Hydraulic Fracturing, Marcellus Shale, and the Media Are Subject of Sept. 17 Lecture at Pitt

PITTSBURGH—Journalist and author Tom Wilber has had a front row seat to watch the rush to develop the Marcellus and Utica shales in Pennsylvania and New York, respectively. He will share his observations during a lecture, “Gas Rush: A Reporter’s Perspective,” at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17, in 3911 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. 

The lecture is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and the University Center for Social and Urban Research.

With more than 20 years in the newspaper business, including 17 years with the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Wilber has covered the business, health, and environment beats. He has reported on shale gas development in New York and Pennsylvania since 2008. He was among the first reporters to provide daily coverage of events and controversies stemming from hydraulic fracking in Dimock, Pa.—coverage that earned him top honors in the Best of Gannett beat reporting category in 2010.

Wilber left the newspaper business in 2010 to write full time about shale gas development. The resulting book, Under the Surface, Fracking Fortunes and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale, was published this spring by Cornell University Press.

Additional information is available by calling or emailing Harold Aughton, GSPIA communication director, 412-648-7598 or haa25@pitt.edu.

###

9/13/12/mab/jer