A Ban on Fracking Would Destroy Pennsylvania’s Economy

February 26, 2020

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an op-ed written by Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai. In the midst of Democratic presidential candidates pushing their radical environmental policies, nearly all of which include a ban on fracking, Turzai took the time to remind them of what this would mean for his home state.

An extremist policy advocated by many Democratic presidential candidates — banning fracking — would cripple Pennsylvania’s economy and leave hundreds of thousands of families destitute.

This fact has even been acknowledged by left-leaning state representatives, like Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who recently said to the New York Times, “In Pennsylvania, you’re talking hundreds of thousands of related jobs that would be — they would be unemployed overnight.” Still, Democratic presidential candidates don’t seem concerned about the economic well-being of the all-important swing state.

One 2017 study found that, in Pennsylvania, 322,000 jobs were supported by the oil and natural gas industry, providing nearly $23 billion in wages and contributing more than $44 billion in economic activity. Energy costs in the state have also dropped significantly thanks to fracking. In the past ten years, there has been an estimated total savings of about $3 billion per year for the more than 2.5 million Pennsylvania households that use natural gas for heating.

The people of Pennsylvania have an important decision to make in the upcoming election. The Democratic candidates are making the choice incredibly easy: We can either extend the ongoing era of prosperity for another four years or vote for a political party that will sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania workers.

If you have any doubts about how important fracking is to Pennsylvania, just look across the border to see what a ban on fracking has done for New York: New York’s Buried Opportunity: Cuomo’s Policy Prevents Prosperity While Pennsylvanians Flourish.