College hosts Marcellus Shale Coalition forum
Published 07.25.2023
A Business Energy Forum facilitated by the Marcellus Shale Coalition brought a variety of stakeholders to Penn College on Tuesday for a lunchtime discussion of the regional economic and job opportunities created by the natural gas sector.
College President Michael J. Reed welcomed guests to Penn's Inn; Jason C. Fink, president and CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, spoke on behalf of the business community; state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23rd), who chairs the Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee (and the Penn College Board of Directors) shared a public policy perspective; and MSC President David E. Callahan talked about the state of the industry and its impact throughout Northcentral Pennsylvania.
"As you know, Penn College’s partnerships with the Marcellus Shale Coalition date back to the early days of exploration and development of this Appalachian Basin play," Reed said in remarks to open the 90-minute event. "We partnered with the coalition to ramp up a workforce quickly, and many of our graduates are still employed at MSC member companies."
Nearly all of those companies – more than 100, all worthy of note – have collaborated with and supported the college in some way, and the president cited a handful for their extraordinary student advocacy:
Seneca Resources and Repsol for scholarship support; the EQT Foundation for grants to majors in the School of Engineering Technologies; Coterra Energy for ever-expanding dual enrollment funding through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program; Chesapeake Energy for its long service on and support of the Penn College Foundation; the enduring collaboration with campus neighbor UGI Energy Services; and the alliance that created the Shell Polymers Rotational Molding Center of Excellence.
Among other attendees were State Reps. Jamie L. Flick (R-83rd) and Joe Hamm (R-84th), Lycoming County Commissioner Rick Mirabito, and staff from the congressional offices of U.S. Reps. Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-15th) and Dan Meuser (R-9th).
