Polls continue to show Pa. voters ambivalent over fracking

When voters were asked about support for specific environmental protections, 90% supported expanding setbacks from schools and hospitals, while 92% wanted increased air monitoring at fracking sites and 94% wanted greater disclosure of fracking chemicals.

“[Residents] are forced to do a calculus,” said Sean O’Leary, a senior researcher at the institute. “There are some bad things going on. But we believe that it’s important for jobs. And so how do we deal with that? And the answer is that they will, on the one hand, acknowledge that they think fracking is an economic contributor, while at the same time still being unhappy about the damage that it’s doing in their communities.”

O’Leary said the poll shows voters in both parties overwhelmingly back environmental protections.

“Support for taking mitigating measures like regulation and enforcement is strong among all populations that we surveyed,” O’Leary said, “from Democrats and environmentalists on the left to hardcore Republicans on the right.”

O’Leary said the perception of economic benefits is overblown and points to his research at the ORVI that shows otherwise.

“First of all, the natural gas industry is among the major economic sectors in the U.S. economy,” he said. “It is the least jobs intensive, only about $0.08 out of every dollar that the industry earns or that’s invested in the industry goes to support labor jobs. And so there aren’t very many jobs to begin with.”

Pennsylvania currently has about 17,000 direct jobs in the industry, although an industry report has put that number at 123,000.