The community and environmental health effects of shale gas development is the topic of the latest presentation by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
The presentation will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 7 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at William B. Schaeffer Hall in Stark Learning Center.
Applied anthropologist Simona Perry will be presenting. She will be focusing on human societies, which are interactions that are interested in Marcellus Shale development. (http://energy.wilkes.edu/PDFFiles/Dr%20%20Perry%20Flyer%20-%20FINAL.pdf)
She will also be looking at a lot of human societies that are interested in shale development in the region. She will also speak on how communities adapt and deal with the boom bust cycles.
Associate director Ken Klemow said that Perry will also focus on a number of topics, including a look at how human societies will be affected by shale gas development in the region.
Another major topic she will be talking about is how the communities will adapt from the Marcellus Shale Development, and how the region will deal with the boom bust cycles associated with shale gas development.
The community and environmental health implications of shale gas are important to the region because Northeastern Pennsylvania has a history of experiencing energy development that goes as far back as when the coal industry was dominant. Klemow, the demise of the coal industry left its imprint on the region both ecology and economically.
Klemow hopes that the audience will have a better appreciation of some of the social and economic impacts of shale gas development. He also hopes with gas prices decreasing in cost the audience will commit to shale gas development in the not too distant future.
Other activities associated with shale gas development is that the institute for Energy and Environmental Research is having a study done on the regional questions of shale gas development, the results of summer data will be a collage composition done in two weeks.
“Once we finalize and analyze the data, we will be able to understand more fully the impacts of shale gas development,” Klebow said
Klemow said that more essays on shale gas development are needed, as well as more tests should be done on radioactivity and compressor stations in the region.
Keri Skvarla, a student researcher for the IEER, said students should be concerned with shale gas development because it will affect all inhabitants of the region. Another concern for Wilkes students is that shale gas development will bring a lot of jobs to the region, and this is extremely important for seniors, who will be looking for jobs once they graduate.
One of the major things students should understand about shale gas development is that it is going to happen. There are going to be a lot of job opportunities opening up that are associated with shale gas development.
Shale gas development affects students in the sense that there are going to be a lot of job opportunities, which is a positive for the region. Most of the implications of shale gas development are positive, but there are a few on the negative side.
“If there are any negative implications from shale gas, it not only affects the state but the community as well.” Skvarla said.
The event is free and open to the public.