Shale drillers produce more gas with less wells in 2015

 From NPR StateImpact Pennsylvania, August 2, 2016

The PA-DEP has released their Annual oil and gas report for 2015. Industry and environmentalists reacted differently to the findings. 

The Marcellus Shale Coalition released a statement praising the collaborative efforts of regulators and producers:

“At the same time, while the PA-DEP’s performed a record number of inspections, overall regulatory compliance is at a five-year high and trending in the right direction,” said MSC president Dave Spigelmyer. “We’re also very proud that despite the Commonwealth’s unique geology and longstanding shallow methane-related challenges, there were zero stray gas issues in 2015, thanks in large part to the strong, common sense well construction regulations that our industry supported.”

Spigelmyer added that any new taxes could jeopardize that progress.

Maya Van Rossum, from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said the numbers don’t paint the real picture.

“The level of harm being inflicted by drilling and fracking on our communities and environment is not going down it is continuing to grow,” said Van Rossum. “You still see deforestation, you still see methane emissions, you still see the opportunity cost in that we continue to drill and frack instead of investing all that time and energy and resources into the clean energy path.”

See also: http://www.FrackCheckWV.net