Economic benefits aside, it makes heads explode amongst the watermelon morons 
I live in the heart of the Marcellus Shale. We are drilling like crazy and creating new pipelines to carry the gas to major markets as well as new power plants that will feed directly from the wells.
The latest whine from the environmentalists is that while we are seeing lots of economic activity now, it will be over in 20-30 years creating ghost-towns throughout Pennsylvania.
However, the Marcellus is producing far higher yields than expected. The Utica may yield oil as well as gas.
Drilling is here for 100 years.....and the environmentalists are caught lying -— AGAIN.
“The Utica may yield oil as well as gas”
Yes, it is called Quaker State.
Twenty to 30 years? That's one generation at least that would live well. Ghost towns? We have 'em all over the West. When the gold mines gave out, people moved on and created wealth somewhere else. Some places became wealth producers in other areas of production and prospered.
The enviros protests, as usual, are ludicrous.
Well, the West is littered with ghost mining towns. The part of Ohio I grew up in has several not-quite-ghost former steel towns (when I go back "home" for high school reunions, I nearly cry at what has happened to where I grew up).
So, we may end up with some gas and oil ghost towns a few decades hence. Is that worse than not having oil and gas during those decades?
Economic benefits aside, it makes heads explode amongst the watermelon morons