"The 22 counties that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas lost a combined 10,339 jobs between 2008 and 2021."
"PITTSBURGH — The largest natural gas-producing counties in Appalachia have had worse economic outcomes than the rest of the region and the nation since the start of the region’s fracking boom, according to a new report.
In the early days of the Marcellus Shale boom, the natural gas industry and policymakers promised that the industry would bring economic prosperity, including hundreds of thousands of new jobs and downstream businesses to the region, which has long been plagued by a lack of jobs and dwindling populations. The Marcellus Shale spreads across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky.
The report, conducted by the progressive think tank Ohio River Valley Institute, found that the 22 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia that produce 90% of Appalachian natural gas actually lost a combined 10,339 jobs and 47,652 residents between 2008 and 2021. Income growth in these counties also trailed growth for the combined states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia by 4 percentage points, and the U.S. as a whole by 16 percentage points, according to the report."
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