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The Marcellus shale play in Appalachia was unlocked 20 years ago this month, with the first hydraulic fracturing of an unconventional well in Washington County.
That 2004 event at the Renz Well Pad 1 on a farm in Mt. Pleasant Township changed the natural gas industry and the economy of the region, as it led to a boom in companies leasing property and drilling wells, and workers flocking to the area. It also led to concern among residents and governmental entities struggling to understand the process, its health and environmental effects, and how best to regulate it.
In the 20 years since the first well was drilled by Range Resources, more than 14,300 unconventional wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania alone, and annual natural gas production was more than 1.9 billion cubic feet in 2023 alone, according to the Pa. Independent Fiscal Office. During that time, the U.S. has become a net energy exporter and use of natural gas for power generation has risen rapidly.
The Marcellus Shale covers much of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and part of Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the formation's total area to be around 95,000 square miles, ranging in depth from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. The Marcellus is the second-largest natural gas field in the world, and the largest in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, containing about 410 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, enough to supply energy needs for hundreds of years.
While hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, dates to the late 1800s, it had not been widely used in conjunction with horizontally drilled wells until the 1990s in the western U.S. But its arrival in the Appalachian region created an energy powerhouse.
The industry generates significant economic benefits for the Appalachian region through direct jobs and related business activity, and companies have paid billions in taxes and impact fees to communities, and royalties to land owners, a 2023 Marcellus Shale Coalition report found.
But when it arrived in a big way in the early 2000s, it also found state and local government officials unprepared for an industry that was not well understood, and struggles over regulation ensued. Residents of the predominantly rural areas where drilling was occurring were also unprepared for the influx of workers, trucks, and industrial activity.
In 2012, the state Legislature approved Act 13 that established an impact fee that companies pay each year based on the number of wells drilled, production, and the price of natural gas. The revenue, which amounts to millions each year, is distributed to counties and municipalities with gas drilling activity and can be used for capital improvements and other projects.
A group of local communities challenged statewide zoning regulations contained in that legislation, and ultimately preserved the right of municipalities to determine how natural gas development should be handled. The issue still remains contentious at times in certain communities, but most municipalities have developed regulations that allow the industry to co-exist with residents. Concerns about the effects on health and the environment linger, with studies being undertaken to further understand these.