Obama Backs Fracking to Create 600,000 Jobs, Vows Safe Drilling

[link to www.businessweek.com]

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, in a State of the Union address delivered 11 months before election day, pushed drilling for natural gas in shale formations as a potential boost to the economy.

Hydraulic fracturing, which injects a mix of water, sand and chemicals underground to free gas trapped in rock, could create 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, according to a White House document released before Obama’s speech. The process, called fracking, is among a list of energy policies Obama said would fuel economic growth.

“We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy,” Obama will say, according to a copy of the speech released by the White House.

Obama also reiterated support for conservation and cleaner sources of power, which have been themes of his administration. He announced incentives to make industries more energy efficient, and reiterated his call for Congress to a larger percentage of the nation’s power comes from low-pollution sources by 2035.

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