TUNKHANNOCK -- The natural gas boom helped Tunkhannock recover quickly from the recession of 2008.
It helped Twigs Café Restaurant at the center of the Tunkhannock, thrive.
"Whether you agree with the industry or not it's really helped out a lot of the small towns and small businesses," said owner Lori Bogedin.
But in nearby Susquehanna County, the largest gas driller Cabot Oil and Gas has lowered its spending projections for the coming year.
A company spokesman blames an outdated pipeline system in our region that's already moving as much natural gas as it can handle.
"We have an abundance of natural gas here," said George Stark. "It can`t get to market, and it's lowered the price."
This week, the industry group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition is meeting near Wilkes-Barre.
The group`s chairman says every natural gas driller in Pennsylvania will be spending less on local operations.
"We've seen probably eight to nine billion dollars of planned capital expansion reduced in Pennsylvania as a result of pressure on this industry from a pricing perspective," said Coalition President David Spigelmyer.
Spigelmyer says the $8-9 billion reduction is calculated in lower production, and possibly layoffs.
Merchants in communities like Tunkhannock are concerned. Royalty checks for local landowners might be smaller. Less work might be available for local contractors for the gas companies. It all means less money spent in the community.
"Of course you don't want to see anything taken away," said Bogedin at her busy restaurant, adding most merchants in Tunkhannock who profited from the boom can ride out what appears to be a coming slump.
But she adds communities in the Marcellus Shale region should be looking for ways to lessen their dependency on gas drillers.
"The area itself has got so many resources other than the gas industry," said Bogedin.
Natural Gas Industry analysts say they don't know how long the slowdown will last.
But David Spigelmyer says a new pipeline that could transport more gas to the east coast, and create more wealth for drillers, landowners, and communities, is at least five years away.
