Keystone State vs. Empire State

This morning's Wall Street Journal compares Pennsylvania's approach to shale gas extraction to New York's.

Politicians wringing their hands over how to create more jobs might study the shale boom along the New York and Pennsylvania border. It's a case study in one state embracing economic opportunity, while the other has let environmental politics trump development.

The Journal reviews the benefits the citizens of the commonwealth to our south have been reaping from hydrofracking, and points out that PA has created a structure that encourages safe drilling.  

Then there's New York. The state holds as much as 20% of the estimated Marcellus shale reserves, but green activists have raised fears about the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing and convinced politicians to enact what is effectively a moratorium.

The Manhattan Institute study shows that a quick end to the moratorium would generate more than $11.4 billion in economic output from 2011 to 2020, 15,000 to 18,000 new jobs, and $1.4 billion in new state and local tax revenue. These are conservative estimates based on a limited area of drilling. If drilling were allowed in the New York City watershed—which Governor Andrew Cuomo is so far rejecting—as well as in the state's Utica shale formation, the economic gains would be five times larger...

Such bows toward the obsessions of rich, big-city greens explain why parts of upstate New York are the new Appalachia.

Don't worry, Cuomo has a plan to "create jobs" for your kids. 

"Yes, we work with cities. Yes, we work with towns," Cuomo said. "But the economy works or doesn't work in a regional context. Economically, there are regions."

Cuomo said the makeup of 10 geographic regions across the state, as well as councils to guide their individual development strategies, would be announced "in the coming days."

Those regions will put together a consolidated "mega-application" to compete for $130 million from the Empire State Development Corp. and additional grants offered by other state programs, rather than having to develop separate applications for each funding source.

Bold added.  If Cuomo's gibberish makes any sense to you, please help us out by explaining in the comments section.