If you listen to the propaganda from the extreme environmentalists who oppose the use of any fossil fuel, fracking and the resulting production of natural gas is a terrible thing. These extremists tell us that the only reason why fracking is done is to feed the obscene profits of the huge and evil oil/gas companies. We are also told that fracking has resulted in massive pollution of water aquifers whenever it has been undertaken.
All of this is false, and it is worth looking at the real facts to get a sense of just what fracking and natural gas actually mean. To do this, I want to focus on the state of Pennsylvania. Ten years ago, essentially no natural gas was produced in the Keystone State. Then came fracking and the start of production in the Marcellus Shale which underlies much of the state. The boom in gas production in Pennsylvania is so great that the state is now the second largest producer of natural gas after only Texas (and it may catch an pass Texas before too long). Was this just to enrich evil oil companies? That would certainly be a hard claim to make. On average, one eighth of the revenues from the natural gas produced goes to the folks who own the land where the gas comes from. That means that in the last year about two billion dollars has gone to farmers and other landowners across much of rural Pennsylvania. This flow of cash has enabled hundreds of thousands of families to raise their standard of living in dramatic fashion. In fact, the effect of this natural gas production has probably been the single biggest cause of raising the income of a large group in America over the last few years.
Then you have all the jobs that the gas production in Pennsylvania has created. Right now, the latest estimate is that there are roughly 120,000 additional jobs in Pennsylvania because of the local gas production. That is enough jobs to cut the unemployment rate in the state by about 2.5%. Once again, this is a major source of income for the middle income groups in the state.
On top of this you have the taxes gained by the state from all of this gas production and the resulting economic activity. One estimate is that the net increase in revenue for the state is about half a billion dollars per year. Just think what is done with that money. Of course, there is also a massive amount of money paid to the federal government, but we are trying to focus just on the state of Pennsylvania so we will not discuss that in detail.
But what of the terrible costs from the pollution of ground water resulting from the fracking. Here's where it gets really surprising. Both the EPA and the state environmental department investigated complaints about the supposed contamination and determined that there is no evidence at all that any contamination exists. Now before you tell me about the scene in the movie "Gasland" where someone lights tap water on fire, let me add that both EPA and the state found that there were some area where aquifers had naturally been infiltrated with natural gas. It was in these areas where the gas got into the water naturally where the Gasland scene was filmed.
The truth is that natural gas drilling has been a major benefit to Pennsylvania and its residents. There is more traffic in certain areas due to increased economic activity; that is certainly true. Other than that traffic, however, the effects have all been good.
All of this is false, and it is worth looking at the real facts to get a sense of just what fracking and natural gas actually mean. To do this, I want to focus on the state of Pennsylvania. Ten years ago, essentially no natural gas was produced in the Keystone State. Then came fracking and the start of production in the Marcellus Shale which underlies much of the state. The boom in gas production in Pennsylvania is so great that the state is now the second largest producer of natural gas after only Texas (and it may catch an pass Texas before too long). Was this just to enrich evil oil companies? That would certainly be a hard claim to make. On average, one eighth of the revenues from the natural gas produced goes to the folks who own the land where the gas comes from. That means that in the last year about two billion dollars has gone to farmers and other landowners across much of rural Pennsylvania. This flow of cash has enabled hundreds of thousands of families to raise their standard of living in dramatic fashion. In fact, the effect of this natural gas production has probably been the single biggest cause of raising the income of a large group in America over the last few years.
Then you have all the jobs that the gas production in Pennsylvania has created. Right now, the latest estimate is that there are roughly 120,000 additional jobs in Pennsylvania because of the local gas production. That is enough jobs to cut the unemployment rate in the state by about 2.5%. Once again, this is a major source of income for the middle income groups in the state.
On top of this you have the taxes gained by the state from all of this gas production and the resulting economic activity. One estimate is that the net increase in revenue for the state is about half a billion dollars per year. Just think what is done with that money. Of course, there is also a massive amount of money paid to the federal government, but we are trying to focus just on the state of Pennsylvania so we will not discuss that in detail.
But what of the terrible costs from the pollution of ground water resulting from the fracking. Here's where it gets really surprising. Both the EPA and the state environmental department investigated complaints about the supposed contamination and determined that there is no evidence at all that any contamination exists. Now before you tell me about the scene in the movie "Gasland" where someone lights tap water on fire, let me add that both EPA and the state found that there were some area where aquifers had naturally been infiltrated with natural gas. It was in these areas where the gas got into the water naturally where the Gasland scene was filmed.
The truth is that natural gas drilling has been a major benefit to Pennsylvania and its residents. There is more traffic in certain areas due to increased economic activity; that is certainly true. Other than that traffic, however, the effects have all been good.
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