Where is this happening?

The largest natural gas field in the United States is called the Marcellus Shale region. It extends over New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia,Virginia, Ohio and parts of Tennessee. It is not only one of the largest natural gas fields in America, but in the world. The shale goes through the beautiful mountains in New York that many people move to to be away from cities and be able to enjoy nature and peace. In 2002 there was a study done called the Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province that calculated the Marcellus Shale region contained an estimated undiscovered resource of 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas. As time went on and more research has been done it was estimated in early 2015 that the Marcellus Shale was yielding about 14.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Of course to anyone who doesn't have to live with the turmoil digging up this gas causes, this seems like the jackpot. We import oil from other countries at higher prices which costs us financially and politically. The Marcellus is approximately 1.3 miles deep in the ground. Since it is so deep larger and more expensive equipment is needed to do this digging. It can cost over a million dollars for a traditional vertical well and several million dollars for a horizontal well with hydraulic fracturing. Although the price of the millions of gallons of oil can justify the prices of the wells, it entails a tremendous amount of environmental damage to the appalachian areas.