State Senator Jason Rapert (R-Conway), Chairman of the Fayetteville Shale Caucus, today issued the following statement criticizing the Obama administration’s recent decision to threaten over 200,000 natural gas jobs by delaying shale exploration in Ohio:
“President Obama is again on the record in opposition to private sector jobs created by American energy. The natural gas industry has created jobs for Arkansas workers and kept our unemployment rate from going higher. I strongly urge the proponents for Arkansas’ natural gas industry to join me in denouncing this attack on workers and our nation’s efforts to become energy independent.”
Obama Administration Sides With Environmentalists Over Job Creation
“President Obama’s United States Department of Agriculture has delayed shale gas drilling in Ohio for up to six months by cancelling a mineral lease auction for Wayne National Forest (WNF). … The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) recently estimated that drilling in the Utica shale, which is affected by the suspension of the mineral lease auctions, would produce up 204,500 jobs by 2015.” (Joel Gehrke, “Obama USDA delays shale drilling, up to 200k jobs,” Washington Examiner, 11/18/11)
