Can our poor region really afford to say no to 'fracking'?

Last Thursday, we had an interesting juxtaposition of news stories in our paper. On one page, we reported that a 2010 "Dateline NBC" special report on poverty in Athens County had won an Emmy award. In another part of the paper, we reported on local environmentalists beseeching Athens City Council to ban "fracking" for oil and gas in our city.

The separate appearance of these two stories is interesting in that one could make an evidence-based argument that the grinding poverty in southeast Ohio, as reported by "Dateline," could be greatly alleviated by the jobs and economic activity resulting from an oil and gas boom in our area.

But yet, the environmental idealists (or ideologues if one wants to be cynical about it) speaking before Athens City Council seem blind to the fact that the boom in horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the United States has provided a significant economic boost to areas that in recent decades have suffered from high unemployment and poverty.

A letter to the editor last Thursday in The Athens NEWS, written by one of the environmentalists at the City Council meeting, captured this disconnect:

The young woman, an OU student, wrote, "But what I've never read, nor heard through the numerous conversations I've had with people who are actually dealing with fracking in their community, is a single positive story about a fracking operation. Not one."

Yet, study after study confirms that the ongoing boom in oil and gas development in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, enabled by state-of-the-art fracking technology, has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and injected billions into hard-pressed local and state economies. A report issued this summer by Penn State University researchers found that the number of jobs supported by the gas industry in Pennsylvania likely will reach 156,000 this year, up from 140,000 in 2010 and 60,000 in 2009. The report (funded by an industry group) found that spending on gas production went from $3.2 billion in 2008 to $12.7 billion this year.

Another report, issued by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, reported in June that ending New York State's moratorium on shale-gas drilling would result in $11.4 billion in economic output and $1.4 billion in tax revenues in that state; $4 million in economic benefits but only $14,000 in economic damages from environmental impacts from each well; and the creation of 75,000 to 90,000 jobs.

In the report, author, University of Wyoming professor Timothy J. Considine, "carefully reviewed the public records of environmental violations reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the period 2008-10 and found that the probability of an environmental event is small and that those that do occur are minor and localized in their effects."

In Ohio, a Cleveland-based consulting firm, under hire by the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program, last week issued a report predicting that more than 200,000 jobs will be created in our state over the next five years, in addition to pumping $22 billion into the state's economy, over and above $12 billion in employee wages. The report also predicted $478.8 million in tax revenues from oil and gas development between now and 2015.

I'M SURE THAT CRITICS of hydraulic fracking, reading all these predictions of past, present and future economic windfalls from the oil and gas boom, are chomping at the bit to point out that these reports are compiled by industry sympathetic academics and foundations, working at the behest of the oil and gas industry. They'd like to point out that all of these reports assiduously avoid mentioning documented instances of fracking ruining nearby residential and agricultural water supplies.

They have a point.

If you have any doubt about the lengths to which the oil and gas industry will put the best face on their industry, sit in front of your TV for a while. Especially on the news stations such as CNN and FOX, you'll see a never-ending parade of slickly produced propaganda commercials promoting the benefits of oil and gas development.

WHATEVER YOUR TAKEAWAY from this issue, hopefully we can agree that it's not black and white. The eternal jobs vs. the environment issue has never been simple, and it becomes even thornier in the desperate economic climate of southeast Ohio. 

Yet, here in Athens, it is simple. Cartoon simple. Fracking is an evil earth-destroying technology with absolutely no benefits and shouldn't be allowed anywhere, anytime. Or else, as stated at the local Republican Party's fall dinner last Thursday, anyone who doubts the benefits of fracking is a misinformed "environmental crazy" (thanks for the quote, Pete Couladis).

I wouldn't call the kneejerk critics of natural gas and oil fracking "crazy," though I do question how our local progressives can so easily dismiss the economic potential of the natural gas boom that's happened elsewhere, a boom that they themselves predict will happen here (probably incorrectly, but more on that later).

It reminds me of the year before Walmart came to Athens, when local protesters fought fiercely to keep the low-cost mega-chain out of our community. While there were good reasons to oppose Walmart, it was troubling to see well-intended progressives so easily ignore the obvious benefit to the less prosperous in our benighted region – having a place to buy inexpensive food and clothing.

In this hard-bitten corner of Appalachia, among the poorest in this nation, environmentalists should be prepared to provide a compelling explanation for why we should reject the potential for thousands of jobs and millions of dollars pumped into our local economy.

Even if the natural gas industry is grossly exaggerating the potential economic benefits – even if those jobs and billions of dollars are only a third of what they're projecting – that would still go a long way toward alleviating area poverty.

Local environmentalists and citizens concerned about the potential environmental impacts, rather than shouting down hydraulic fracturing in absolutist terms, would honor their cause, respect the special needs of our Appalachian region, and raise their own credibility if they instead pushed for stiffer regulation.

The Ohio agencies charged with protecting our water and natural resources seem way too cozy with the industry they're trying to regulate. (Check out the links on shale development on the ODNR Division of Resources Management and Ohio EPA websites; you wouldn't find a more sympathetic approach to the topic if you went straight to Chesapeake Energy's website.)

Lord knows, the oil and gas industry stands to make enough money over this fracking boom where they can afford to do more and pay more to protect local water supplies. That being the case, lobby the state to force them to do it.

FINALLY, AND SORRY FOR waiting 1,100 words to say it, but this whole angry debate may be moot when it comes to Athens County. The shale layers that hold oil and gas in this area are so deep and unexplored that the price of these fossil fuels will need to get a lot higher before companies are likely to risk going for it. That's why you haven't seen the $2,000 per acre lease offers around here that are common up in eastern Ohio.