Economic Development 101.........

An economy that was based on (among other things) cheap energy gets a huge shot in the arm:

"Each shale well requires up to 100 tons of high-quality steel pipe; fleets of specially adapted trucks and trailers; a small hangar of earthmoving, drilling and other equipment; specialty chemicals, sands and ceramics; and some very high-end seismic and other underground imaging gear. Many of these products are now U.S. specialties."

and:

"Energy production is a good job producer, offering classic blue-collar jobs at high pay to people without college degrees. Oil and gas rig workers can pull down $100,000 annual incomes before they’re thirty. "

and:

"The current official estimate - that by 2020 or so the U.S. will surpass Saudi Arabia in oil output, and Russia in gas - remains on track, and the country will be a major global energy producer far beyond that, which will do wonders for the U.S. trade deficit."

Next assignment for the bright and creative people who brought us the horizontal drilling-fracking revolution: solve the problem of how to re-cycle the chemicalized water used to frack the wells (and, while you are at it, figure out how  to frack using less water).

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