Is Fracking an Anti-Poverty Program?

  |  September 25, 2013
fracking-pump

Well, that was the conclusion drawn by IHS Global Insight and reported on in the Wall Street. Their study, titled “America’s New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil & Gas Revolution and the US Economy,” received this write-up in WSJ: “…fracking added the equivalent of a cool $1,200 to real household disposable income on average in 2012.” (Um, is that figure supposed to illeviate poverty?)

“Lower costs for raw materials were passed on to consumers via lower home heating and electricity bills and lower prices for other goods and services. Wages also increased from a surge in industrial activity… Overall the industry lifted economic growth by $283 billion last year—$533 billion in 2025—and was responsible, ahem, for $74 billion in federal and state tax payments. The politicians should be doing cartwheels that the figure will rise to $138 billion in 2025.”

We always try to portray both sides of the fracking issue (as if there are only two), which is why we feel we must share with you this probably not very surprising information about the report, which comes courtesy of Media Matters: “The report, conducted by consulting group IHS CERA, was commissioned by multiple fossil fuel organizations that stand to benefit from growth in the oil and gas industry.” They go on to say that “multiple major news outlets, including Reuters, CNBC, Forbes.com, and the Los Angeles Times, covered the new report with no mention of its financial ties to the industry. The research was monetarily supported by America’s Natural Gas Alliance, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemistry Council, the Natural Gas Supply Association, and others who stand to gain economically from an unregulated increase in fracking.”

Ah, nuts. It would really help upstaters to make the tough decision — economy versus environment, which have been pitted against one another instead of working together — when it’s this hard to get clear information. This is a plea: give it to us straight so we can make up our own minds.

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