By Lauren Bennitt,
posted on Thursday, December 15, 2011.
One million jobs will be created in the manufacturing sector by
2025 thanks to lower energy costs associated with shale gas
development. That's the finding of a National Association of
Manufacturers (NAM) study issued this week, "Shale
Gas: A Renaissance in US Manufacturing?"
NAM's predicted job growth is in addition to the 1 million jobs
tied to natural gas production in shale communities that will be
added by 2035 in the United States, according to a recent IHS
Global Insight study.
The study highlights the economic benefits of shale gas
development to the manufacturing sector. In it, NAM notes
that the shale revolution has re-oriented America's position in the
world, and that America now has the potential to be a major energy
and manufacturing exporter again. Thanks to our newfound
abundance of shale gas, manufacturers are making new investments
and expanding in ways that were thought impossible only a few short
years ago.
In 2011, 17 manufacturers reported higher demand because of
shale gas development, up from zero in 2008. Lower feedstock
and energy costs could reduce natural gas expenses for
manufacturers by as much as $11.6 billion annually through 2025,
and that will raise demand and lower prices for goods produced by
manufacturers.
Many U.S. industries have already started to take advantage of
clean, affordable shale gas. U.S.
Steel has invested $95 million in an
Ohio steel plant, creating hundreds of jobs, to meet the increased
demand from shale gas extraction activities. Formosa
Plastics plans to spend $1.5 billion on
an ethylene plant and downstream assets in Texas due to increased
shale supply.
These are just two of the many examples of manufacturers making
new investments, hiring workers and taking advantage of shale gas
that will power America into the 21st
century. We applaud NAM for this study and we raise it as
another example of how our nation's vast natural gas supply can
fuel a jobs revolution in this country.