Reminding the public of the benefits of clean-burning natural gas derived from Pennsylvania shale development, Pennsylvania oil and gas industry organizations have rolled out a one-minute commercial video titled “Natural gas does that.”

The video was created by the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), along with The Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, Friends of Natural Gas PA and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association. It depicts natural gas being produced from shale, then delivered via pipeline to a processing plant and then ultimately to “American manufacturing,” before displaying an expanding list of things natural gas is used to make, including electricity. “If you have ever looked at the pen you’re writing with, the liner of a swimming pool or scores of other everyday items and wondered, ‘What does it take to make this?’ the answer very likely is, ‘Natural gas does that,'” the group says in its announcement.

The public relations offensive comes during a week in which Marcellus Shale oil and gas developers have come under fire again from a new study that found concentrations of methane, ethane and propane were located in higher levels in drinking water for homes within a kilometer of shale gas wells in parts of the Marcellus Shale in northeast Pennsylvania (see Shale Daily, June 25). The study, is the third to be conducted by Duke University’s Robert Jackson, a professor of environmental sciences.

A previous Duke study on the topic was labeled by industry and heads of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as biased, irresponsible, unfathomable and just plain wrong (see Shale Daily, June 8, 2011; May 11, 2011).

MSC CEO Kathryn Klaber said everything from eyeglasses and credit cards to clocks and medicine bottles, along with summertime necessities such as fishing rods, lawn chairs and sunscreen are all created with natural gas. She added that they are “all available to us because of the work we’re doing right here in Pennsylvania to responsibly develop a resource that plays a role in the manufacturing of many goods and products. In addition to natural gas being used as a feedstock in the manufacturing process, it is also increasingly being used to build and fuel an alternative transportation infrastructure through the use of compressed and liquefied natural gas in vehicles.”

To view the new video, visit the MSC’s YouTube page.