99.974 Percent of Unemployed State Residents to Remain Out of Work if Fracking Moves Ahead in New York State

FoodandWaterWatch.org
November 29th, 2011

New Food & Water Watch Analysis Reveals the New York SGEIS is exaggerating the Job Creation Potential of Shale Gas Development

Washington, D.C.—As officials in New York determine whether to allow the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch today released new analysis that finds that the Cuomo administration is exaggerating the potential of shale gas development to generate jobs for New Yorkers. How New York State Exaggerated Potential Job Creation from Shale Gas Development finds that New York residents should expect a mere fraction of the jobs promised by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Food & Water Watch examined the department’s socioeconomic impact analysis and found that within its “average scenario”, New York residents can only expect 195 new jobs associated with shale gas development. This would increase to over 600 new jobs for current New Yorkers by the tenth year of shale gas development, but after this tenth year, there would be virtually no new jobs.

With over 755,000 New Yorkers unemployed as of August of 2011 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 195 new oil and gas industry jobs would create new employment opportunity for only one-fortieth of 1 percent of those who are out of work.


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Switzerland joins worldwide ban on gas fracking!

23 may 2011
naturalgasforeurope.com

Concerns relating to hydraulic fracturing may put a hold on shale gas activities in Switzerland.
In April, authorities in the Swiss Canton of Fribourg suspended all authorizations to prospect for shale gas on its territory for an undetermined period.

The cantonal government decided not to renew a license granted to Schuepbach Energy to explore for shale gas. The license, first granted in 2008, expires at the end of the year.
Schuepbach has planned drilling in 2012 in the district of Glâne, where conventional exploration had taken place in the 1970s.

The Fribourg authorities said their decision was reached based on “the impact of drilling on the environment and pollution risks have not yet been clearly identified.” They also stressed that the canton prefers to focus on renewable energies, rather than pursue the extraction of fossil fuels.
For Schuepbach, the Fribourg decision is a blow to its ambitions.

“It’s a panic reaction,” said Werner Leu, a geological consultant working for the company.
“The authorities say they want to avoid fossil fuels, but two thirds of energy needs are met by those fuels.”

“Besides, we are still at the evaluation stage and it would take a long time to get a drilling permit given the strict rules that must be followed,” said Leu.

Jan Mosar, a geologist at Fribourg University, calls the decision “courageous”, adding that searching for shale gas would just delay any response to our dependency on fossil fuels.

For Mosar, the risks of fracking are not to be underestimated. 
 “Part of the injected products filters through to other rocks, from where they can reach underground water supplies, polluting them for a long time,” he explained.

Another concern is the possibility of man-made tremors, like the ones felt in Basel in 2006 during the construction of a geothermal project. 
 
“Underground fault lines run under many parts of canton Fribourg. If a well hits one of those faults, it could generate earthquakes,” said Mosar.

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