Can major new investments in American oil, gas and coal production send our economy soaring?
President Barack Obama seems to think so. He forecasts sunny job growth in the natural gas sector, in particular. Natural gas jobs could number as many as 600,000 by decade’s end, the president proclaimed in his 2012 State of the Union.
That news may come as a surprise to shale drillers in parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Several companies plan to extract less gas in 2012 than in 2011.
