Video: “How Appalachia’s shale gas boom became an economic bust,” by Ohio River Valley Institute.
Over the past decade, many communities, especially impoverished rural communities in Appalachia, have been pitched the idea that extracting natural gas would be the solution to their economic problems. Vast amounts of gas were indeed extracted. But a new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute shows that the benefits did not flow to local communities. See “Fracking Counties Economic Impact Report.”
The report found that:
“Contrary to the predictions of the oil and natural gas industry, which a decade ago published economic impact studies saying the expected boom in natural gas production would give rise to over 450,000 new jobs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show that jobs in the 22 counties crept up by a paltry 1.6% while nationally the number of jobs grew by 9.9%.”
- Report: Shale gas boom counties saw little growth in local jobs, income – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- The report is from the Ohio River Valley Institute, which tweeted an animated video summarizing the report.