…A study put forward by the advocacy group Damascus Citizens for Sustainability questions the economic benefits to communities that comes with gas drilling in terms of economic development.
The study, or series of reports, was performed by Headwaters Economics, a Montana-based nonprofit research group, and examined counties in the Western United States with an economic focus on oil and gas extraction and other forms of mining. It compared those counties to others of similar size (populations of 57,000 or less) that had broader-based economies.
In a summary about the prospects of using oil, gas or coal as a strategy for growth, the study reported that counties that used that strategy “under-performed” other similar counties in several important areas that impact the economy, including the incomes of workers in non-energy jobs, economic diversity and the education level of the population.
The study, which was made public in the fall of 2008, can be found at Headwaters Economics: Energy.
The study gives specific examples of how gas extraction is currently affecting two counties on Colorado’s West Slope. It says, “On the positive side, energy development on the West Slope has created new economic opportunities, reduced unemployment, spurred rapid in-migration, and raised wages for many workers. On the negative, fast growth has exacerbated inflation, housing, and commuting pressures; contributed to a growing wage and wealth gap; and made it more difficult for other industries to thrive.”…