An interesting opinion piece from the left leaning NY Post......with this kind of sentiment it seems more and more likely that fracking is a matter of if and not when. Reading between the lines, when the Democratically biased press starts singling out bureaucrats by name (Joe Martens) their days are numbered.
Gov needs will to drill Time to get cracking on fracking
Last Updated: 1:03 AM, May 2, 2012
Posted: 11:35 PM, May 1, 2012 Michael Benjamin
Roustabout may become the next hot job in New York — with modern versions of scenes from classics like “Giant” and “There Will Be Blood” coming to life across the Southern Tier.
If the Department of Environmental Conservation ever makes good on Gov. Cuomo’s promises and produces reasonable regulations on fracking, shale-gas wells and pipeline projects will need hundreds of roustabouts.
The median salary for the job is $38,000 annually — higher with experience. With a high-school diploma, an entry-level gas-field roustabout starts at an average of $22,000 a year.
Plus, fracking means thousands of other jobs, too — jobs New York needs to get out of its economic doldrums.
Unemployment stands at 8.7 percent statewide, and 9.8 percent in the city; in Southern Tier counties, it averages 8.9 percent.
Nationwide, jobs in the oil and gas industry are projected to grow 6.4 percent by 2016. Demand will grow for geologists, engineers, administrative assistants, sales and marketing reps, financial analysts, fleet mechanics, truck drivers, heavy-equipment operators, machinists and pipefitters.
At a recent Binghamton gas-industry jobs fair, attendees learned of opportunities for wetland and wildlife specialists, truck drivers, pipe suppliers and software engineers.
But “fracking” means “hope” for people here in the city, too — people such as my Brooklyn friend Ray Lewandowski — an ex-offender, single parent and commercial trucker who deserves this second chance.
There were jobs for those who test our water, treat and transport wastewater and keep gas-well operators honest.
Gas companies pay for road improvements, too — creating opportunities for small businesses, including minority- and woman-owned firms.
Decades of economic distress have left counties unable to upgrade many Southern Tier rural roads. Just across the border in Pennsylvania, gas companies are paying for the work, saving local governments millions of dollars.
Yes, a boom also attracts those looking to make a dishonest buck. But local law enforcement will be prepared to handle upticks in crime.
And the DEC’s Division of Law Enforcement already screens and licenses applicants for waste-transport and other permits under its “bad actors” provision. It can deny permits to unscrupulous operators or those suspected of organized crime ties.
Safety concerns? Fracking is under way across the country, with nothing remotely like the problems that critics claim it would bring here in New York. The Obama administration has endorsed it — it’s the main reason US energy production is up under this president.
The choice for New York is between well-regulated gas drilling and extraction, and thousands of good new jobs — or nothing.
So far, it’s been “nothing”; DEC Commissioner Joe Martens keeps finding reasons to delay.
Commerce opened up Western New York in the 1830s. Gov. DeWitt Clinton was ridiculed for his Erie Canal plan, but he understood that prosperity required bold action.
The next time Gov. Cuomo walks through the Hall of Governors, he should pause in front of Clinton’s portrait and commit to following his example.
Our state needs this. Fracking means an economic stimulus capable of generating thousands of good-paying jobs, plus millions of dollars in added government revenues. It could mean the success of Cuomo’s approach to leaner, smarter government.
Instead, the governor has allowed the anti-fracking crowd to seize the initiative here in New York.
It’s past time for Gov. Cuomo to join President Obama’s jobs agenda — and put New Yorkers to work in our untapped gas fields.
(20min delay)