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Residents of our region were told 15 years ago to get excited. A new oil and gas boom was on its way. But we'd heard it before. Most reasonable people took a wait-and-see approach. A new report by the Ohio River Valley Institute -- based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data -- suggests that approach was correct.
According to the Ohio Capital Journal, the report examined natural gas output statistics and economic outcomes in 22 counties that were responsible for 90% of Appalachian gas production. Ohio counties included in the study were Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey, Noble and Monroe.
Bear in mind, the study was authored by an organization that refers to those 22 counties as "Frackalachia." But the numbers showed that since 2008, gas production has "deteriorated" and growth has gone from "meager" gains in 2008 to "an absolute decline," the Capital Journal reported.
"… These findings present a unique and troubling challenge to northern Appalachian policymakers and to all of us who care about the economic wellbeing of a place that has suffered mightily since the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s," report author Sean O'Leary wrote. Those policymakers must bear in mind two things: some families are better off now than they were before the most recent "boom," and there is no way to know how much worse things might have gotten for the region if there had NOT been oil and gas activity.
With that considered, it is important to look at the data and understand perhaps oil and gas companies were not the saviors for our region they said they were going to be. That means only that it is up to our policymakers to attract new employers who will diversify and strengthen the region's economy.