When PA politicians says "we must support fracking," they don't actually mean the natural-gas drilling industry. They mean trades unions that work with fossil-fuel companies. Any industry observer will tell you fracking is struggling in the market & is likely heading to death 1/
But many trades unions have been working with fracking companies for about 10 years, supplying THEIR members jobs (20k-50k in PA), but not as many jobs as fracking-boosters advertise. Even so, trades unions have massive political power rn, so pols back fracking 2/
Trades union leadership in PA has no vision. They have forged a relationship w/ their bosses creating a preservation mode. Trades members are versatile and COULD build windmills, bridges, mass transit, really anything. But they appear solely focused on preserving fossil fuels 3/
This has led to strong political support from GOP, who are typically anti-union, but since trades members are mostly white and not college educated (aka GOP base), trades have garnered support, as well as support from Blue Dog Dems. 4/
And PA GOP support goes beyond supporting wealthy corps & fossil-fuels. Part of me thinks support for trades is also about conserving this relationship, because if trades move to backing renewable & large federal infrastructure projects, GOP would lose a valuable constituency 5/
For Dems, it makes some sense to back trades, Dems are the more union-supportive party. But it's unclear backing fracking itself is a political winner. Hillary was pro-fracking & lost. Other issues seem much more important w/ voters. And voters are becoming more environmental 6/
Even though other labor unions have way more members in PA (nurses, service workers) the trades still rule in PA politics. For now that means they, and by extension many local & national pols, back fracking. But this won't last forever, fracking is dying & shifts are occurring 7/
Trades appear not keen on growing membership, while other unions are growing and voters (especially growing suburban & urban Dems) are demanding new political priorities. Feels imminent, but trades & GOP won't give up easy. See this bill ⬇️ End/ pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/the…
PS: Eventually I wonder if fracking will become like coal. Where only Dems support the fracking workers after the fact. Like how Dems fight for coal miners pensions. But most, don't actually back creating more coal jobs or coal-fired power plants.
