Research Reports

The significance of Marcellus Shale gas development to local, regional, state, and national economies has been of public policy importance since the mid-2000s. This research analyzed peer-reviewed studies of the economic impacts from Marcellus Shale's development. The implications of this review were two-fold. First, economic impacts will likely be short-run due to the temporal dynamics of the industry. Second, there is a fairly strong consensus in the academic literature that impacts on employment and compensation are modest, indicating that employment should be considered neither a long-term economic benefit of development nor the most significant local economic benefit of development. 

In 2012, this research team began the first wave of longitudinal research to examine the social and economic impacts of Marcellus Shale activity in four case study counties. Wave 1 found that the impacts are likely uneven across places, people, and time. Documenting these differences became the focus for Wave 2. Descriptive analyses conducted in Wave 1 identified potential effects of development but lacked the ability to test those relationships statistically. Wave 2 sought to re-examine the impacts on crime, housing, the economy, agriculture, health and health care access, and traffic incidents in relation to Marcellus Shale development. This report describes the efforts of the research team to address these issues. Finally, policy approaches are needed that effectively recognize disparities in experiences. Certain segments of the population are more vulnerable to rapid economic and industrial change, and policies need to consider mechanisms to compensate those groups negatively affected.

To date, preliminary research on the effects of Marcellus Shale development activity has found limited or mixed results linking criminal activity to well development, although some studies and qualitative data suggest a relationship, at least in some communities. This research used publically available data to examine the relationship between Marcellus Shale development and crime before and after the onset of Marcellus Shale activity. The analysis focused on arrest rates for five crimes: overall minor crimes, driving under the influence, public drunkenness, drug abuse violations, and disorderly conduct. The findings suggest that of the five crimes, driving under the influence and disorderly conduct arrest rates were associated with well density, controlling for other factors. The other three crime categories - minor crimes, public drunkenness, and drug abuse violations - are not significantly related to Marcellus Shale well development across counties or over time. 

The rapid increase in Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania over the past decade has raised questions about the potential impacts of drilling and related development activities on housing availability and affordability for industry workers and residents in the counties experiencing substantial development, as well as neighboring counties that may have no wells but may house industry workers and/or residents relocating from counties with substantial development activity. This research studied trends including housing supply, age of housing, occupancy, value, rental costs, and household income inequality. 

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of Marcellus Shale development on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of Pennsylvania agriculture. To identify changes in agriculture, the research used secondary data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, comparing county statistics prior to development, early in development, and about 4 years into development. By combining the results from the focus groups, one may speculate that Marcellus Shale activity is one of the many factors influencing farm practices and changes. Data from the surveys and other secondary data will be needed to determine the dynamic influences and relationships between drilling activities and changes in farming operations, quality of life, and decisions related to land use and availability. 

The rapid increase in Marcellus Shale development over the past decade has raised concerns about the potential impacts of drilling and related development on public health, including health insurance coverage, demand for health care services, and health outcome indicators among populations who live in communities with substantial development. Accordingly, this report presents results from analyses that examined health insurance coverage, health care utilization, and health outcomes and changes in those indicators since substantial well development began in 2006. Although suggestive, this report is intended to be exploratory and not conclusive. Despite its descriptive approach, the findings from this report should provide a foundation for increased surveillance and additional research. 

Traffic concerns, especially truck traffic and road safety, have been identified in a number of studies in the Marcellus Shale region. The number of additional trucks on the roads and the increased traffic due to gas worker transportation have raised significant concerns about the increased potential for accidents. Two recently published studies directly related to traffic and road safety are reviewed. This research describes three indicators of traffic - total crashes, heavy truck crashes, and crashes with fatalities. Overall, the findings suggest that the most rural counties in the northern tier experiencing the highest levels of development had increased absolute numbers and rates of total crashes and heavy truck crashes. These findings are consistent with previous studies.

This research describes the perspectives of low-income adults in Pennsylvania communities that have experienced active Marcellus Shale development. This study focused on the same four counties examined in Wave 1 of the Marcellus Shale Impacts Study: Bradford, Lycoming, Greene, and Washington. These counties experienced the highest level of Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania over the past 8 years, and they have diverse populations, histories, economic bases, and geographic regions. The interview protocol for low-income adults used in this study is a semi-structured interview protocol incorporating a retrospective narrative to gather information about the housing history of interviewed participants, as well as participant perspectives on community change.

This study reviewed Act 13 impact fee monies disbursed for 2012, 2013 and 2014 to describe the overall dynamics and shape of disbursements to counties and municipalities and to analyze their spending/allocation priorities. The study also identified trends and significant patterns in county and
municipal expenditures as a result of Marcellus natural gas activity and Act 13 funding.

This research examined changes in population size as well as age and gender composition in four study
counties across two regions: Greene and Washington in southwestern Pennsylvania, and Bradford and
Lycoming in north central Pennsylvania. These counties have experienced some of the highest Marcellus
Shale unconventional natural gas development in terms of the number of wells drilled.

This research examined changes in health care services, the use of health care services, reported injuries,
and emergency medical service complaints in four study counties before and after the start of
Marcellus Shale development; across regions; and across varying degrees of intensity of Marcellus Shale
development.

This research examined how schools and the provision of education within Pennsylvania communities may have been affected by active Marcellus Shale natural gas development. Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the federal Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), coupled with qualitative focus group data with school leaders from Pennsylvania’s northern tier and southwest counties, this research focused on several topical areas, including changes in student populations and characteristics, student achievement, and school district finances.

This research examined the perspectives of youth in Pennsylvania communities that have experienced active Marcellus Shale natural gas development. The data were gathered during focus group discussions with educators and youth in 2013 in the northern tier Pennsylvania counties of Bradford and Lycoming, and the southwest counties of Washington and Green. These focus groups were conducted as part of a larger, multi-sector case study assessment of Marcellus Shale development impacts.

Marcellus Shale development brings gas company workers, subcontractors and workers in related areas (e.g., pipeline or other construction) to the locations in which natural gas exploration and drilling occur. An immediate issue is where to house these workers. This research examined housing stock and change in housing stock, rental and vacancy rates, housing costs, and housing affordability in the four study counties of Bradford, Lycoming, Washington, and Greene within a regional and statewide context. The research used secondary data from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing (2000) and the American Community Survey (ACS 3-year estimates, 2005/07 and 2009/11). The research also used qualitative data from focus groups with individuals knowledgeable about housing in the study counties.

This research used data from public agencies to describe the potential association between Marcellus Shale development and criminal activity and three components of the criminal justice system (law enforcement, courts, corrections).

This research used data from two focus groups of local government officials, one group in the southwest region of Pennsylvania and one group in the northern tier region of Pennsylvania, to identify how Marcellus shale development is affecting municipal governments in Pennsylvania.

This research used data from several federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and Pennsylvania Department of Revenue,
to analyze changes relative to Marcellus Shale development on the local economies of Bradford, Lycoming,
Washington and Greene counties.

This research looked to establish a baseline for investigating the direct and indirect effects of
Marcellus Shale natural gas development on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of
Pennsylvania agriculture.

This research is the first wave of a longitudinal project examining the impacts of Marcellus Shale
development in Pennsylvania. Overall, the research is exploring the social and economic impacts of
Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania, focusing on the experiences of four study counties -
Bradford, Greene, Lycoming, and Washington - with very high levels of natural gas extraction and
related activities.

This research looked to provide an unbiased and large-scale study of water quality in private water wells in rural Pennsylvania before and after the drilling of nearby Marcellus Shale gas wells. It also looked to document both the enforcement of existing regulations and the use of voluntary measures by homeowners to protect water supplies. For the study, the researchers evaluated water sampled from 233 water wells in proximity to Marcellus gas wells
in rural regions of Pennsylvania in 2010 and 2011.