$6.9 million.

Lycoming County and its municipalities are yet again benefitting from the natural gas impact fee.

This year’s $6.9 million disbursement brings the total, since the fee was enacted, to about $134.5 million.

The projects on which that money has and will be spent would otherwise require county and municipal governments to dip into tax revenue — whether by diverting it from other necessary expenses or by raising taxes — or postpone or reject some of the projects altogether — projects that help improve the quality of life in our region.

Our position on the blessing that natural gas development has been for our region is no secret. We have frequently given credit to the industry and the growth and opportunities it fosters.

And as impressive as the $134.5 million sum is, it remains only a part — perhaps even a small part — of why we praise this economic bonanza.

The gas industry created sorely-needed jobs in Lycoming County and surrounding communities. The families that benefit from those jobs are able to, in turn, support other local businesses and provide our townships, boroughs and school districts with a wider tax base.

It produces a domestic source of energy that, if allowed to reach its full potential, can help wean both the United States and the World into being less dependent on sources of energy that enrich cruel dictatorships.

It produces a source of energy that emits fewer pollutants than other traditional sources of energy, while being, at this time and stage of technological development, more reliable than solar and wind. And the diversity it brings to the region’s and nation’s energy portfolio helps curtail the sort of price increases that have plagued the pocketbooks of families and employers too often over the past several years.

We should be thankful for the $6.9 million that will help our communities — and thankful for all the ways that $6.9 million is only part of the story of how Marcellus Shale development brought greater opportunity to our region.