As Pennsylvania considers development of natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale bedrock, state and local officials need to recognize the already significant impact–more than $7.1 billion–of the oil and gas industry on the state’s economy, says Kathryn Z. Klaber, Executive Vice President of the Allegheny Community Development and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“I think that is a really important message here,” Klaber says. “There is an existing industry that is supporting Pennsylvania jobs and economic activity that is also growing. As policies get developed in reaction to or around the Marcellus Shale, it is important to have policymakers know and understand what the existing industry looks like and its reach so that any policies take into account both the existing and new opportunities.”
Klaber’s perspective reflects findings in a new study the Economy League prepared for the Marcellus Shale Committee, which is composed of members of the state’s two largest oil and gas industry associations. Working with 2007 data, the report examined direct benefits from the drilling and extraction of oil and gas.
The total effects result in a payroll of nearly $1 billion, some $842 million in income for business proprietors and the self-employed, and about $1.9 billion in income for investors and property owners. Overall, oil and gas development fuels about 26,500 jobs in Pennsylvania, a state that has the third highest number of active wells in the nation–nearly 79,000–and was the site in 1859 of the first commercial oil well in the world.
While the Economy League’s study examines the existing position of the industry, researchers at Penn State will prepare another report for the industry committee to examine the impact of the Marcellus Shale, Klaber says. Read the complete report here.
Source: Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Kathryn Klaber
Writer: Joseph Plummer
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