At Talisman Office, Cawley Touts Drilling's Economic Impact

• Scott Detrow
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  Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.
  
  Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.
  
  Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

As part of his duties as chairman of Governor Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley has taken several road trips this year, touring drilling-related sites. He led the 30-member Commission on a tour of Lycoming County, and visited the site of the April Chesapeake well spill in Bradford County.
Today, Cawley toured Talisman Energy’s Allegheny County offices. The press release put out by Cawley’s office is a good example of how the Corbett Administration views Marcellus Shale drilling as an economic driver for Pennsylvania:

During a tour of Talisman Energy’s regional headquarters, Lt. Governor Jim Cawley today pointed to how the Marcellus Shale natural gas production industry is creating jobs, even in communities where drilling is not taking place.
“Natural gas is already providing thousands of jobs for Pennsylvania. You can see it right here in suburban Pittsburgh,” Cawley said. “Producers may not be drilling here in Warrendale, but jobs are being created here and across the state.”

Read the full press release after the jump.

Warrendale, Allegheny County – During a tour of Talisman Energy’s regional headquarters, Lt. Governor Jim Cawley today pointed to how the Marcellus Shale natural gas production industry is creating jobs, even in communities where drilling is not taking place.
“Natural gas is already providing thousands of jobs for Pennsylvania. You can see it right here in suburban Pittsburgh,” Cawley said. “Producers may not be drilling here in Warrendale, but jobs are being created here and across the state.”
Cawley said the natural gas industry and related businesses generated more than 72,000 new hires in Pennsylvania over the last 18 months alone. These are family-sustaining jobs; paying on average nearly $70,000.
Canadian-based Talisman invested $1 billion in Pennsylvania in 2010, including establishing its 50,000-square-foot American headquarters in Warrendale. The company employs more than 200 people, including geologists, landsmen, regulatory and legal experts, among others.
Talisman plans to invest more than $1 billion in PA again this year, including expanding their headquarters and employing another 50 people.
“To those who say Marcellus Shale is not benefiting Pennsylvania, I say come to Warrendale and see it for yourself,” Cawley said.
Cawley heads the Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which has been working to develop policy recommendations for natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. The commission’s final meeting is July 15, and its final report is due to the Governor by July 22.

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