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Three years ago, I discovered that coal may not be the only fossil fuel beneath my house. I happen to live above the Marcellus, a swath of shale under much of Pennsylvania that holds what may soon become one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. Thickest in eastern parts of the state—Susquehanna County is a current center of attention—Marcellus shale formed during the Devonian period, just over 360 million years ago, a time that saw a major mass extinction, mainly of marine life. As layers of organic material accumulated and deteriorated, they hardened to shale, and produced natural gas, which eventually created enough pressures of its own to fracture the surrounding rock. Not long after, just over 300 million years ago, Iapetus, the shallow sea separating the ancient continents of Laurentia and Gondwana, rapidly closed. As the continents came crashing together, a “promontory in the vicinity of New York City locked Gondwana and Laurentia at a pivot point,” which swung Gondwana clockwise, slamming it into Laurentia and thrusting up the central and southern Appalachians, which buried the shale and rolled beds of anthracite. The collision, which lasted about 15 million years, determined not only the pitch of coal seams but also the direction of Marcellus shale fractures.22 In other words, what played out over millions of years millions of years ago has led major corporations to think about whether they want to drill—read, mine—under my house. Again.
Long after the drilling ends, oil and gas people may well remember alongside I. C. White the geologists Terry Engelder (Penn State) and Gary Lash (SUNY Fredonia), who started the recent corporate stampede to northeastern Pennsylvania. In early January 2008, the scientists pointed out that “the Marcellus would become one of the world’s top super giant gas fields.” They soon spurred on the resulting rush to sink unconventional wells when they claimed that “Marcellus Shale weighs in with more than 500 trillion cubic feet of gas in-place spread over a four state area.”23 Engelder calculated that there’s enough gas in Marcellus shale to satisfy all U.S. energy needs for at least twenty years, at current levels of consumption.24 Although Marcellus gas may reduce the nation’s carbon emissions and could cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil, one thing is certain: tapping it puts in play billions, if not trillions, of dollars.
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