Thought Piece

The following side by side comparisons between New York’s Southern Tier and Pennsylvania Northern Tier demonstrates that unconventional oil/hydraulic fracturing has become the center of a budding US economic renaissance, because it has several separate economic benefits: natural gas, tight oil and feed-stone, all of which cut the cost of production for all goods and services made in the US.

While New England and New York are mired in an energy recession, three contiguous states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia) have used hydraulic fracturing to significant economic effect. Anyway, the following regional comparison comes as a leading indicator for Northern Tier of Pennsylvania’s participation in shale revolution, which West Virginia and Ohio have also begun.

With state support, Ohio and WV expect substantial job growth in construction, new pipelines, petrochemical facilities, and likely natural gas power plants. These new jobs will be a prime example of economic development to much of the US, except for those states (like New York and the States of New England) who have yet to join the “Shale Gale.”

Infographic: Thanks to New York’s Fracking Ban, “Twin Tiers” Now Look More Like Distant Cousins