Fossil fuels rock: Marcellus shale gas keeps Pennsylvanians' energy bills low

America, despite hamstringing by the Obama White House, is an energy powerhouse. In addition to North Dakota's Bakken shale, there is Pennsylvania's Marchellus shale.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The abundant supply of natural gas from the Marcellus shale is keeping household bills in Western Pennsylvania stable this winter.

Customers of Peoples Natural Gas Co. and Equitable Natural Gas Co. will have lower heating bills, while customers of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania will experience a slight increase.

Peoples Natural Gas bought Equitable last year, but the two utilities maintain separate rates. Peoples and Equitable serve 700,000 residents in 18 counties.

Customers of Peoples will receive an average monthly bill of $130 for the winter period, November through March — a decrease from an average $133 per month last year, said Joe Gregorino, vice president for rates and regulatory affairs. The company set a rate of $5.04 per thousand cubic feet of gas for the October-December period.

Western Europe doesn't have its version of the Marcellus shale, so it is dependent on the extortionists in Russia for much of their supplies of natural gas.