Report: PA’s Youth Not Impressed with Marcellus Industry
A little over a week ago The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published the third report in a series of studies commissioned on the Marcellus Shale and its impact on the state (see New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools). The Center has just published a fourth report. Titled “Youth Perspectives on Marcellus Shale Gas Development: Community Change and Future Prospects” (full copy embedded below), the new report tackles the topic of youth attitudes toward the industry. In a quick pass, it seems PA’s youth are not all that impressed with the industry and what it has to offer them. They don’t like the traffic and noise and believe in some places shale drilling has detracted from the natural beauty of the countryside and harmed wildlife…
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It’s interesting to MDN that several of the seven Pennsylvania towns that sued the state over the Act 13 law and its zoning provisions–presumably because they didn’t want any Marcellus drilling in their borders–have done a 180 degree turnabout. It happened first in Robinson Township (Washington County), PA–the very township whose name is forever (shamefully) emblazoned on the case, which is called “Robinson v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” Voters in Robinson tossed their anti-drilling leaders out of office (see 
Yesterday Range Resources released an announcement with two big pieces of news. The first (and lesser) news is this: Range is trimming its 2015 exploration and production budget by 18% compared to what they spent this year. The 2015 capital expenditure budget is now set at $1.3 billion. However, the company says production will continue to increase, even with less spending on drilling. The second and more important news: Range has drilled a Utica Shale well that has dethroned Magnum Hunter’s Utica well (see 
Flaring a well–which involves burning the initial volume of natural gas (typically waste gas) or because a pipeline is not yet available to hook up to the well–is increasingly a rare event. Most companies attempt to capture even the initial amounts of gas. However, Range Resources is set to begin flaring their very first Utica Shale well, drilled about 10 miles from Washington, PA on the property of the Claysville Sportsmen’s Club in Donegal Township, east of Dutch Fork Lake. The flaring will begin on Dec. 7 and according to Range it will be really big, and really noisy…