Photo: United States Geological Survey
Under some of the most beautiful parts of rural New York State in the pre-Jurassic era formation called the Marcellus Shale is an unimaginable fortune in natural gas. Getting that gas to market has become an obsession of Wall Street and the biggest gas drilling companies in the world. In this gas rush, New York is fast becoming a geological science experiment that many experts fear will have profound, dire environmental and health consequences.
Sedimentation of marine, mud and clay deposits from an ancient river delta formed the Marcellus Shale across the Appalachian Basin around 350 to 415 million years ago. It exists up to 9,000 feet below ground – mainly beneath present day New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio – and covers an area of about 54,000 square miles. The compression and heating of organic matter with the Marcellus Shale over millions of years formed hydro-carbons, including natural gas dispersed throughout the formation.
Allison Sickle earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication with a focus in print journalism and a minor in environmental studies from Loyola University New Orleans. While pursuing this degree, she developed key journalist attributes and conducted extensive environmental research. Sickle is a former environmental reporter for NRNS.
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