More ga$$y good new$ for Pennsylvania:
Persistent low prices didn't put a crimp in shale gas production in Pennsylvania during the second half of 2014, as drillers set a record and expect to continue the increases.
Shale companies produced more than 2 trillion cubic feet of gas in the second half of the year, bringing the state's year-end total to more than 4 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to figures released [in February] by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Just one minor glitch:
Toxic radon levels are rising in Pennsylvania as natural gas fracking booms.
You know, radon: that deathly radioative gas released when uranium in the soil and rocks breaks apart. Fun fact: radon's potential to poison us all in our own homes was first discovered right here in Pennsylvania:
Elevated levels of radon in homes were not recognized as a potential public health threat until the mid-1980's. Mr. Stanley Watras, a worker at the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant located in eastern Pennsylvania, set off a radiation detector upon entering the nuclear power plant. At the time the nuclear power plant was under construction and had not received its nuclear fuel. The utility discovered extremely elevated levels of radon in his new home. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began testing homes for radon and found elevated levels of radon in them as well.
Not surprisingly,
Marcellus and Utica Shale in Pennsylvania overlap with hot zones for potentially high radon levels:
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RED: counties that have a predicted average indoor radon screening level greater than 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter) - High Potential for elavted radon readings.
YELLOW: counties have a predicted average indoor radon screening level less than 2 pCi/L - Low Potential for elevated radon readings.
A majority of Pennsylvania counties are already haunted by the threat of radon gas. Let's break up those radon-releasing rocks even more as we pump all that cheap gas into those homes through all those shiny new gas lines the state has been installing in our neighborhoods, shall we? Because natural gas comes first for profits (mostly for certain state representives), while radon is only the second leading cause of lung cancer. Who needs lungs (or clean drinking water) to enjoy the industry's orgastronomical boom?
“Reports like this should serve as an important reminder to policymakers that we must continue to pursue solutions aimed at creating new jobs, not higher energy taxes,” said Dave Spigelmyer, president of the North Fayette-based Marcellus Shale Coalition.
Better amp up that Obamacare, Pennsylvania. We're gonna need it.