Call it an earthquake in public opinion. A shocking Quinnipiac poll shows Ohioans favor 72% to 23% a halt to fracking, while studies are conducted on its impact. Go to www.quinnipiac.edu.
The wording of the polling question may partially explain the result, but does not seem like a classically biased question. It, however, does not use the word "moratorium" or contain any information about putting people out of work who now are employed by the Ohio oil and gas industry. Yet, I have to believe that the Youngstown earthquake has produced a seismic shift in public opinion.
The political risk in Ohio to shale development just skyrocketed.
World class operations and a credible certification process of excellent safety standards is indispensable to protecting the environment and to preventing further loss of public confidence.
The poll has mixed results. Here is a quote from the link you provided:
ReplyDelete"The economic benefits of drilling for natural gas outweigh environmental concerns, Ohio voters say 64 - 29 percent. Voters say 85 - 11 percent that drilling will create jobs in Ohio.
But voters say 72 - 23 percent stop hydro-fracking until there are further studies on its impact. Support for the shutdown is strong among all groups. Voters say 43 - 16 percent that hydro-fracking will damage the environment, with 40 percent who don't know."
These are odd results as a clear majority seems to want to do it even if there are some environmental consequences. I am not sure how they can say there is strong support for a shutdown with 43% supporting it and 40% saying they don't know. I'd venture a guess that 90% don't know but half of them think that they do know and that this is the biggest problem.
One thing that should be clear - there needs to be a better effort to educate journalists, politicians and citizens on shale gas, shale oil and fracking. Incidentally, the activity in Ohio is mainly around natural gas liquids from the Utica Shale, with lesser amounts of gas. There is very little Marcellus potential in Ohio.