Earlier this week, President Obama’s energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, underscored the fact that responsible shale development is creating “economic prosperity” along with important environmental benefits for our nation.
Ensuring that our environment is protected is our industry’s top priority, along with the safety of our workers and the communities where we operate. Strong, common sense regulations are critical to maximizing these benefits. And in an editorial this week, Bloomberg News writes this about the Commonwealth’s forward-leaning water management regulations:
“Pennsylvania has the right approach. Before withdrawing water in that state, drillers must win approval for a water-use plan that discloses how much water a well will use, from where and what effect that will have on local sources. To be approved, these plans must include wastewater recycling. … Other states…should follow Pennsylvania’s lead.”
And from western Pennsylvania, to southern New Jersey – and beyond – America is getting stronger each day thanks to shale development. Here’s a look at some of these shale-related benefits, by the numbers:
30
|
The pace of land acquisitions by the Pa. Game Commission has increased, thanks to revenues made possible by the Marcellus Shale. “[T]he scope of land purchases announced at the agency’s quarterly board meeting in late January was unprecedented in many years. Nearly 30 square miles were acquired. … The major purchase approved by game commissioners was a nearly 13,000-acre tract to be added to State Game Land 25 in Jones Township, Elk County.” (Pa. Outdoor News, 2/13/14) |
40 percent
|
Overall U.S. employment has yet to return to its prerecession level, but the number of oil & gas jobs has grown 40 percent since then. (Manhattan Institute, 2/19/14) |
100
|
The boom has also attracted a similar scale of new foreign direct investment. Because of low-cost energy abundance, 100 factories are set to come on line by 2017. (Investor’s Business Daily op-ed, 2/19/14) |
637,000
|
Chemical makers are transforming domestic energy into a stronger economy and new jobs. Between 2010 and 2023, $100.2 billion in increased capital spending can create an estimated 55,000 permanent new chemical industry jobs, 314,000 jobs in supplier industries and 267,000 payroll-induced jobs in communities where workers spend their wages. (American Chemistry Council, 2/20/14) |
11 million
|
Nearly 1 million Americans work directly in the oil & gas industry, and a total of 10 million jobs are associated with that industry. (Manhattan Institute, 2/19/14) |
$100 billion
|
ACC announced today that potential U.S. chemical industry investment linked to plentiful and affordable natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale formations has topped $100 billion. As of this month, 148 projects valued at $100.2 billion have been announced. These projects—new factories, expansions and process changes to increase capacity—could lead to $81 billion per year in new chemical industry output and 637,000 permanent new jobs by 2023. (American Chemistry Council, 2/20/14) |
$300–$400 billion
|
In recent years, America’s oil & gas boom has added $300–$400 billion annually to the economy—without this contribution, GDP growth would have been negative and the nation would have continued to be in recession. (Manhattan Institute, 2/19/14) |
3.1 trillion
|
State regulators report that Marcellus Shale natural gas production in Pennsylvania topped three trillion cubic feet in 2013. That’s more than double the previous year’s production, and the energy equivalent of over 500 million barrels of oil. (Associated Press, 2/19/14) |
