US Chamber: Without Shale, Ohio & Pa. Would Have Lost Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs and Billions in GDP
Thursday September 22, 2016
A new report released today from the US Chamber of Commerce entitled “What if America’s Energy Renaissance Never Actually Happened?” outlines the huge impact shale development has had on the United States, and particularly in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The report finds that without our energy renaissance, the United States would have lost 4.3 million jobs and $548 billion in annual GDP.
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and more specifically the “Rust Belt,” would have been hit extremely hard over the past few years. In fact, Pennsylvania and Ohio alone would have lost 232,400, $22.9 billion in state GDP and $13 billion in labor income annually without shale development. From the report:
“The impact the energy renaissance has had (and continues to have) on Pennsylvania’s economy is difficult to overstate. These figures account both for the losses that would have been experienced by the oil and gas industry under such a scenario, and the significant energy cost savings from which both residential and industrial energy users in Ohio benefited.”
Ohio’s Lt. Governor Mary Taylor and U.S. Representative Bill Johnson explained the significance of report, which shows the impact of what a ban on fossil fuels – the goal of the Keep It In The Ground campaign – would do. As Lt. Governor Taylor today said in a press call today:
“The timing of this report is perfect, as it highlights the positive impact of this industry and reveals the transformational effects on Ohio’s economy. As importantly, the report highlights what our country and specifically what Ohio would look like had policies been enacted that prevented the energy revolution. The policies which would have undermined our energy resurgence would have been misguided and counterproductive. In Ohio, we’ve shown how to protect Ohioans and balance important regulations while advancing the economic impact of the industry.”
Rep. Johnson, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also offered the following remarks:
“The bottom line is this: The energy renaissance that has happened in the Marcellus and the Utica shale—that is what has brought O...