Cracking Appalachia

Description: Produced for research led by Dr. Jennifer Baka at Penn State University into hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Marcellus Shale region. This map shows existing and proposed infrastructure aiming to take advantage of the Marcellus fracking boom and resulting abundance of natural gas that will be turned into plastics.

Published: 2020, revised 2022

Data sources: FracTracker Alliance; market research firms; energy consulting firms; US DHS; US EIA; US DOE; Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia environmental protection departments; USGS; Natural Earth; Esri; FEMA;

Tools: QGIS; Adobe Illustrator

Media: Digital, static