May 4, 2025 By Rick Shrum 5 min read

Jim Welty is well versed on what is afoot and underfoot with the energy industry.

Concerns about having enough energy to sustain efficiency of this region’s electric grid seem to be as abundant as the natural gas resources available in the Marcellus Shale Basin, below the Earth’s surface throughout most of Pennsylvania.

Increasing energy demands, however, along with forced retirements of fossil-fuel-fired energy plants, the swift rise of data centers and shortages of infrastructure have conspired to stoke fears that parts of the U.S. northeast may become energy deficient and experience power outages.

Welty assures that natural gas will do its utmost to allay those fears.

“We are situated atop one of the top gas deposits in the world,” he said in a recent interview, referring to Pennsylvania in general and its southwestern corner in particular.

“Natural gas is the No. 1 priority of the coalition. It’s about the efficient and viable ways to use gas, whether it’s power generation for the grid, power generation for data centers or advanced manufacturing. All are in the wheelhouse of natural gas.”

Welty is president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a leading trade association for the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania. Based in Robinson Township, MSC has about 150 members across the commonwealth.

Welty, who has been with the organization for 12 years, succeeded Dave Callahan as coalition leader in January.

The coalition, according to its website, “works with exploration and production, midstream and supply-chain partners across the country … from the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays.”

“We represent members responsible for 95% of gas produced in Pennsylvania.” Welty said. “All of our members have a footprint in Pennsylvania.”

Among states, Pennsylvania is the No. 2 producer of natural gas – behind Texas. Washington and Greene counties are largely responsible for that bounty, collectively producing 30% of the total.

Our nation, likewise, is a natural gas force. In a recent weekly newsletter, Washington & Jefferson College’s Center for Energy Policy and Management cited a U.S. Energy Information Administration report saying the U.S. remained the largest liquefied natural gas exporter in the world last year, shipping a record 11.9 billion cubic feet per day.

Welty touted his industry before a large audience in February, when he spoke at the annual Washington County: State of the Economy event. “Natural gas,” he said, “is the most efficient, clean, safe energy source across the board.”

Yet energy officials and consumers are wary of what may occur with the PJM grid, which serves much of the northeastern U.S. It faces the aforementioned challenges, which could disrupt power availability.

PJM Interconnection is a transmission organization that manages the wholesale electricity market and transmission grid for 13 states east of the Mississippi River. They include all of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, plus the District of Columbia.

Stephen Bennett, a PJM official, spoke during a recent W&J webinar and stressed during his presentation that “safe and reliable operation of our power grid is our focus every day.”

Stressed is an operative word here. PJM serves a large consumer base: 60 million people, many of whom are stressed about their grid.

“The key is power,” Welty said. “There is a 100 megawatt gap between what is demand and what is needed. That gap has to be filled with some generation, and we feel natural gas is best.”

The growing prominence of artificial intelligence is now accompanied by plans to develop large data centers, a number of them in Pennsylvania. Operation of the centers may require large amounts of electrical power, which could lead to higher bills and large use of water.

Welty said in a statement: “We’ve been saying for a very long time that opportunities for natural gas extend far beyond production. Significant benefits are also tied to the use of gas locally, which is what we’re seeing with data center growth.

“The advent of AI has created a prime opportunity for Pennsylvania to lead the AI revolution by using the natural gas under our feet to provide the significant baseload power that AI demands.”

The oil and gas industry encounters challenges as well. “We have a need for more infrastructure,” Welty said. “We need more ways to get our product to market.

“We need pipelines” – the construction of which, on occasion, encounters equipment, installation or permitting issues.

“Another challenge is the policy side,” he said. “Policies discussed in Pennsylvania can have a chilling effect on investment.” They include setback requirements.

Welty did credit the Trump administration “for helping to streamline challenges. Their focus on American energy is very helpful to what we want to accomplish in the basin – to meet the energy needs of our country.”

And despite being a staunch advocate of natural gas, Welty said the coalition supports an “all-of-the-above” portfolio of energy resources.

He is bullish on the basin, though. “There are significant opportunities to use our resources for our region.”