[vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The past six months have been a bit rough around the oil and natural gas industry. Every E&P company in the Marcellus has announced reductions to their budget at least once, including Cabot. This has led to a very real outcome: the reduction of employees across the supply chain and the closing of offices across Pennsylvania. The collective hope right now is simply on maintaining numbers, but it is important to take a look back at just what this industry has meant for the Commonwealth.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]We often quote numbers of impact fee funding, investments in workforce development through institutions of higher learning and programs designed to teach energy literacy in schools, and the increase of wages in counties overlaying the Marcellus. But it’s incredibly powerful to look at these numbers compared to an area of the country which has banned shale development due to a moratorium in hydraulic fracturing: New York state.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Below is an article which appeared at the end of January on the Commonwealth Foundation blog. It is authored by Gordon Tomb, and highlights a comparison between one thriving Pennsylvania county – Susquehanna County – and Delaware County in New York. Though similar in many ways, the ability for Susquehanna County to harness the resources under the ground and grow not just industry-related jobs, but also creating and bringing new industries to the area is something not seen across the border.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This story is similar across the Commonwealth in places like Washington County which has seen a tremendous growth thanks to the shale industry. But let’s be honest here; the decreased price for oil and gas is impacting the industry. And the threat of a new severance tax and new regulation on top of depressed pricing has the ability to stop everything in its tracks. Meanwhile we’re seeing states across the country restructure their severance tax policy to make ends meet (or the lowering of the tax to ease the burden on companies in West Virginia). These policies together will serve to increase the cost of doing business on an industry already struggling to maintain a presence in the area.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]While the industry deals with its hardship, Tomb’s article below illustrates the benefits of the industry to the Commonwealth over the past several years. Let’s hope we can weather these hardships to continue providing a positive economic impact rather than going the way of New York.
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Pennsylvanians Prosper as New Yorkers Pine

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JANUARY 26, 2016 | by GORDON TOMB

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