This is not 1962 and this is not a re-run of the television show “The Beverly Hillbillies,” but currently there are many people in West Virginia who are becoming millionaires overnight due to Marcellus Shale. With local government officials allowing oil & natural gas companies to lease property and drill for natural gas from some Marshall County residents, there have been reports that compensation has been as much as $60,000 per month.
While West Virginia residents are able to cash in on their property’s natural resources due to local officials acknowledging the economic stimulus it would create (and has created), it seems the New York Assembly should watch a re-run of “The Beverly Hillbillies” and return to their country roots before the Senate votes and places a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. Contemplating this restriction is especially concerning when only 16 states in America have the ability to tap into the valuable commodity.
During a time when Americans can’t find jobs, put food on the table, afford vacations, or fill up their gas tanks; it seems very wasteful that government officials in New York would even consider not allowing residents to lease their own land to companies that are willing to pay top dollar for it. Particularly noteworthy, as EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson admitted, there has not been a “proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water.” Resisting the safe and lucrative procedure is only going to hurt its economy – a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing would cost 4,500 New Yorkers their livelihood.
Keep in mind New York, that your state’s unemployment rate is at 7.7% and you can afford a lesson from “The Beverly Hillbillies”… come and listen to a story about a state named West Virginia…who can now keep their families fed.
