Two articles recently caught my eye about natural gas development that cast an interesting perspective on natural gas development. The first comes from an article, “Natural Gas Too Little, Too Late for Upstate?,” written by Neil Vitale. Vitale is an organic dairy farmer in the southern tier of New York, where natural gas development is banned.

It was reprinted by our friends at Energy Indepth’s Northeast Marcellus Shale Initiative, which is working to educate citizens to the truth about responsible Marcellus development. Vitale contends that by choosing to side with false narratives from environmental activists, New York has put in jeopardy many small farmers who are struggling with falling commodity prices as operating costs increase.

He goes onto write, “They don’t care about the farmers losing their land to ever-rising taxes, high prices for the necessities to maintain their livelihoods, and low prices for their products… You see …they don’t care what happens to the community they claim to love from a distance — we farmers, and our families, are just collateral damage enabling them to preserve the land from the comfort of their cities far out of touch with our reality.”

The second article, “Marcellus Shale Parallel Universe” penned by Bill desRosiers, provides a commentary that only time can deliver. It details the tale of two cities: Williamsport, Penn. and Ithaca, N.Y. The article notes that in 2010, when it started developing shale gas, Williamsport’s local economy grew 7.8 percent — three times the national average — compared to Ithaca’s 1 percent.