advisory panel that was charged by Steven Chu, the secretary of energy, with assessing the problems associated with fracking. The group…concluded that “the U.S. shale gas resource has enormous potential to provide economic and environmental benefits for the country.” (NY Times, 2/27/12)
  • Marcellus Multiplier Reaches the NJ Shore: There’s no gold in the sand and gravel pits that have operated for generations in a sleepy, rural strip west of the Jersey Shore. But there could be a fortune. Future Mining of Middle Township, a subsidiary of family-owned Albrecht & Heun, is for sale. The estimated market value of the sand and gravel reserves: $74 million — and the price could spike higher if the sand is found to be suitable for fracking. (Courier Post, 2/27/12)