Opportunities to participate in an ongoing series of Webinars addressing issues related to the state's Marcellus shale gas boom begin on 3/18. Read on. Tim Kelsey , professor of agricultural economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, will be the featured speaker during a free Web-based seminar titled, "The Impact of Marcellus Shale: What Do the Economic Impact Studies Imply?" which will air Thursday, March 18, at 1 p.m. Sponsored by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the "webinar" will provide an overview of some of the research used by decision makers to assess factors for economic development in their communities. Information about how to register for the webinars is available at http://naturalgas.extension.psu.edu/Events.htm. Online participants will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions during the session. Other one-hour webinars will be held at 1 p.m. on the following dates:
--April 29: "Perspectives on Marcellus Shale Gas Development in Southwest Pennsylvania." Presenter: Gary Sheppard, Penn State Extension, Westmoreland County.

--May 20: "If We Knew Then What We Know Now...A Decade of Lessons Learned from Urban Drilling in Fort Worth." Presenter: Sarah Fullenwider, City of Fort Worth, Texas.

--June 17: "Water Quality Monitoring Programs in PA: Susquehanna River Basin Commission's Remote Water Quality Monitoring Network." Presenter: Andrew Gavin, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, and "River Alert Information Network (RAIN) in Southwestern PA." Presenter: Jeanne VanBriesen, Carnegie Mellon University.

--July 15: "Natural Gas Development Land Use Controls in Lycoming County." Presenter: Kurt Hausammann, Lycoming County Planning Commission.

--August 19: "Local Natural Gas Task Force Initiatives." Presenters: Mark Smith, Bradford County; Pam Tokar-Ickles, Somerset County; and Paul Heimel, Potter County.

--Sept. 16: "Natural Gas Experiences of Marcellus Residents: Preliminary Results from the Community Satisfaction Survey." Presenter: Kathy Brasier, Penn State assistant professor of rural sociology.

Previous webinars -- which covered topics such as water use and quality, legal questions, gas-leasing considerations for landowners and implications for local communities -- can be viewed at http://naturalgas.extension.psu.edu/webinars.htm.

For more information, contact Joann Kowalski, extension educator in Susquehanna County, at (570) 278-1158 or by e-mail at jmk20@psu.edu.