Pa. must strive to maintain strong energy policies

The Feb. 11 article “Shale Gas Boom Counties Saw Little Growth,” failed to tell the true story of the natural gas renaissance in Western Pennsylvania.

Selectively comparing a handful of counties in our state to the country as a whole, as this study does, is brazen misrepresentation of the fossil fuel industry’s contributions to our state.

In fact, Pennsylvania’s energy sector is a major boon to our state’s economy. Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has generated almost $44.5 billion in economic impact — boosting manufacturing, logistics, banking and construction among dozens of other economic sectors. These impacts equate to jobs. It is estimated that more than 339,000 Pennsylvania jobs are connected to thestate’s energy development industry. Energy producing counties in Pennsylvania actually exceeded the state average in personal income and GDP growth during the study time period. This hardly supports the argument that the industry failed to contribute to “broadly shared well-being.”

The article also fails to mention the additional tax revenues supported by the natural gas industry. Since 2012, nearly $2 billion in new revenue has been generated from the impact tax. This tax revenue has gone directly into local communities where drilling occurs, and supports for environmental, highway, water and sewer projects, rehabilitation of greenways in Pennsylvania.

Instead of entertaining dubious reports brimming with motivated reasoning from the Ohio River Valley Institute, Pennsylvania must strive to maintain the strong energy policies that have brought our state prosperity.