My life changed, and dramatically, some time around 1975. It changed that year because 1975 was the year that I met a guy whose last name was Roth.

Mr. Roth proved ultimately to be a scoundrel. He conspired behind my back to steal my company from me. He was in cahoots with the buyer and they jointly rigged the sale price so that I would come out on the short end. Not very nice.

But hey, it’s history and if I ever find the guy I’ll probably ring his neck.

But every dark cloud has a ray of light. And in this case, that “ray” was the fact that Roth was, and up until that point in my life, the most unemotional person I had ever met. Logic was his calling card. Everything he said and did was based on logic. (Including, I guess, screwing me.)

But I came out way ahead on this relationship. This was because prior to meeting him, my life was pretty much based more on fantasy and hope than rational thought and rational execution.

After Roth, I met at least two other people who were just as rational and logical as he was. And of course, they didn’t also have his sociopathic make-up. My education continued.

Why do I tell you this? I tell you this because I need you to know that what I’m about to say regarding the current economic situation in Western Pennsylvania is, and so far as I can tell, a completely logical and rational analysis. So here goes:

• Prior to (roughly) 2008, the state of Pennsylvania was headed off a cliff. Especially Western Pennsylvania. People were still leaving the region and “high technology” - the anointed “savior” of the region - wasn’t exactly living up to its billing.
• Enter a silly chunk of shale rock left over from geologic times so far back that the dinosaurs are just a way station at the beginning of the trip. Because trapped in this mass of shale rock, sand and dinosaur poop was and is a valuable gas commonly known as methane. And there is lots of methane to be had.
• A guy at Penn State --- a guy by the name of Terry Engelder --- did some rough calculations regarding what we all now call “the Marcellus Shale.” Terry simply couldn’t believe his own calculations --- this strip of rock/sand/poop was literally laden with methane. Enough, in his own words, “to run this country for over one-hundred years.”
• Even more importantly, the gas discovered in Southwestern Pennsylvania was “wet” gas. In this case, “wet” means that it is very, very rich in bi-products that can be refined into things like pentane, butane, ethane, and a whole bunch of other “-ane’s.”
• Why is this important? Because wet gas can easily become the core building block for petrochemicals.

From the time that Terry announced his dramatic “find,” it wasn’t very long until the rigs and the roughnecks appeared. Hundreds, even thousands of them, have since showed up in Pennsylvania --- especially Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Moreover, hundreds and hundreds of wells have since been drilled with hundreds of millions of dollars being paid or at least committed to be paid to the farmers and homeowners who own the land that holds this shale gas.

The Marcellus Shale --- in my (logical and rational) opinion, is the single most important economic driver in the history of Western Pennsylvania. And while some might argue this contention, I believe that when all the dollars are counted, this driver will put more dollars into the hands of the state of Pennsylvania and its residents than did Andrew Carnegie and all that came after him.

Talk about a kick save. Ex-Penguin goaltender Frankie Pietrangelo ain’t got nothin’ on the arrival of the Golden Goose that we refer to as the Marcellus Shale.

All anyone can see these days is a brand new industry taking root. Beyond the extraction and distribution of the gas itself, “cracker” plants are being contemplated. Once these plants are up and running, Western Pennsylvania will be in a position to move into the “big boy” game of petrochemicals. Now we’re talking about refining and plastics manufacturing. Now we’re talking about real money.

But there are threats. The first one we all know; it is the threat of the environmentalists and the individuals who just seem to love protesting anything that changes the status quo.

In 1970, I was a senior in college. Fed up with the attitude of the “over-thirty” crowd, I wrote a scathing letter to then-president Richard Nixon. I did this in my capacity as editor-in-chief of my school newspaper. I told Tricky Dick, “You had damned well better pay attention to the environment, or us twenty-something’s will have your head.” Or words to that effect.

Nixon wrote back. He told me that I was one of America’s “priceless assets,” and that he indeed was keeping a wary eye on preserving the environment. (He misspelled “priceless,” BTW.)

I give you those two paragraphs so that I can validate my character make-up as an environmentalist. I have always been pro-environment because I’m (once again) logical and rational enough to understand that we have but one globe to live on. Screw it up and there is no “reserve globe” awaiting our occupation.

And so I conducted my own study. I spoke with some four-dozen scientists, environmentalists, and engineers --- asking all of them, “Is the extraction and distribution of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale a serious threat to Pennsylvania’s environment?”

Forty-four out of forty-four of these scientists, environmentalists, and engineers told me that it was not. They did not say, “Weighed against the economic benefit, it’s acceptable,” or “Within certain limits it is acceptable.” They just flat out said, “It’s not a threat. Of all of the energy sources, natural gas is by far the safest and cleanest way to go.”

So with this in mind, I have begun my own campaign for “drill, baby, drill.”

But there is a threat looming. And that threat is the state of Ohio.

This column is already becoming too lengthy, but it is very important that I point out to everyone reading it just how fungible this “asset” really is.

We are extracting natural gas from Pennsylvania land. But that same gas is also available in Ohio. It’s a different shale strata, but the same gas nonetheless. What I’m saying is that those same drilling rigs you see just a couple dozen miles from where you live can easily be broken down and moved across the border.

And there is every reason under the sun why this could happen. Here’s one --- Ohio is flat. This means that rigs can be broken down and moved at a fraction of the cost of doing so in Pennsylvania.

Ohio doesn’t have tunnels, mountains, and old twisting roads either. More points for the four-letter state.

Next, you should know that Ohio’s governor Kasich will stop at nothing to get this industry into his state. He has already appointed an “energy czar,” and this individual’s marching orders are clean and simple --- “Bring the gas rigs to Ohio.” To this end, Ohio is poised to grant tax breaks and whatever else might be necessary. No one in Ohio is squawking about environmental deal-killers.

There are other issues, but suffice to say we had better not become complacent, thinking thoughts like, “We’ve got this industry locked in for the next one-hundred years.”

Because we don’t.

These are not steel manufacturing plants you see in Washington and Greene Counties. These are rigs that companies like Chesapeake and Chevron and Range rent for approximately $50,000.00 a day. A day! Does this alone not generate anxiety in the pit of your stomach? Sounds mighty temporary to me.

So the next time you hear some protestor squawking (with really no basis in fact) about the “frack water contaminating the aquifers,” ask that protestor, “And so how do you suggest we make up the tens of thousands of jobs and the hundreds of millions of tax dollars, and the billions of dollars of payroll that this industry either has created or is about to create?”

Maybe their answer will be “steel.”

* Listen to Ron on The American Entrepreneur Radio Show. Ron and his colleagues can be heard on PBR stations seven days a week! Tune in M-F from 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.; Saturday from 9:00 a.m. - Noon (all on AM 1360). Ron can also be heard on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. on FM 104.7