Big Green Carpetbagging: Environmental Foundations' Out-of-State Spending

The fact that the shale revolution has saved Americans $74 billion per year and has made the U.S. the top oil producer in the world is, to put it mildly, a big deal. Even more important, however, is the fact that hydraulic fracturing has transformed and continues to transformed the lives of millions of underserved Americans. While people and opportunities are moving from rural America and towards the largest cities, it is primarily in the places left behind that the oil and gas industry will be creating 3.5 million jobs and contributing more than a trillion dollars in state and local taxes over the next twenty years. We have already seen miraculous revitalizations of towns in the Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico as well as the Marcellus Formation in northern Appalachia--sparking further benefits, such as China's $84 billion investment in West Virginia.