Food & Water Watch Analyses Show Oil and Gas Industry Is Inflating the Job-Creating Potential of Shale Gas Development by as Much as 900 Percent

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Major oil and gas interests are spending millions to convince Americans that they can lift us from our economic slump in part by fracking our nation's shale gas reserves. But a new set of analyses released today by the national consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch finds that the oil and gas industry is exaggerating the job-creating potential of shale gas development, in one case by 900 percent.

"The industry has exploited our economic woes to promote shale gas, yet actual employment data shows that it is not a cure-all for our nation's economic challenges; the money to be made from shale gas development will mostly just benefit oil and gas executives," said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter.

A 2011 report by the Public Policy Institute of New York State (PPINYS) claimed that by 2018, developing 500 new shale gas wells each year in five counties in New York would create 62,620 jobs. Food & Water Watch closely examined the PPINYS report and found the economic forecasting model it used actually only supported a claim of 6,656 jobs—one-tenth the PPINYS projection. Even the corrected PPINYS jobs projection is overly optimistic because it fails to account for negative effects that shale gas development would have on other key parts of the economy, such as agriculture and tourism.

The analysis also examines actual government employment data, revealing that opening up five counties in the southern tier of New York to shale gas development can be expected to generate a net gain in employment of only about 2 jobs per well. This is in stark contrast to the forecast of 125 jobs per well in the PPINYS report. According to Food & Water Watch, an employment gain of just 2 jobs per shale gas well does not justify the inevitable costs to public health, public infrastructure and the environment that the industry would bring to New York.

Title is available here:
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/reports/exposing-the-oil-and-gas-industrys-false-jobs-promise.

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable, and that the government is doing its job to protect citizens and their shared resources.

SOURCE Food & Water Watch