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PrintNot so long ago, politicians, officials and news reporters often found themselves being buttonholed by residents of the region who wanted to know who was this person named "Marcellus Shale."
That doesn't happen anymore.
The 400-million-year-old rock formation that few people had heard of five years ago is having a huge impact on southwestern Pennsylvania.
As guardian of one of the world's largest natural gas deposits, the Pittsburgh region was pushed onto the national stage several times this year as concerns arose over fracking, impact fees, jobs or controversial drilling bans.
Peters made national news after a group of residents there successfully got a referendum to ban gas well drilling and fracking onto the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The referendum failed by a margin of more than 4-1, but local activists succeeded in disseminating their message.
In South Fayette, officials stirred debate by passing controversial regulations that triggered a legal challenge this summer by driller Range Resources. Last week, commissioners there set aside $20,000 in next year's budget to help fund the legal battle.
Marcellus Shale issues provided campaign fodder for this year's municipal and county elections.
"It comes up a lot," Bill Northrop, a Republican candidate for Washington County commissioner, said from the campaign trail in October. "The No. 1 issue is jobs."
Mr. Northrop, who was unsuccessful in his bid for office, said most people he talked to considered the industry a "fountain of jobs."
"Everyone knows someone who is in the gas business," he said.
In 2011, the industry touched more areas of the region than just Washington and Greene counties.
"I certainly think it's becoming more and more part of the vernacular," Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya said. "People here are learning more about the ups and downs."
Top subjects of debate among county and local government officials have been impact fees for drillers and statewide regulation of the burgeoning industry.
This month, more than 200 local officials from 44 municipalities in seven counties met in Green Tree for a first-of-its-kind town hall forum to develop a response to state lawmakers trying to push shale-related bills through the state House and Senate.
The unanimous message of the gathering was clear: Don't strip us of our right to oversee drilling.
Bills introduced in both the state House and Senate would have done exactly that, eliminating the right of local officials to regulate matters such as zoning, planning, noise and other concerns in favor of statewide or state-approved policies.
Lawmakers couldn't reach a compromise between the bills and the legislation has been tabled until next year.
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi said it's "frustrating" to remain on the sidelines, waiting for a shale bill that he believes eventually will be passed.
The bill the state House passed in November, HB1950, would have permitted counties to decide whether to implement a per-well fee on drillers of up to $40,000 in the first year of production, decreasing annually to $10,000 in years four through 10.
According to a study commissioned by the county, those fees, if approved, could generate as much as $35.9 million in the first year for county and municipal coffers.
The study used Marcellus Shale data from 2010, when 1,195 gas wells received drill permits in Washington County. It showed that those 1,195 wells would have generated nearly $200 million, 75 percent of which would have stayed in the county and local communities where drilling is being done.
But for now, no bill means no revenue.
"Every day that they are taking this resource out of our ground is money that taxpayers are losing," Mr. Maggi said. "The longer we wait, the more money we lose."
Mr. Balya used the same word -- "frustrating" -- in connection with shale legislation.
"I don't think we're quite taking advantage of it the best way we can," he said of drilling revenues.
Marcellus Shale also had an impact on the employment and economic front.
More than 800 high school students showed up this month at the Western Area Career and Technology Center in Chartiers for the first youth career expo that focused on the oil and gas industry. That was double the number who attended career expos at the center in the past. The expo was held on the same day that results were announced from an industry-sponsored study that found that gas production in formations such as Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale supported more than 600,000 jobs nationwide in 2010 and is projected to grow to nearly 870,000 by 2015.
The most active drilling company in the region has been Range Resources, which now employs nearly 6,000 Pennsylvanians, exceeding the industry's initial job projections.
"We're proud to be a part of this sort of economic growth during tough times," company spokesman Matt Pitzarella said. "Most importantly, we're finally at a point where we can complete the modernization of the statutory and regulatory framework that this industry works under; it's critical."
The company highlighted a report this year from President Barack Obama's Shale Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, which based most of its national best practices on regulations and efforts developed in Pennsylvania.
"I'm not sure anyone could have imagined Pennsylvania leading the nation in not only job creation but best practices for shale gas development," Mr. Pitzarella said.
