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Nobody except a few geologists had ever heard of the Marcellus Shale before 2008. In less than ten years, it went from obscurity to becoming the single largest gas-producing formation in the United States, catapulting Pennsylvania back into the role of a leading energy production state, behind only Texas and North Dakota. Although this may sound like an overnight success, it was far from it. Shale gas development took more than three decades to become successful, beginning with early work funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the 1970s and 80s, followed by the persistent engineering experiments of George Mitchell at Mitchell Energy in the 1990s, and finally achieving success at the turn of the 21st Century with the application of new technology and new thinking. Bill Zagorski at Range Resources reviewed the old DOE literature and recognized the potential of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania in 2006. The following year, Range drilled the first modern shale gas production wells in Greene County, applied Mitchell's drilling and fracking production technology, and began the shale gas boom in Appalachia. We will explore the history leading up to this, describe the massive gas resource and why it was so difficult to produce, explain how shale gas works, and discuss likely future developments for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Dan Soeder is a geologist with 45 years of professional experience in energy and the environment. This includes a decade as a researcher at the Gas Technology Institute in Chicago, 18 years as a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey on the Yucca Mountain Project and in the mid-Atlantic, and eight years as a research scientist with the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. He also spent three years directing an energy resource program at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. He has been consulting since 2020 on environmental issues related to shale gas production and fracking, geothermal energy, and carbon dioxide capture and sequestration. He has published five books and numerous technical articles, including the Marcellus Shale discovery paper back in 1988. He has BS and MS degrees in geology and is an adjunct instructor at West Virginia University. More information can be found on his website: https://www.soedergeoscience.com/
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