LOCAL HYDROFRACKING BANS 639
$2.6 billion in additional state and local tax revenue in 2011 and
2012.^52 However, it is unclear how many of the new jobs being
created are going to Pennsylvania residents.^53 In 2008, the
Pennsylvania College of Technology indicated that between
seventy to eighty percent of the actual drill workers were not
from Pennsylvania.^54 Such reports have led to doubts about
whether hydrofracking is actually an effective source of revenue
or jobs.^55
The economic benefit for New York in particular remains
unclear. Some economists estimate that hydrofracking would
bring over 17,000 new construction jobs and almost 30,000
indirect jobs to New York.^56 Furthermore, it is predicted that
hydrofracking would cause New York’s personal income tax
revenue to increase anywhere from $31 million to $125 million
a year.^57 Landowners willing to lease or sell their land would
also benefit economically. In Pennsylvania, gas companies are
paying over $1,000 per acre, plus royalties, to landowners to
drill on their land.^58 Both the jobs and the drilling leases would
benefit some of the poorest areas of New York State where jobs
have been hard to find.^59
Opponents of hydrofracking challenge the reliability of
reports promoting the economic benefits, the prospect of viable
(^52) Id.
(^53) See TOM WILBER, UNDER THE SURFACE: FRACKING FORTUNES AND
THE FATE OF THE MARCELLUS SHALE 102 (2012) (noting the trend in out-of-
state workers employed at Pennsylvania drilling rigs).
(^54) Id.
(^55) See Jannette M. Barth, Hydrofracking Offers Short-Term Boom, Long-
Term Bust, ENR NEW YORK (Mar. 7, 2011), http://newyork.construction.com/
opinions/viewpoint/2011/0307_HydrofrackingOffers.asp (discussing studies
that have found that any positive economic impact from hydrofracking only
occurs in the short-term).
(^56) Joan Gralla, Economists Clash on Jobs Fracking Brings to NY,
REUTERS (Apr. 30, 2012), http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-
natgas-fracking-newyork-idUSBRE83T0EH20120430.
(^57) Id.
(^58) Steven Kastenbaum, Fracking in New York: Risk vs. Reward, CNN
(May 2, 2012, 2:39 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/us/new-york-
fracking/index.html.
(^59) See id.