Report: Counties In Fracking Boom Have Lost Jobs, Population

A new report casts doubt on the economic impact of natural gas production in Appalachia.

The Ohio River Valley Institute has been tracking the natural gas industry since the beginning of the fracking boom nearly two decades ago.

While fracking has increased GDP in 30 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the Institute has found that overall, the number of jobs has declined in those counties, and so has the population.

Sean O’Leary, one of the report’s authors, calls the region Frackalachia.

“The Frackalachian counties are actually drags economically on the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia,” he said.

The gas industry has been promoted by state and local officials as a driver of economic growth. In recent years, that’s included an expansion of gas-fired power plants and data centers.

Still, the report points out that those facilities employ very few people permanently.

Of the 11 West Virginia counties the report examined, only one – Monongalia – saw growth in jobs, income and population since 2008. That may be attributable to another economic engine, West Virginia University, its authors say.

Read the report here.