The natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is a type of fossil fuel, like coal and oil. While coal is formed from
the concentration of fossilized land plant material, oil and gas are formed by the concentration of vast numbers
of tiny, ocean-dwelling organisms like zooplankton, phytoplankton and algae. In all cases, organic tissues
become fossil fuels because they were buried by sediment before they decomposed. Over long periods of time,
the trapped carbon compounds from the organic material were subjected to heat and pressure, creating coal, oil,
or natural gas