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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Maryland Divided Part 2: Western Maryland fracking fight reveals divergent economic visions

As Maryland’s rural counties lose farmland, consider fracking and face economic challenges, the Capital News Service at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism presents a series examining the political divide between urban and rural parts of Maryland and the state of the economy in rural Maryland. This is the second part in a five-part series.
 

By J.F. Meils
Capital News Service


CUMBERLAND — Allegany and Garrett, the state’s two westernmost counties, tend to be lumped together as “Mountain Maryland,” their problems similar, their prospects equally muddled.

But the two counties’ economic issues — and their approaches to solving them — differ starkly.

In Allegany, many problems stem from the legacy of past reliance on “whales,” big employers with large numbers of good-paying jobs that lay waste to communities when they leave. In Garrett, a place that has always relied on natural resources to power its economy, the question is not whether to keep doing that, but how.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What If residents of rural communities in MD didn't have to pay state taxes for the expenses of the large cities. By comparison, we don't get much. We would have more money to pump into our local economy.

Anonymous said...

The liberals in Annapolis think everyone lives in a gated community and works for the government.

Anonymous said...

People you really need a lesson on how things work out here,no fracking happens unless the right politicians are paid off mainly democrats here.