Business Council statement on high volume hydraulic fracturing and employment

ALBANY, NY (11/21/2013)(readMedia)-- "Nothing has transformed the rural economies of Marcellus Shale states like natural gas drilling.

"Viewing job creation data on a statewide basis ignores the localized job creation benefit that drilling provides. The Public Policy Institute of New York State compared five Marcellus Shale counties in Pennsylvania with five Marcellus Shale counties in New York between 2009 and 2010 and found private sector employment grew.

"In the five-county Pennsylvania region encompassing McKean, Potter, Susquehanna, Bradford and Tioga, private sector employment grew by 4.7 percent, or 2,425 jobs, while average private sector employment in the five-county New York region Allegany, Steuben, Chemung, Tioga and Broome fell by -0.3 percent, a loss of 389 jobs.

"Clearly a few hundred new natural gas jobs would make a huge difference in parts of New York state where there has been negative new job growth, reversing this negative trend."

- Darren Suarez, director of government affairs, The Business Council of New York State, Inc.