Marcellus gas poses its own environmental risks, but it sure beats coal or nuclear

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Those who worry about the environmental damage from drilling for natural gas found in the Marcellus and Utica layers of shale a mile beneath much of Pennsylvania are grasping a two-edged sword.
One of the byproducts of the Marcellus boom has been a decline in the market price of natural gas - to levels now so low that some drillers are moving to other states, rather than investing millions of dollars per well.
For those of us who rely on Marcellus royalties to meet next month's mortgage payment - and for state and local governments salivating to spend tax revenues that now might not be forthcoming - that's bad news.
But the gas is still there. The price will increase once demand increases.
Why will demand increase, when, aside from immigration, American population is either static or declining?
Demand will increase because natural gas is relatively clean-burning and relatively environmentally friendly. The byproducts of its combustion are not nearly as noxious as the sulfurous, acid-rain laced byproducts of burnt coal. The waste is nonexistent; the gas is consumed, leaving neither the ashes/clinkers of coal - or the radioactive, dangerous-for-centuries waste of nuclear fission or fusion.
So it is quite likely that the generators of electricity will now move more toward using natural gas as a fuel, rather than coal or nuclear power.
We regard that as a good thing.
Sure, Pennsylvania is a coal-producing state. But no matter how conscientious they are, mine operators run the risk of leaving behind acid mine drainage that pollutes our streams, other deep-earth chemicals that taint our soil, and, once coal is burned, the aforementioned wastes and pollutants.
We love everything about nuclear power - except the radioactivity, both in the waste and in the process itself, as Japan discovered to its sorrow last year when earthquakes ravaged power plants, a crisis that will sicken and kill people for generations.
Those who oppose Marcellus/Utica drilling and the associated hydraulic fracturing/brine-waste disposal have legitimate concerns.
But Pennsylvania and the nation will be best served by striving to ensure that such drilling is done safely, not by restricting it.
The alternatives for meeting our nation's electric power needs are much more environmentally daunting than are the concerns associated with Marcellus/Utica natural gas drilling.
- Denny Bonavita