For decades, coal mining was the lifeblood of Pennsylvania’s economy, fueling the commercial and industrial engines of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Even as recently as 2015, Pennsylvania mined nearly 55 million tons of coal even if that is a fraction of what it previously produced.
As hydraulic fracturing, colloquially called “fracking”, became widespread, Pennsylvania experienced another energy boom as huge reserves of previously unavailable petroleum and natural gas could be accessed.
According to the U.S. EPA, “produces fractures in the rock formation that stimulate the flow of natural gas or oil, increasing the volumes that can be recovered. Wells may be drilled vertically hundreds to thousands of feet below the land surface and may include horizontal or directional sections extending thousands of feet.”
Fracking has received much attention lately as a hot topic in the presidential election. In 2019, now-Vice President Kamala Harris, then running for the 2020 nomination, pledged to ban fracking during a CNN townhall. The Trump campaign has repeatedly brought up this pledge when talking to and about Pennsylvania voters. Republican politicians talk about the employment and energy independence potential of fracking, referencing a 2023 study by the Marcellus Shale Coalition showing the economics associated with fracking contribute 123,000 jobs in the state and $41.4 billion in total economic activity. While there is data indicating the shale natural gas boom is leveling off, economists and academics say “there’s no dispute” that it has lowered utility bills in the state.
Pennsylvanians’ opinion on fracking is not monolithic. According to 2022 polling by Muhlenberg College, 48% supported natural gas extraction while 44% opposed. The percentage of respondents supporting natural gas rose since Muhlenberg first conducted the survey, but so did the number of people who believe fracking will come with more problems. Another poll showed a majority of Pennsylvanians support fracking but would like to see more regulation of the industry.
As fracking has raised environmental and health concerns, the push for “green” energy has led many to wonder what the future holds for the Keystone State and energy production. The latest environmental push in the energy industry is carbon reduction. Former Gov. Tom Wolf proposed joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state cap and trade program, limiting the amount of carbon reductions and forcing energy producers to buy credits to offset their emissions. This was challenged by Republicans in the legislature and the state’s membership in the initiative has not yet been resolved. Yet current Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed his own program, the Pennsylvania Climate Emissions Reduction Initiative.
After the Biden-Harris administration signed legislation creating billions in clean energy mandates and incentives, efforts have continued to make the state’s energy grid more sustainable. Opponents of emissions caps and green mandates believe they will cause energy shortages in the near future, though environmentalists argue “concerns about grid reliability are exaggerated.” Other states have issues meeting demand as efforts were made to transition to cleaner energy sources, with Maryland being an example within the same regional grid.
The Shapiro administration is leaning into carbon reductions, coordinating $400 million in federal funding for the idea and signing into law a bill that sets state rules for carbon sequestration, in which pressurized CO2 is injected back into the ground rather than released into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, a group of Republican state lawmakers are rekindling efforts to promote nuclear energy, which they called an “efficient, carbon-free” source of energy. And in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey just released an ad touting his having “bucked Biden to protect fracking.”
Regardless of the outcome of the presidential and senate elections, Pennsylvania’s energy industry will face an uncertain future that could limit fracking or promote it, increase nuclear energy production or eschew it in favor of solar and wind, or create a carbon credit trading program.
