President Barack Obama just cost Ohio 200,000 jobs. The man elected on campaign promises to create jobs and make America a leader in green-energy production just pushed the United States Department of Agriculture into delaying shale gas drilling in Wayne National Forest.
The low-income region in the Hocking Hills are is filled with quality workers starved for opportunities. Gov. John Kasich laid out an aggressive plan to bolster clean-energy careers during an environmental summits just months ago. The governor's efforts, applauded by green advocacy groups, are least delayed and may possibly be denied.
The six-month delay was ordered to allow for time to study the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
There have been a multitude of oil and gas wells pumping in the forest for years without causing a harmful impact on either the environment or muscle-powered recreational opportunities.
National Forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned by the federal government and managed by the United States Forest Service
Those east of the Great Plains are primarily re-acquired or replanted forests; that is, the land had long been in the private domain but was purchased by the United States government in order to create new National Forests. In these cases, the areas of National Forest noted on most maps do not actually represent the extent of the National Forest, but only the extent of the authorized purchase zone. The actual amount of land acquired in most cases is much smaller.