Mar 13, 2016 5 min read

Fracking has diminished tremendously over the past year – across Southwestern Pennsylvania and the nation.

Hydraulic fracturing has been fractionalized by oversupply, lack of pipeline transport and suppressed oil and natural gas prices. A number of top producers have slashed workforces, drilling budgets and operations in response to the downturn, and in anticipation of continued tough times. Some analysts foresee a turnaround in 2017; some aren’t so sure.

Boom has given way to bust.

Prosperity has been more than the name of a local community in recent years. It has been a mindset, energy-wise, in Washington and Greene counties – courtesy of horizontal drilling. There is an enormous abundance of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shales, an estimated century’s worth a mile below our feet, and its production in the neighboring counties over the past five years may have, truly, made this region the “Energy Capital of the East.”

Over that time, the industry has created jobs, made utility usage more affordable and boosted manufacturing.

That Energy Capital crown, of course, is not resting as comfortably these days, and a lot of people are fretting. They shouldn’t. Like teen wardrobes, sports teams and longtime businesses, the natural gas industry will thrive at times, stumble at others. It’s a natural cycle, Simba’s Circle of Life.

Larry Maggi expressed that same sentiment Tuesday following the Mon Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He is a former Pennsylvania state trooper, a fabled wrestling referee and – more prominently – a current Washington County commissioner, who participated in a panel discussion with one official each from Westmoreland and Fayette counties. They addressed Valley-centric topics.

Asked about Washington County in general and the drilling decline in particular, Maggi was as unflappable as a longtime trooper is expected to be. He isn’t concerned.

”Energy is cyclical,” he said. “Unlike the steel industry 35 years ago, when people knew it wasn’t coming back, we know that energy is.”

The natural gas industry has meant a lot to his home county, and to his home county’s economy. The jobs, in drilling or supply-chain industries. The impact fees, which have enabled municipalities to pay for infrastructure upgrades or overhauls that were otherwise unaffordable. The heightened energy supply, which has lowered bills.

Companies have established district or national headquarters at Southpointe, and not just drillers. So have support companies. That enhances several tax bases.

”Other industries are moving in to be close to energy,” Maggi said.

The eventual rebound may lead to even greater possibilities. For four years now, Royal Dutch Shell has been considering Beaver County as a potential site for an ethane cracker plant. Ethane is a natural gas liquid found in some natural gas products. When ethane is sent to the cracker, its molecules are separated and rearranged to create ethylene, the feedstock for plastic and other products.

Shell hasn’t made a decision to build there, and likely won’t until the downturn becomes a bona fide upturn. But it has done a lot of work, including soil remediation, on the Potter Township site, along the Ohio River. Is the company tipping its hand by spending so much money on land preparation?

Actually, and it would take years, but someday Washington may be an hour’s drive from two crackers. A Thai company is considering Belmont County, Ohio, for a plant.

Maggi likes to tout Washington County’s diversity, and what he calls its “country charm.” He is quick to say the county “is not driven only by the energy sector,” but appreciates that sector.

An upturn in coming. There will be another downturn, of course, followed by a period of prosperity, then recovery, slump, rebound … It’s a cycle that will continue for a long time.

There is, after all, enough gas down there to last to 2116.

Rick Shrum is business writer for the Observer-Reporter.