LAND DISTURBANCE AND ENERGY PRODUCTION-SURFACE COAL MINING AND MARCELLUS GAS IN PENNSYLVANIA- A GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS

Historically Pennsylvania has been the site of coal extraction and relied on it for much of its energy, however, the addition of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale represents a significant additional energy source. There have been several studies about the surface impacts of extracting these resources. Little information, however, exists upon the amount of energy and pollution produced for unit of disturbed land. Land use impacts are important indicators of disruption to ecosystems. By determining the most efficient manner of producing energy in terms of land-use, legislators can make informed decisions that consider land disturbances. This study used geospatial analysis paired with industry and EIA data to determine the size surface disturbance as well as the energy produced by wells and surface mines. Surface considerations include well pads, mine size, access roads, pipelines and other surface disturbances. GIS sources include USGS, National Land Cover Dataset, Pennsylvania DEP, and the National Atlas. Surface disturbance was characterized in terms of acres/year and assumed site reclamation. A range of buffers were included to account for ecological effects. This study revealed that, varying by how land disturbances and buffers were characterized, coal produced more energy per disturbed unit of land than natural gas. Further research is needed to properly compare and characterize the different ecological effects of surface disturbances from these two resources.