Economic Effect of Fracking

Here’s a link to an article from the Wall Street Journal (link goes to a Google search page, as that’s a simple way to get around WSJs paywall) about the infrastructure that is being put in place to handle some of the gas that the United States is producing.  This piece deals with what’s going on in Louisiana.  But large projects are needed in other locations as well.  Putting something as large as a 7000 acre plant in West Virginia would be a challenge due to the hilly nature of our state, but smaller projects could be and are being undertaken.  This is the kind of thing West Virginia could really benefit from.  A large percentage of the minerals under West Virginia topsoil are held by out-of-state owners, meaning that royalty payments won’t be paid to West Virginians in a lot of cases.  We need to make up for that missing royalty money from surface rights, oilfield and service industry jobs, taxes, and industrial development.