Pittsburgh the next Houston?

[PghUSA]

Thought this was very interesting:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05178/528940.stm

Talks about how the whole northern Applachia region could be sitting on one of the largest oil fields in the world. Pennsylvania-Ohio-WV is known for its large reserves of natural gas, and there is oil producing wells as close as Wilkinsburg in the Pittsburgh area.

What many forget is that the Oil industry started near Pittsburgh in the 1880s, and that the largest two oil companies in world history were both from this region (Mellon's Gulf and Rockefeller's Standard--in Cleveland--both those companies by the way are the foundations for every major oil company today from ChevronTexaco to Exxon to Amoco to Mobil!) as well as being the birthplace and home to Pennzoil, Quaker State, Marathon Oil and in Philadelphia Sunoco.

If a huge reserve was struck in this area could you imagine the instant turn around, not only for still kicking Pittsburgh and Cleveland but for towns on their very last leg like Youngstown, New Castle, Stubenville, or the Steel Valley! Within a year we'd be a boomtown region with possibly billions flowing in from all over the world. Start digging!

[blueblackcat]

somehow i'm not so enthusiastic. just another bailout to the status quo as the world burns.

[PghUSA]

If I got my wish tommorrow we'd all be driving around in vege oil cars or better yet WALKING to work in a sustainable village within a larger city! However if sheiks and Alaskans are going to get rich burning out the Earth's core, why not us too? I dunno what I think on this subject could go on for dozens of pages, always remember the largest single transfer of wealth in human history was in 1974 when OPEC shutdown and greenmailed the west--instantly they were the richest cities on Earth. All that while Pittsburgh and Cleveland got assigned to the ash heap of the world economy and got labled the "rust belt". So yes I hate the petroleum based economy but if we HAVE to live this way, I'm hunting for some rustbelt style payback

[peaceloveunderstanding]

hey if this is actual, start digging. I would prefer this to any middle eastern oil any day.

[PghUSA]

followup on this in the PG today:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06012/636433.stm

Seems that drilling for oil and natural gas (permits) is up 32% from year to year and close to 60% in the last two years!