Fracking: Bane or Boom for Pennsylvania?

Well, I guess it didn't take me long to get back to the fracking issue.  The link below is from an article about the fracking industry in, and around, Williamsport, PA; the former "lumber capital of the world" and current "gas capital of Pennsylvania."  Here are some of the highlights:

     "It's transformed our community," said Vincent Matteo, president of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce. "We went from an economy that was holding steady to one that literally is booming."

But a visit to northern Pennsylvania lays bare the problems associated with the huge influx of money and well-paid workers. Two-lane country roads and village streets are clogged with a startling number of gas-industry trucks. Environmental and land-use complaints are common. Crime and social service costs have gone up. Soaring rents have displaced many people of modest income.

     Churches in Pennsylvania's largely rural Tioga County, south of Corning, have begun sheltering homeless families with nowhere else to turn.

     Incessant truck traffic, noise, pollution, elevated crime rate, homeless residents...way to go, Mr. Matteo.   It sounds like fracking has made Williamsport into a great place to live.  But at least the gas workers have nice, new cars and the breakfast counter at the diner is making money hand over fist.  Maybe next year (if you don't build a gas well in the field) you can start the first Halliburton Little League World Series?

Get ready, New York.  If you're not careful, soon all of these benefits will be yours.  No one will want to visit your marred countryside or fish your bromide-laced rivers and streams.  But if you manage to land one of those gas jobs, you'll be able to afford to have your drinking water trucked in.  What a world we're creating.

Read the rest of the article here, and make sure you watch the video at the top of the page:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111218/NEWS01/112180344