Marcellus Shale gas boom means more … mulch?

Atop a mountain of wood chips, Eric Vaccarello pointed down at the newest arrival to his sprawling plant. A dump truck, stacked full with junked wooden pallets, rolled up to one of the several chippers on site.

All of that, said Mr. Vaccarallo, gesturing toward the spraying wood chips, will be made into a product.

Mr. Vaccarello has worked for two decades to develop more convenient ways to reuse wood waste such as trees, downed branches or other trashed products that would otherwise be burned or left to rot. In the late 1990s, he started two companies: one that specializes in land clearing, and one that cuts up and recycles wood waste.

But its been in the last five years during the boom in Marcellus Shale gas productionthat his business has taken off. His employees have gone from 25 to 100. His processing site in North Fayette has expanded to fill all 35acresof land he owns alongside Route 22.And the mounds of clay-red, light brown and black mulch have swelled so much he drives his pickup truck to the top for fun.

The impact of increased natural gas production in the region has rippled out to local businesses such as restaurants, gas stations and rental homes.

Mr. Vaccarellos ventures which includethetwo companies, Land Clearing Specialists Inc. and Wood Waste Recycling, as well as a recent start-up,Absolute Reclamation Services are positioned for a windfall because they can help advance gas production while promoting environmentally friendly practices, he said.

For starters, he provides services to cover the three steps necessary to recycle a patch of land. Trees and shrubbery cleared by the land clearing specialists feed the wood waste recycling business, which then provides the site remediation service with mulch and other products to reclaim the land.

He employs this process to prepare drilling sites for clients such as Consol Energy, Range Resources and MarkWest Energy Partners Inc. histhree biggest clients in the gas industry. Last week at the Pittsburgh International Airport, one of his teams had begun clearing way for another drilling pad for Consol, while another seeded and mulched at a finished site.

About half of the 600 total jobs finished by his land clearing company in the last year came from the gas industry and mostly involveddrilling sites that are usually about 15 acres and take two weeks to clear.

Butas he also works with railroad companies to make way for additional tracks and with housing companies to clear for more homes,Mr. Vaccarellocontends that he has seen firsthand how shale development has reached intosupporting industries.

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Marcellus Shale gas boom means more ... mulch?