Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Marcellus Shale has “grown to be the nation’s most productive gas field,” as the Associated Press reports this week, with production “rising even faster this year than energy experts had predicted.” The economic, environmental and national security benefits tied to safe, well-regulated shale development are rippling across the region and beyond – and are Powering an American Renaissance. Here’s what they’re saying about all that natural gas does.

POWERING AMERICA’S TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

  • Compressed Natural Gas Cuts our Dependence on Foreign Oil:  Vogel Disposal Service recently joined the ranks of companies converting their fleets to compressed natural gas-fueled vehicles. …“We’ve been looking at doing it for a while,” said company vice president Ed Vogel. “At the station we put in we could add and fuel a total of 50 trucks.” … A number of large companies have begun making the switch to compressed natural gas, which is currently selling for $2 per gasoline gallon equivalent. … Waste Management, UPS, FedEX and Ryder System truck rental have all announced they are converting some of their fleets to natural gas. Giant Eagle added more than 20 natural gas-fueled vehicles and Range Resources unveiled a CNG-fueled fleet last week. “When you see big companies doing it, they’re doing it because they’re saving money. Right now, CNG is the best economic benefit,” Price said. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 8/10/13)
  • “Fueling the Future at Cabot”: When Cabot Oil and Gas invited business and political leaders to its first fueling station, they did it to provide a look into what could be the nation’s future. Pa. Rep. Sandra Major, R-111 District, said the country’s energy independence begins in the Keystone State. “Right here at home in Susquehanna County, it can help lessen our dependence on the foreign markets for our energy needs,” Major said. (WBNG-TV, 8/15/13)
  • CNG Station to Open Soon in Clinton Co., Offering “Local Benefits”: The new CNG filling station is under construction in the McElhattan area, according to Wayne Township Landfill Manager Jay Alexander. … It’s a move long anticipated by elected officials as they seek local benefits from the low cost of natural gas and the fact that it’s a natural resource literally beneath the very feet of central Pennsylvanians. … Alexander said the system offers a relatively simple technology for private industries and municipalities to fuel their vehicles at a fraction of the cost. … “Internally, our goal is to cut our fuel bill of 2012 in half within three years,” Alexander said. (Lock Haven Express, 8/13/13)
  • “Transportation at Leading Edge of U.S. Natural Gas Revolution”: The boom in natural gas production in the U.S. has ignited a revolution in the auto sector that could reshape the way Americans fuel their vehicles. Technological advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have led to a surge in natural gas production. In fact, production is up 25% from 2007 to a record in 2012, according to the U.S. EIA. … “It’s 30% cleaner…cheaper by two dollars a gallon…We have more natural gas than any other country in the world.”  …  Some eight in 10 new trucks Waste Management bought in 2012 were powered by natural gas. (Fox Business, 8/13/13)
  • Marcellus Impact Fees Continue to Benefit Philadelphia Consumers, Businesses: The Pa. DEP awarded a $391,445 grant to four Philadelphia firms to acquire or convert 35 heavy vehicles that use compressed natural gas as fuel. The grant partnership was assembled by Lehigh Gas Wholesale L.L.C., which plans to build a public CNG refueling station at 80 W. Oregon Ave. in South Philadelphia. UPS, Mid-Atlantic AAA, Lehigh Gas, and Philadelphia Gas Works are committing to buying CNG trucks under the grant, said Lynda Rebarchak, a DEP spokeswoman. The money for Monday’s grant comes funds generated by the Marcellus Shale impact fee. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/13/13)
  • Impact Fee-Funded CNG Grants Diversify Use of Locally Produced Natural Gas: Gov. Tom Corbett announced today that two additional projects will receive funding from the initial round of Act 13 Natural Gas Vehicle grants, first awarded in May. “These grants will help to diversify our vehicle fleet, while expanding the use of natural gas produced right here in Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. “This is also a win for our environment; thanks to Act 13, which I signed last year, these companies will be using cleaner-burning natural gas in their vehicles.” … Plans include opening the first publicly accessible retail CNG station in the City of Philadelphia, which will provide significant encouragement to other local businesses considering conversion to CNG. (Fox 43 News, 8/12/13)
  • CNG Provides Environmental, Economic Benefits: Allentown-based Lehigh Gas Partners has been awarded a $391,445 state energy grant to purchase new or convert existing heavy vehicles to use compressed natural gas fuel. … Lehigh Gas will work with Philadelphia Gas Works, UPS and AAA Mid-Atlantic on the project. … “Lehigh Gas Partners has a strategy to bring alternative fuels to the marketplace for commercial and retail customers so both groups can realize the environmental and financial benefits,” Joe Topper, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in June. (Allentown Morning Call, 8/12/13)
  • GE Natural Gas Locomotives “Offer the Hope of a Dramatic Step Forward”: GE Transportation locomotives powered by natural gas could soon be appearing on railroads across the country. … The company confirms it has begun a pilot program to build LNG conversion kits. … The LNG locomotives offer the hope of a dramatic step forward. The LNG fueled locomotive kits have the potential to reduce fuel costs by about 50 percent, said Jessica Taylor, a spokeswoman for GE Transportation. She went on to say that the LNG technology is expected to offer “substantially increased locomotive range between refueling,” while also reducing key emissions significantly.  … In an interview earlier this year, Matthew Rose, chief executive of BNSF, said, “The use of liquefied natural gas as an alternative fuel is a potential transformational change for our railroad and for our industry.” (Erie Times-News, 8/11/13)
  • CNG “Reduces Air Pollution, Fuel Costs and Dependence on Foreign Oil”: The fuel pump in front of the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority’s Gateway Boulevard SE headquarters read $2.14 per gallon. A nice price, if you can get it. The trick is to drive a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas. SARTA has more than 30, including nine full-size buses. … Proponents tout natural gas vehicles as a way to reduce air pollution, fuel costs and dependence on foreign oil. … “A huge game changer, quite frankly, has been the shale plays,” added Joanne M. Hayes, a business development manager with Clean Energy. … Conrad said he expects using natural gas will save SARTA a total of $356,000 this year. (Canton Repository, 8/14/13)

CREATING JOBS, ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

  • EIA: “Oil and Gas Industry Employment Growing Much Faster than Total Private Sector Employment”:  From the start of 2007 through the end of 2012, total U.S. private sector employment increased by more than one million jobs, about 1%. Over the same period, the oil and natural gas industry increased by more than 162,000 jobs, a 40% increase. … Employment in the oil and gas drilling, extraction, and support industries continues to contribute to overall private sector employment as the U.S. economy recovers from the 2007-09 recession. Beyond within-sector employment, oil and gas industry activity also directly supports output and employment in other domestic sectors…as with other forms of economic activity, there are indirect employment effects stemming from purchases made by industry and employees spending of their incomes. (Release, 8/9/13)
  • American Energy Production “Spurs Rapid Job Growth” Employment in the oil and gas industry is growing at a much faster clip than total private sector employment amid a boom in U.S. production, according to an analysis by EIA. Oil and natural gas activity in the U.S. has rapidly expanded. From the beginning of 2007 through the end of 2012, monthly crude oil production soared 39%, and natural gas production was up 25%. During that six-year period, the U.S. oil and gas industry recorded a 40% employment jump. Meanwhile, the private sector grew by just 1%, or about one million jobs. … The dramatic increase in U.S. oil and gas production is also having a far-reaching impact on other domestic sectors, such as rail companies, pipe suppliers and equipment makers. (Fox Business, 8/8/13)
  • York Co. Commissioner: Natural Gas Creates Huge Benefits: This type of fleet conversion not only enables a fleet to use homegrown Pennsylvania fuel, but it’s also better for our air. … The savings are incredible. We are fortunate to live in a state with one of the world’s greatest reserves of natural gas. In a recent York Sunday News opinion column, I explained how hundreds of thousands of dollars appropriated annually to York County via the Marcellus Shale Legacy Fund is helping to improve the quality of life for scores of local residents. Taking advantage of these reserves for our current transportation needs makes good economic and environmental sense. (York Daily Record letter, 8/8/13)
  • Natural Gas Production “Brings Employment And Economic Revival”: Signs of pride and prosperity were evident all over Williamsport and the gorgeous northern Pennsylvania countryside around it. … Men and women again have high-paying jobs, young people are coming back instead of moving away, their salaries are supporting other businesses and jobs, and many are taking college programs in oilfield technical and business specialties, Vince Matteo told me. … Contributions to United Way are increasing each year, county infrastructure has improved enormously, and environmental impacts are minimal. … Hydraulic fracturing has created 1.7 million new direct and indirect jobs in the United States, with the total likely to rise to 3 million over the next seven years, [IHS] Global Insight reports. It has added $62 billion to federal and state treasuries, with that total expected to rise to $111 billion by 2020. … This game-changing technology has transformed global political equations and power structures. With the U.S. sitting atop centuries’ worth of now economically producible oil and natural gas, OPEC and Russia can no longer control prices. (Human Events op-ed, 8/12/13)
  • Allegheny Co. Exec.: Thanks to Shale, Local Park Gets “Tremendous Improvements”: Allegheny Co. Executive Rich Fitzgerald on Monday took staffers and county council members on a field trip to a Washington Co. park. … They surveyed several natural gas wells, which the county hopes could soon generate several million dollars annually. … At Cross Creek, council members got a taste of what energy company Range Resources has been promising: money for park equipment, improvements and all that maintenance they’ve been putting off for years. “They showed us the new boat docks. They showed us the pavilions,” said Nick Futules, D-Oakmont. “They said, ‘This all is possible because of what we’ve done with Marcellus Shale.'” … The county executive is hoping to reap $2 million to $4 million up front and $700,000 in royalties from drilling under Deer Lakes, and he’s mentioned Round Hill Park and White Oak Park as possible sites for future development. … Mr. Fitzgerald hopes seeing an active Marcellus Shale operation co-existing comfortably with an equally active park will help allay council’s concerns.  … “There were tremendous improvements made to the park,” he said. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/13/13)
  • “Marcellus Shale Boom” Gives Major Boost to Local Company: Max Environmental Technologies Inc. had stayed in business for 50 years by serving Western Pennsylvania’s biggest industries. First, it was steel; and now, the gas industry.  … “It was imperative that we made a change, and change direction. Also diversify the company. We tried a million different ideas, and we were fortunate that the Marcellus emerged all around us, and it was a perfect fit.” …. The shale business is a boon for Max, said Carl Spadaro, environmental general manager. … About 50 percent of its business — about $10 million to $12 million in gross annual revenue — is from shale drillers, Spadaro said. … The growth has resulted in a staff expansion. The company added seven positions this year, bringing its staff up to 40. (Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 8/12/13)
  • U.S. Sen. Casey: We Must “Take Full Advantage of the Natural Gas Opportunities”: “I’d like to say that Pennsylvania doesn’t wait for the future; Pennsylvania invents the future,” [Sen. Bob] Casey said. “And one of the ways that we’re going invent a brighter future for our commonwealth and for our country, is to take full advantage of the opportunities that natural gas provides to us.” (PhillyBurbs.com, 8/13/13)
  • “Gas Industry to Gov. Markell: ‘Move Forward’”: In her recent letter, [MSC CEO Kathryn Klaber] challenged Markell, saying, “Given these clear benefits — which your state is realizing firsthand, even while Delaware produces no natural gas — we once again encourage you, through your DRBC position, to call on the Commission to move forward immediately with workable, common-sense regulations.” Delaware has no natural gas reserves. But with drilling elsewhere in the basin, “your state would be in a strong position to advance even more opportunities associated with clean-burning natural gas than ever before,” Klaber said. … Gov. Corbett urged the commission to adopt regulations that would govern natural gas drilling in the basin — and end a drilling moratorium that has been in place since 2010. A property owners’ group and the county commissioners of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Wayne County chimed in with similar sentiments. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/12/13)

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