Will Bunch’s story fundamentally fails to provide your readers with critical facts about safe shale development.
Despite the unfounded claims advanced in the story, this week, in announcing approval for a liquefied natural-gas export project in southern Maryland, the U.S. Department of Energy underscored this fact: “The development of U.S. natural-gas resources is having a transformative impact on the U.S. energy landscape, helping to improve our energy security while spurring economic development and job creation around the country.”
Mr. Bunch’s claim that “a flood of out-of-state workers” make up the shale workforce in Pennsylvania also doesn’t align with the facts. To be sure, more than 96 percent of new hires into our region’s shale industry are from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and New York – all states in the Appalachian Basin. And nationally, oil and gas job creation continues to outpace other sectors.
While drilling activities have indeed slowed, natural-gas production levels in Pennsylvania continue to soar – another important fact omitted by Mr. Bunch. And during the first six months of this year, natural gas production spiked a staggering 58 percent year-over-year, leading to more affordable energy – and cleaner air – for consumers and businesses across the region, especially in Philadelphia. This fact was highlighted in a recent IHS study, which determined that shale development has boosted average U.S. household incomes by $1,200 last year.
The facts are clear: safe, job-creating shale development is having a positive economic, environmental and national-security impact and will continue to for generations to come. Mr. Bunch’s baseless claims are “all hat and no cattle.”
Shari Williams
Marcellus Shale Coalition
Philadelphia
NOTE: Click HERE to view this letter online.
