Money, Its a Gas....

How right those boys from Pink Floyd were so many years ago. Money these days in Pennsylvania and New York is indeed a gas -- straight from the Marcellus Shale formation.
So it isn't surprising, if your familiar with the geographical positioning of the Marcellus, to hear that Philadelphia has gone the way of New York City. Meaning of course that it also has decided to blame an innocuous process called hydrofracing for all that is bad in the world. Yes, Philly is petitioning its superhero in the commonwealth, Governor Ed Rendell, to ban fracing, the process that has made extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus a possibility.
You see, the Marcellus Shale -- its development and the ultimate sale and use of its 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- is the biggest economic development story to hit the Appalachian region, PA and NY specifically, since Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick got together to create US Steel. The Marcellus is the biggest shale play in the country -- its reserves to some extent have been proven by the early drillers, and the big boys (Exxon, Talisman, EnCana and friends) are now coming to play. For Philadelphians and New Yorkers, proof of the Marcellus's promised wealth is everywhere in their states. Check out a job board in western PA -- great paying opportunities abound in geoscience, engineering, water management, construction, rig operation, accounting -- you name it. Office space is filling up all along the Marcellus fairway in towns like Cecil, Cranberry, Warrendale, Williamsport, Mansfield. Some companies are building new headquarters. Along the highways, you'll see new tractors in new barns, new rooves on older houses, new pick ups on farms. Seems like the spread of the benefits never ends -- there's new work for engineering firms, and heavy equipment operators, and lawyers, and conference centers, and hotels and restaurants and car dealerships and real estate agents.
Until of course, you get to Philly. And in some cases, New York. Their states are going through a major energy revolution and benefiting greatly. Some even say Pennsylvania will become an exporter of natural gas - not bad for a state that's been importing the lion's share of what its residents use to heat homes, cook food and run industries.
But there's little if any boom in these two cities -- Philly especially. It doesn't even lie in the shale geographically, while the majority of PA does. While Pittsburgh and other smaller towns are rebounding from the jobs and royalties the gas industry is delivering, the recession is tasting pretty bad in Philly.
That apparently is a good reason to forward myths and unscientific information about the fracing process. After all, if its in Pennsylvania, and it isn't centered in Philly, it must be bad. Just like if its in New York and its not happening in Manhattan, it must be bad.
There -- its finally been said. Could the political brew-ha-ha over fracing really be more about not getting a share of the biggest payday to hit the area in recent decades than the ridiculously small potential anyone's water will be contaminated? You tell me.