For Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, the benefits of the oil and gas boom in his state can be summed up by a bumper sticker he spied on a pickup truck— ‘American energy, American jobs.’ Except, he thinks it should read ‘Pennsylvania energy, Pennsylvania jobs.’

“I want to be clear about something because there seems to be a question mark about it. More than 220,000 jobs have either been created or made more prosperous or more secure by the vast wealth that is being tapped by our own Marcellus and, now, Utica shale plays,” Corbett said.

Corbett spoke to DUG East attendees in Pittsburgh, but he was actually addressing the oil and gas industry’s opponents, those he called “economic change deniers.”

“The industry has, to a vast degree, been environmentally responsible,” he said, calling it one of the “inconvenient truths” opponents have had to face.

Corbett challenged drilling opponents and jobs skeptics to visit Pennsylvania for themselves and see the industry’s help in creating jobs.

“Visit Williamsport, the home of the Little League World Series and see the crowded restaurants, the full hotels and the additional hotels being built and the stores that sell everything from equipment used on a rig to hats and boots, and then ask the people in those stores if they’re doing this kind of business without the drilling industry,” he said.

He cited the $400 million in impact fees assessed on unconventional wells in the Marcellus during the past two years as a result of statewide legislation called Act 13 and how the funds benefit local economies, the governor said.

“If those who question the positive impact you have had from this industry on our communities just took the time to personally visit these areas. They would know what we have learned here in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is an energy industry,” he said.

Corbett indirectly attributed some of the jobs creation to Act 13, which was enacted in early 2012.

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