The Human Side of Fracking

This is an interesting story about horizontal hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for oil and natural gas. New York prohibits it; Pennsylvania allows it. The focus of the story, though, is that upstate New York, although it has the same geologic formations as eastern Pennsylvania, is losing population and becoming a depressed backwater while eastern Pennsylvania is booming with new high-paying jobs, cities gaining a new tax base, and generally doing much better than the national average economically. (Ed. note - see North Dakota too). 


This is a textbook example of how politics can screw up the economy. It is also a microcosm of what the Obama Administration is doing nationally by refusing to let the Keystone XL pipeline project proceed, shutting down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, etc. Can our economy get going? Sure, but not with the current occupant of the White House or his cronies in Congress. 

finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2012/01/23/the_human_story_of_hydrofracing