As I highlighted last week, President Obama’s visit to Scranton last week presented an opportunity to discuss the benefits of expanded natural gas production and drilling in the region.
On top of that, he was hosted by Lackawanna College – an institution that has embraced the growing natural gas industry and has remolded its own curriculum to meet the workforce needs in the area. The college recently invested over $750,000 to create the School of Petroleum & Natural Gas in New Milford and to give its students the experience required to secure a job in the natural gas industry.
The President, while recognizing a worthy institution, missed a great opportunity to link his education innovation theme directly to Lackawanna College and our natural gas energy future. President Obama explained that educational institutions should provide a life skill that will allow its graduates to make a life-sustaining wage and not bury them under debt without an end in sight.
I believe strongly that the School of Petroleum & Natural Gas is the epitome of what the President was talking about in providing a solid education that will in turn help graduates gain employment in their career field and pay down any costs occurred from their college education. With the school’s associates degree in petroleum and natural gas technology, the college and its students — which are being placed into natural gas industry jobs at a rate of 90% — underscore the type of leadership and job creation strategies that President is trying to promote.

And as the natural gas industry grows, it continues to have a positive impact on the economy around it: spurring job growth in other sectors such as manufacturing. The Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal recently wrote an article about companies in the Scranton area and how they have been positively impacted by the growth of this industry.
All of us at Cabot are proud to produce clean burning, affordable natural gas from right under our feet. And we are even more proud of the thousands of jobs that we are creating for future generations.

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George is the Director of External Affairs at Coterra Energy. He is responsible for managing all public relations, community outreach, advertising, and political affairs for the company.

Prior to working with Coterra Energy, George held numerous public policy, public relations, and governmental affairs positions in both Pennsylvania and Maryland. George graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania with a degree in Political Science.